Analytics, whether manifested as a paper report, algorithms or a data-driven application, will be used by human beings to make decisions. Tailoring analytics to decision-making requires an understanding of not only data, business context, and technology– but of human thinking processes.
People expect that a product would be developed through a design process before it was manufactured and released into the market, or that an architect would be hired to design a building before ground was broken. Making data fit for human consumption requires a design process as well: it demands left and right brain thinking that unites the two ends of the problem– the available data, and the human analytical processes that enable informed, confident decision-making.