For the first 3 years of my professional life I was a Functional Analyst. Or at least I think I was…. Maybe I was also a Business Analyst… and a Tester… and a Project Manager, and a Client Support Assistant, and an empathic fellow with Life Coach skills! Well, in the end, Functional/Business Analysts can be everything and anything!

Only when I got the “official” Business Analyst title I felt like a real grown-up person, I mean, I don’t even know why but the word “Business” felt like a big word.

But even with that title I used to think of myself as one of those sandbags you throw somewhere to stop a water course that is putting the crops in danger. Because every time a client or a team needed help in any project, my boss would “grab” me as that sandbag and throw me there to plug that hole.

Those are the “perks” of choosing a profession that doesn’t come out from Universities. If you are a Lawyer, you have studied Law; if you are a Doctor, you have studied Medicine.

But, what if you have studied to become a Functional or Business Analyst? Who knows! (Let’s talk about what really matters…).

Business Analyst is, therefore, a profession mostly built upon your personal skills, like:

• Curiosity
• Empathy
• Logical thinker
• Visionary
• Self-learner
• Polyglot
• Self-sacrifice spirit

So, now that we have our requirements, let’s break them down into User Stories (Agile joke… sorry for that!).

Curiosity.

You are curious and know what questions to ask, how to ask them and to whom. That’s how you get all the information you need. Weird questions that nobody else would ask just pop up in your mind! Those are the most important ones.

Empathy.

You are a polite and emphatic fellow, being able to generate a bond with clients, managers, colleagues, users, etc. This gives you also the super-power of making everybody laugh when the issues discussed in a meeting just become too heavy and quickly escalate into a big argument. You will bring a light spirit to the table every time there is the need for it.

Logical thinker.

You have a good logic thinking process, which helps you to organize all of your information, gathered painfully across thousands of meetings, emails, informal talks, confessions and outburst!… In your brain, somehow, everything will come together and make sense, drawn as boxes, arrows and flows.

Visionary.

You are some kind of visionary who dreams about exactly what your client/user needs, even before they realize it themselves. And when I say “visionary who dreams” believe me, it’s literal. Sometimes you will come up with the best solutions while you are asleep.

Image from English Without End.

Self-learner.

You have a natural talent to learn how to work with new software without needing any specific training (Come on! Nobody needed training on how to use Facebook when it appeared).

You are also a self-learner in what comes to “self-management” skills. So, when you put in your CV that you are “autonomous, dynamic and with initiative” I hope it is true. Because that’s the only way to survive and those skills are impossible to fake.

One of the Business Analyst’s Life philosophy is “Fake it until you make it”. But believe me when I tell you: that motto will not work on this specific matter!

Polyglot.

You are a polyglot who knows how to speak and write perfectly in your language. And in English and also probably in Spanish, maybe French. But mostly in that weird dialect that one of your clients or users speaks and nobody understands, ahhh, but you do my dear Business Analyst… You do!

Self-sacrifice spirit.

You are available to put some extra time in the project if it really needs to, even if you do it alone because you really feel projects are a part of your heart. And that everyone relies on you as the pivot element in the center of the project/product, who connects everyone involved.

Note: by “some extra time”, please, be aware that this can imply that sometimes you are not going to sleep or eat, at least in the beginning of your career. Just kidding… (nope).

So, if you have checked all these boxes or you feel like you can relate with 85% of these characteristics, congratulations! You can be (or become) a successful Business Analyst, because based on this I can tell you something that I am pretty sure of: You Will Thrive on Chaos!

Image from Silicon Republic.

Dulce Monteiro
Business Analyst at Polarising.

Know more about Polarsing’s Business Analysis solutions.

The scientific community is already aware of how ill the planet is and the United Nations have set climate action as one of their top priorities. Europe, as the rest the world, is suffering the consequences of climate change, which inevitably affects economy and people’s well-being. Most European climate challenges are related to extreme temperatures, forest and species protection, water competition and ocean’s sustainability and transition to renewable energy. Check this great infographic.

Did you know that temperature in Europe‘s land area has increased 1.6 °C since pre-industrial decades?

Did you know that greenhouse gas emissions in the EU decreased 22% since 1990 and they’re expected to decrease to 26% in 2020?

Did you know that researchers measured the Mediterranean sea and concluded there is a floating plastic item for each 4 m2?

These are only a few facts provided by data science which show that Europe’s politics must turn greener and it’s possible to do it. I think that European governments and multinational companies are finally listening.

Very often I hear news about people’s protests for environment protection, claiming for government decisions to reduce carbon emissions and become more ambitious in what concerns to climate issues. One of the most recent media strikes was lead by a Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg‘s. Her powerful speech inspired many young students; her strong and undeniable arguments gave her the opportunity to speak in many important events, including the UN Climate Change Conference.

Funnily enough, green parties in her own country only elected 2 out of 20 available seats for the European parliament. But many other countries elected a total of 69 “green” European deputies, for which Germany, France and the United Kingdom have contributed the most.

Facts were presented by data science and Europeans made an option, let’s hope Europe becomes eco-friendly.

Pedro Marques
Polarising Consultant

Some of the most memorable moments in NBA’s history are made of  long shots. But besides these games when the final second is decisive, there are also 3 pointers changing NBA’s way of playing; teams embraced analytics as a way to choose which players to sign and how to be more efficient when shooting.

In 2018, Klay Thompson from Golden State Warriors set an NBA record of 3 pointers in a single game (14), beating the previous record from his own teammate Stephen Curry (13). Recently, Houston Rockets set an NBA record of 3 pointers by a team in a single game (26).

This is evidence that the best teams are putting in practice a strategy which consists in shooting behind the arc or within the painted area. Difficult shoots that are worth only 2 points are not welcome!

In 13/14 season only 10 teams finished the competition with over 30% of attacks concluded with a 3 pointer attempt. In the current season, five years later, only 4 teams are below those 30%! This fact clearly shows that, in general, NBA teams have evolved in a way that long bombs are their favorite method to overcome opponent defense, and Houston Rockets live up to its name because they are the ultimate exponent of this strategy.

So how come the Indiana Pacers are one of the teams that shoots less behind the arc but is still well above in Eastern Conference? The reason lies on the fact that Pacers are the team that concedes the least points. If you are an NBA fan and do not appreciate the way the game is heading to don’t worry, you see now that not every team is adopting the 3 pointer strategy and they are proving that it is possible to do well in many ways.

No need to hide the secret anymore; analytics are here to stay and can put you ahead of the game! Every team must know how to get the most from the available data and turn knowledge into better decisions in the court.

Pedro Marques & João Cunha
Polarising Consultants

Some might say that Portugal depends on Cristiano Ronaldo. Of course! Every team would depend on the best player to have the best results. But the truth is that in every major competition there’s a generation of good players that appears in the squad showing that the future is assured, such as Renato Sanches and Raphael Gerreiro in 2016, and this year we had Bernardo Silva and Gonçalo Guedes too.
We also mustn’t forget that some promising national teams like Germany, Spain and Argentina haven’t gone further than Portugal. So my advise to you now is to be proud of our national team and keep your scarf next to you, because soon we will be  watching the european qualifiers for 2020 Euro and a new competition called UEFA Nations League! Just play ball!

By this time, football fans are already choosing their favorites and journalists, finding the right arguments to sustain the preferred candidates. Football is also a fun game outside the field, you see? Just because you start guessing which teams will survive the group phase and the ones who will reach the final. In previous editions we even have witnessed an attempt to upgrade this guessing game to a “zoological” level: animals predicting winners, like Paul, the octopus, swimming into one of two national flags and Zella, the elephant, picking up a ball with her delicate trunk.

If I were to follow common sense and general opinion I would say that Germany’s team will win, because they are currently title holders and a very physical team, hard to beat that. But don’t think that you’ll miss all the fun when you start analyzing data – statistics, odds, trends, facts and other curiosities can make this World Cup even more interesting! So if you still have doubts about Germany’s capabilities check the historical facts:

Germany is the national team with most presences in the World Cup final (8); the team who has scored the most goals in the last three World Cup series; the only UEFA team to win all their qualifiers with the best goal difference (+39), and with Joachim Low as coach, Germany has reached the semi-finals in the last 6 major competitions (Euro and World Cup). Wow!

And for those who bet money, what do they think? After analyzing the betting trend the conclusion is that the World Cup champion will be… Germany! Well, no surprises here. According to punters, Germany has 26% chances of winning the Wold Cup, France 25% and Brazil 20% (Portugal has 5%). But bookmakers have a slightly different opinion, as they pay about the same price for Germany’s victory or Brazil one. Sportytrader, a company which develops predicting tools and data models on sport events, elects Spain as the winner and Portugal to reach the quarter-finals.

If you also think that besides fun you can make some money too, there are odds available on world cup events like, who will be the world champion, the winner of each group, the winner of each match, or which player is going to be the best scorer. Did you know that the investment of sporting bets is estimated in around 17.000.000.000€? And that 7% of bookmakers recorded bets are about the FIFA’s World Cup final match?

What about the best scorer? Inevitably, three names pop out: Messi, Neymar and the player directly responsible for the most goals (18) in the UEFA Qualifiers: 15 goals and 3 assists, Cristiano Ronaldo! But other names might come up without surprise such as Griezmann, Timo Werner, Lukaku, Morata, Harry Kane and Lewandowski. You must have in mind that being the best scorer depends a lot on how far will his team go.

Let’s now switch to very improbable endings. Did you know that if you bet 1000€ on Saudit Arabia or Panama, you can become millionaire? But maybe you shouldn’t because until now, World Cups were won by European and south american teams. Also, do not bet on a south american team becoming world champion without red cards, since the top three teams with most red cards in the history of this competition are Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Did you know that Iceland is the country with the smallest population to ever compete at a World Cup, with 334,000 residents? If most of Iceland supporters travel to Russia, their beautiful island will be almost empty! Speaking of population, one thing is for sure, if Portugal wins the 2018 World Cup it would be great to our shy demographics. Do you know what I mean? Check here

Georgie is very confident about her offer, so much she doesn’t tremble with weapons pointed at her.

This is a conversation between Maggie, leader of a community known as Hilltop, and Georgie, a misterious well dressed woman. They rendez-vous in a crossroad, away from walkers and alive bad-ass guys.
I saw The Walking Dead first episode without expectations, but the enigmatic and colapsed world after a zombie outbreak really got my attention and since then I watch season after season never missing an episode. I specially appreciate how the living ones deal with their new Human condition.
Several years later, this episode brought the fans a whole new vision. Everyone thought that to survive what they really needed was armory, survival skills, strategic intelligence, negotiation skills, luck and courage. But Georgie thinks otherwise, she has knowledge to trade! Who would say that even after a zombie apocalypse information would be so important?
In previous seasons I found that organized communities recognize the need to use ancient techniques in order to prosper. In a land without electricity, water network or supermarkets, is critical to produce and attend your own needs.
There were several characters that somehow carried a clearer perception on how to handle these new circumstances. Dr. Edwin Jenner worked at the Center for Disease Control and explained how the new virus infects the human brain. Hershel, Maggie’s father, was an old farmer that portrayed wisdom, he’s the one who opened Rick Grimes eyes to the importance of growing crops. Milton Mamet was the governor’s scientist who conducted several experiments to understand how dead people turn into zombies. And more recently, Eugene Porter, a fake-scientist that could not survive alone, shows on every episode that he can add great value due to his knowledge and creative solutions, so much that Negan accepted him in his group after discovering he’s a bullet maker!
Of course, in the short term you have to scavenge, kill zombies and deal with malevolent people. But in the long term you must have a plan, make choices, establish priorities and set teams working on it, because developing a sustainable community is how you ensure a future for mankind. Even when things are falling apart, useful information plays a major role on creating a solid ground against adversity.
By the end of the episode, after exceeding initial suspicions, Georgie delivers something that Maggie clearly was not expecting, her facial expression was a mix of surprise and acknoledgment that Georgie does have a point after all.

Georgie: Here is the aforementioned key to a future. Inside, there are handwritten plans for windmills, watermills, silos, hand-drawn schematics, guides to refining grain, creating lumber, aqueducts… A book of medieval human achievement so we may have a future from our past.
I don’t know what you guys think but this quote from Georgie really proves that analytics is fundamental, not only to survive a zombie apocalypse, but may be the key to the survival of the human race.

Pedro Marques
Polarising Consultant

July is not a silly-season when it comes to sports. In fact, it’s the month when some of the greatest sport competitions take place and one of them is the Wimbledon Grand Slam. For some players, it’s where magic happens and dreams come true and those ball boys and girls for sure have plenty of stories to tell. Throughout history underdog players, romances among professional players, fights and drama have inspired grass tennis fans, so it’s not by chance that this world’s oldest tennis tournament has inspired great movies. Is there anyone that could perform better than Kirsten Dunst as an elegant tennis player?

The grass courts allow a fast playing tennis, which is very useful to quickly win matches in the best of five sets format, thus reducing the effort. I’m a tennis fan and Roger Federer is one of my top favourite players. So I was following online some tennis matches and decided to explore the stats provided by IBM SlamTracker, a scoring application with real-time scores, statistics and point-by-point analysis for each match to take a look at his odds. On Lajovic-Federer match I noticed how stats collected in real-time could help predicting the match final result:

I could see that, as soon as Federer starts hitting 77% of the points won in his first service, in 78% of the cases he will win that set. This is clearly a key to the match. Real-time analytics triggered this information, and if you find the odds interesting, you should bet on it!
The day of the match arrived, it was a warm day and this Swiss gentleman proved to be in great shape once again! Roger Federer won the tournament for the eighth time, and this time without dropping a single set! And once again, stats explained his superiority on the final (3-0): Federer winning percentage on the 1st serve for the 3 sets was 82,86,77 against Cilic’s 71,53,68.
Many other factors may explain a victory or a loss (for instance, Cilic had medical assistance during the match), but numbers represent facts, and facts are what matters in the court.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Imagine yourself in the shoes of Winston Smith, main character of George Orwell’s book 1984. His life was controlled in all possible ways the author could think of, even inside his room there were telescreens through which his intimacy was exposed. You know, like those new smart TV’s that may listen our conversations at home. On his way to work to the ministry of truth, Winston had the constant feeling that someone was watching his moves, as if his GPS feature was always on. In Oceania, loud propaganda in the streets and surveillance were just as common as today is receiving unwanted e-mails or cookies saving our preferences. His job was to update the truth and rewrite history, just like you are used to hear several versions of the same news.

Despite the crushing presence of the big brother, he trusted in some fellow citizens, he fell in love, he risked his life against a totalitarian society, he was a human dealing with technology used in a perverse manner by a manipulative government. No matter what he did, who he talked to, someone had it all under control. Just like nowadays your web activity, chats, mails, calls, logins, transactions, are all recorded somewhere over the rainbow and shared through a sky full of clouds. Now you say “hold on mate, are you comparing 1984’s fiction with today?”. You bet I am!

Now join me into some dark thoughts over Analytics. If I was a dictator I would use my technological background to improve the greatness of my dictatorship. In addition to all those already expected controlling and abusive surveillance systems, such as video cameras all over my capital city or a secret service agency, I would set a budget to implement a massive electronic spying project and Analytics would be the core! Nothing would escape from my radar. If you write anything about me or my government on a social network, an instant linguistic analysis such as IBM’s Tone Analyzer would detect your feelings towards my magnificent leadership style. If you speak to my cameras my media networks would apply some facial expression recognition tools that allow me to understand your inner emotions, even with a brilliant disguise, your eyebrows or hand movements would expose your real reaction to my patriotic speeches. Even when you’re deciding or thinking, your eyes may leak your emotions, have you ever heard of eye-tracking and electrodermal response measurements? Today, this technique is used in (good) cause-related marketing for instance, but in my beloved nation I would use it to know people’s opinion without even talking to them. With these IT projects supporting Social Big Data, Data Mining and Real-time Analytics, I would probably consider suspending some citizen cards on elections day! There is a huge potential on Analytics to help me rule my totalitarian world, this would bring authoritarianism to a whole new level, an absolute control over Winston Smith’s last piece of humanity.

I’m ending this dark journey for now. This is a public discussion that should never stop because in what concerns to Analytics, as with the revolver or the atomic energy, it’s always mankind that decides what to do with it. So please don’t share this article with a dictator, let’s not make his life easier, ok?!

PEDRO MARQUES

BI & Analytics Consultant at Polarising