A complex subject needs sophisticated research but also an intense focus on visual explanations.

This time the visual metaphor of a hot-air balloon race seemed to convey both the compeitive effort to "rise quickly" and catch the wind to success.

A touch of humor in the comparison also helped to reinforce the precariousness of the analysis and effort to predict the future.

In product strategy I look for opportunities to combine rigorously researched, objective data, with the social, personal, and emotional realities that drive human experience and decisions.

Data and the apps that generate and collect it are inherently biased. They carry both the intentional biases and goals of the designers, but also the institutional, unconscious, and socio-economic biases present in their environment.

Data strategy calls for constant vigilance for bias and the application of statistical and procedural methods to reduce the impact of bais. It also requires an understanding of cognitive bias and how the human mind forms judgements around what is real and what is important.

Data strategy is both a design and engineering problem with an eye for what is expected at the end: An insight, visualization, or a well-trained bot that behaves as expected. 

A multidemensional bubble chart built in Tableau captured the core elements of the "balloon race" metaphor. The other tabs can provide more familiar metaphors and a peek into the underlying data.