Ask Me Anything: Your Data 'Kindergarten' & Confounding Questions.
- Maria Alice Maia
- Aug 12, 2024
- 2 min read
For the past few weeks, we’ve talked about Causal ML, over-engineered tech, and translating dense academic papers into ROI. We’ve been operating at 30,000 feet.
Now, let’s bring it down to the ground.
Because in my years of experience—from the boardrooms at Ambev and Itaú to the frantic all-nighters at my own startup —I’ve learned a brutal truth: the most expensive data mistakes aren't the complex ones. They’re the simple ones.
They are the “kindergarten” errors in thinking, the flawed assumptions that go unchallenged. They are the weak foundations upon which multi-million dollar data skyscrapers are built, destined to crumble. The most common culprit? A failure to spot confounding variables.
So, this week, I’m doing something different. I’m hosting an informal Ask Me Anything (AMA) in the comments below.
No question is too basic. No challenge is too simple. This is a judgment-free zone to tackle the foundational questions that often feel too intimidating to ask in a formal meeting.
Let’s get tactical. Here are the types of questions I live to answer:
“Our dashboard shows that when sales reps make more calls, customer churn increases. Are the calls driving them away?” (A classic confounding question!)
“We launched a new wellness program, and employee productivity went up. How do I prove the program caused the improvement, and it wasn't just a good quarter?”
"What is the single most dangerous, 'looks-right-but-is-wrong' metric you've ever seen a C-level executive champion?"
Your turn. Subscribe to our mailing list, below, and receive the link for a 60-minutes Ask-me-Anything call, on August, 16th, at 1p.m. EST / 10 a.m. PST. Whether you’re a manager trying to make sense of a dashboard, a data analyst struggling to explain a finding, or an executive trying to build a truly data-driven culture, I’m here.
My entire career has been about decoding complex realities into actionable insights. My passion now is to share that knowledge because it isn't mine to keep. It's for all of us to build a community that values intellectual honesty over technical complexity.
Let’s cut through the noise, together.
If you believe in building data practices on solid ground and want to be part of this movement, join my weekly email list. You’ll get no-nonsense, research-backed insights delivered straight to your inbox.
And if you have a specific, thorny problem you want to dissect one-on-one, book a 20-minute, no-nonsense consultation with me. Let’s get to the root of it.
