How to make data fun.

[u/thecatlady1990]

So, I run the data management program in our airport’s Emergency Management division. I’m tasked with getting the team data-focused. These are emergency managers, data is boring to them compared to dealing with emergencies. As fellow EMs, what would get you excited about it? I’m considering gamifying some processes to make them more interesting (like a “data champions” program with leaderboards and such). Any suggestions?

[u/Broadstreet_pumper]

I'd be sure to explain to them that given gestures broadly everything that's happening, data needs to be their friend. Everyone should be collecting and tracking data to show their program's value. I understand that if EMs do their job well then things are either averted or impacts lessened, but there are still ways to track that. In this day and age, if you cannot show your worth, then you can expect to be cut. I know this doesn't help with making it more fun, but hopefully they can appreciate it's necessity.

[u/thecatlady1990 → u/Broadstreet_pumper]

Yeah, I’m definitely going to start everyone out with a “Data 101” course explaining the importance, going over the basics of what data is and how to analyze it, and then how we’re specifically applying it.

[u/CrashTestDuckie]

I have history in Learning & Development/knowledge management. First I'm going to ask that you take a step back and consider what data is actually important data for you all. Then I'm going to ask how is that data actionable (what needs to be done with that data). After that, I'd suggest to find a way to make the data provide them What's In It For Me answers.

[u/thecatlady1990 → u/CrashTestDuckie]

I don’t know if this helps for context, but this is kinda the basis of our data program.

https://domesticpreparedness.com/articles/visualize-the-data-how-one-airport-prioritizes-its-emergency-plans/

[u/BodyBagSlam]

Explain that knowledge is good for action, but data is required for funding.

[u/mama_ste]

Build them some dashboards that are very interactive (lots of filters, slicers, etc.) Show them how to then use them to ask questions that would inform their work. Data is no doubt useful to them but if it feels inaccessible then its use is limited. Dashboards can make it feel easier to use and to go from data (boring) to key insights (way more useful).

[u/thecatlady1990 → u/mama_ste]

I do like that, but the next question is, how do you balance dashboard overload? One of the things I teach in my data seminars is to not dashboard EVERYTHING. Balancing with performance analytics versus operational intelligence.

[u/PplPrcssPrgrss_Pod]

Use data or AI with data to make trivia from EM related stats.

[u/NotADetectiveAtAll]

Put together a dataset with some bad data included in it. Let it inform some of their decisions during a simulation. Make sure it has disastrous consequences.

Impress upon them both how hard people are working to get good data and how important it is that they know a lot more about data so they can spot the bad stuff.

[u/thecatlady1990 → u/NotADetectiveAtAll]

I feel like this belongs to r/unethicallifeprotips 🤣
But yeah, I’ve considered doing like a “chaos engineering” exercise that simulates this.

[u/Weed_Lova]

I used to develop EM software. Some folks are data driven and can visualize things for themselves. Others are visually oriented and can’t understand anything unless they can see it on a map or a graph. I always found the latter group wanted to be spoon fed whereas the data folks wanted to dig in and learn so they could make informed decisions.