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Putting Data Science, and Data

Scientists, in the Right Spots

Maintenance is a big area for analytics. One
data scientist, employed at an international Organization Structure Affects Data
semiconductor company, develops optimal Science
“split maintenance schedules.” The idea is This chapter pays homage to W. Edwards
to perform maintenance tasks in several Deming (1900–1993). Deming, a physicist
steps, separated in time, replacing major turned statistician turned management con-
maintenance shutdowns. The advantage is sultant, had incredible impact, first in Japan
less total downtime, which translates into and later in the West. Many in Japan credit
huge savings in wafer fabrication. He Deming for the Japanese postwar economic
enjoyed great success within the mainte- miracle of 1950–1960, and his impact on the
nance organization and hoped to build upon rest of the world is incalculable. At the core,
that success by combining it with CBM, Deming believed that improving quality and
which employs production systems and raw productivity requires a fundamental trans-
material data. But this data is only available formation, based on widespread deployment
from the operations department’s databases. of statistical thinking. And he advised that
And he couldn’t get access. As the story this transformation also required an organi-
illustrates, “Silos are the enemy of data zational component. Today’s data science is
sharing.” They are particularly damaging to no less transformational.
data science because so many opportunities Deming called for a very senior “leader
lie in combining data. in statistical methodologies,” which herein
we call the chief analytics officer.
The Need for Senior Leadership

The only solution, in today’s hierarchical, command‐and‐control organizations, lies in a CAO
who sits high enough in the management chain and has the authority and personal gravitas
to insist on data sharing. W. Edwards Deming (see “Organization Structure Affects Data
Science”) called for such a solution in the early 1980s: “There will be a leader of statistical
methodology, responsible to top management. He must be a man of unquestionable ability.

The Real Work of Data Science: Turning Data into Information, Better Decisions, and Stronger Organizations,
First Edition. Ron S. Kenett and Thomas C. Redman.
© 2019 Ron S. Kenett and Thomas C. Redman. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Companion website: www.wiley.com/go/kenett-redman/datascience