Big data allows organizations to build an organizational nervous system to learn and adapt quickly. With falling costs due to Moore's law, organizations can now leverage big, fast, and varied data. This enables reducing organizational cycle times through small, iterative changes. In a digital world where prototypes cost little, organizations should focus on continuous learning over scale and perpetuating existing business models. The ability to learn and adapt quickly will trump traditional approaches of relying on scale advantages alone.

1. Cycle time
trumps scale
Big data as the
organizational nervous system
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www.flickr.com/photos/decadence/249922560

2. Big Data is the Third Age of computing
(Jim Stodgill of O’Reilly Radar said this.)
Computing
Automate
things
Networking
Interconnect
things
Big Data
Predict &
change things

3. Volume
(the “lots”)
Velocity
(the “fast”)
Variety
(the
“different”)
Pick
any
two

4. Big and varied,
but not fast.
Photo by cybrgrrl (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybrgrl/1295482521/) on Flickr

5. Big and fast,
but not
varied.

6. BIG * FAST * VARIED = K

7. None of this is new.

8. Eventual
consistency
made social
networks
possible.

9. “End of Day Balance will only appear for dates previous to the last 2 business days.”
“Transactions from today are reflected in your balance, but may not be displayed on
this page if you recently updated your bankbook, if a paper statement was recently
issued, or if a transaction is backdated. These transactions will appear in your
history the following business day.”
Banks, too.

10. What’s new is
lim
K ➝ 0

11. Moore’s Law unlocked the triangle.

12. Big, fast, and varied got cheap.

13. This is about the unintended effects
of abundance.

16. Uses 75% less coal.

17. WTF?

18. Shouldn’t more efficiency mean
less consumption?

19. more consumption.
Efficiency means
lower costs means
new uses means
more demand means

20. This is about dramatically changing
economic fundamentals.

21. When you’re a startup
your goal is to find a sustainable,
repeatable business model.

22. When you’re a big company, your
goal is to perpetuate one.

23. How to perpetuate something.
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www.flickr.com/photos/evergreenkamal/395448039

24. Traditionally, get to a scale others
can’t compete with.
(say Michael Porter and others.)

25. Daniel Craig
McCallum.

26. F500 lifespan history

27. Fortune 500
Life Expectancy
(http://csinvesting.org/2012/01/06/fortune-500-extinction/)
1950 2010...
75
years
15
years
Growth by
entering a new
business
Corporate
Strategy Board
95
% fail
99
% fail
Clay
Christensen

28. How’s that working out for you?

29. The innovation
problem isn’t new.
Picture by James Whatley on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons license.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/whatleydude/6202872135

30. This is about embracing
the harsh light of data.

32. 0
15
30
2007 2012
EVERY 4h EVERY 55m
Times a “heavy rotation” song is played daily

33. This is about designing interruptions
and producing outcomes.

34. “Design is the human
capacity to plan and
produce desired outcomes.”
- Bruce Mau
“The right information in
the right place just
changes your life.”
- Stewart Brand

35. http://theappslab.com/2012/08/14/some-light-testing-of-google-now/
Google Now, Siri, and Cortana are the
prosthetic brain of homo connectus.

36. Really?
Homo connectus?
Shark, jumped.

37. This is about avoiding the trap of the
local maximum.

38. YOU ARE
HERE

39. YOU ARE
HERE
LOCAL
MAXIMUM
OPTIMIZATION
OF CURRENT
METRICS

40. YOU ARE
HERE
GLOBAL
MAXIMUMINNOVATION
WITH NEW
RULES

41. YOU ARE
HERE
SHORT-TERM
INVESTORS
HATE GOING
DOWNHILL

42. This is about small batches.

43. 3D printing.
Photo by Keith Kissel on Flickr. Used under a creative commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kakissel/6165114664

44. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdctsevilla/4052593758/
Cloud computing and shared services.

45. Social platforms.
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46. Crowdfunding.

47. Digital
channels.
PhotobyGaryLerudeonFlickr.Usedunderacreativecommonslicense.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garylerude/7511464618

48. What happens
when the prototype costs
what the product does?

49. This is about reducing
organizational cycle time.

50. Iteration wins.

51. This is about ninjas instead of
standing armies.

52. A standing army in times of peace
PhotofromtheStateRecordsofNewSouthWales.UsedunderaCreativeCommonslicense.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/state-records-nsw/4534071932/

53. Ninjas in times of uncertainty
PhotobyMarijndeVriesHoogerwerff.UsedunderaCreativeCommonslicense.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artonice/2331656717

54. John Boyd
can shoot
you down.

55. The OODA loop.

56. Collect
data
Human exploration
Machine learning &
mining
Platforms
Infrastructure
Store
Ingest &
clean Share
Measure results
& create feedback
Business users & data modelers
Corporate governance & policy
Data scientists & analysts
Change
the
model?

57. In a small-batch, digital-channel
world, cycle time trumps scale.

58. And big data is about building the
central nervous system by which
organizations learn.
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59. www.tiltthewindmill.com
Alistair Croll
acroll@gmail.com
@acroll
Windmill by Eric Bennett on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Thanks!