Let’s Be Reasonable

ByChuck McDanal

Before you do anything with your data, whether it’s for your own work, or something your team will see, take a look at it first and ask yourself: “Is this reasonable?” Just scroll through your spreadsheet — summarize or use pivot tables if you have a lot of data — and this can alert you to outliers, bad numbers, typos and other things that can ruin your day. A friend once did some great work where age was an important variable, but whenever the people entering the data couldn’t find it, they put in “999” to denote that it was missing. Using age without excluding those records made all the charts and tables and reports wrong because Excel happily factored in people who were 999 years old. A quick scan through the data would have caught this because someone who is 999 is not reasonable. #makeyourdataworkforyou

Chuck McDanal is the owner of StudioC and has more than 25 years of experience in a range of roles, from managing an IT department to working as an editor; from directing a large operation to leading an internet startup and creating a 501(c)(3) nonprofit from the ground up. He has extensive experience in process improvement, data analytics, coaching, mentoring, facilitation, strategic planning, managing and leading. Chuck also is a Certified Analytics Professional, an RRCA-certified running coach, has a certificate from the Wharton School in Business Analytics, is a Six Sigma Black Belt, and is a professional coffee roaster. He has served on multiple community boards and organizations, which currently includes the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra and Lakeland Vision. He is a graduate of Leadership Lakeland and Leadership Polk, and was Chair-elect of Leadership Lakeland Class 36 and Chair of Class 37. Chuck was named 2020 Businessman of the Year by the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. He recently published a book called “Human Training,” which is available on Amazon and through other resellers.

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