Analytics’ Hierarchy of Needs

There’s a hierarchy of needs when it comes to delivering a product or service. Just like Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs, the items at the top are not important if the bottom isn’t first provided.

This mental model can apply in lots of variations. Here is an example using analytics and actionable data science:

1) Is the solution going to be accessible to the people who will need it?
2) Does it make things better and provide value in some way?
3) Does it work on every relevant variation of the problem?
4) Is it faster than the status quo or other options?
5) Is it easy to use?

Using this model, you can justify building something that is hard to use and slow, if it is still accessible, valuable, and relevant.

But if you can’t show the value or provide the outputs to the right stakeholders, it doesn’t matter fast or easy the solution is.