A FREE tool for you to take control of your data! The past two weeks, I’ve been walking you through the Engage with Data process, starting with discovering what you’ve already got and assessing what you need. And like a good former teacher, now I’ve got a way for you to put it into practice. Introducing Start Engaging with Your
What’s driving you nuts about your data right now? We all love to complain sometimes. C’mon, you know a venting session feels pretty good. But thinking through the things we’re always complaining about can actually give us good information. So when I work with child- and family-serving organizations, I invite them to complain. Seriously. Until you uncover the things that
The biggest data myth about family-serving organizations There’s a misconception out there about about agencies and non-profits who are early in their data journey – that they don’t have enough of it. But here’s my theory about child- and family-serving organizations and data: Even if they’re not sure what to do with it, they probably have a ton of it. Often,
Giving your organization a confidence boost Recently, my 4 year-old daughter was having trouble falling asleep. So like I’ve done before, I talked to her and told her all the things I love about her. I told her that she was kind, loving, curious, funny … And before I could continue, she added strong and independent, because those are things
It’s time for spring cleaning! I really like to organize things. I get a thrill from dropping off a trunk full of donations and seeing my space a little less full. Don’t get me wrong though – with a 4-year old, obviously my home is a hot mess. No one ever told me how many papers would come home from
Is my guilty pleasure show evidence-based? A while back, I was telling a colleague that I had allowed myself to watch one season of my guilty pleasure show over winter break. What was the show? Married at First Sight. (Deep breath … Okay, I admitted it.) If you’re not familiar with the show, it is essentially a forum for getting
Head versus heart in evaluation Last Friday, I had a blast presenting at the Ohio Program Evaluators Group (OPEG) Spring Exchange about how we can use our evaluation skillset to empower and engage communities that are being silenced and harmed. My presentation was the last one on a full-day agenda featuring the work of many skilled evaluators and analysts. Each
The good, the bad, and the really bad of data viz When I see a really great chart or graph (data visualization or “data viz”) … or a really terrible one, I’ll take a screenshot of it. I’m cool like that. But here’s why I do it. The really good ones get me excited, and the really bad ones make
When numbers help, and when stories matter more I know I talk about data … a lot. But for me, it’s really not about the numbers. It’s not about the spreadsheets (I do still really love spreadsheets though). It’s not about the reports and fancy graphs and charts. It’s about the people behind those numbers. Every row in a spreadsheet
The scary things that data use is NOT I’m not going to lie, I still have occasional nightmares about high school calculus, even though that was … a lot of years ago. That class really made me feel like a failure. Clearly, deep in my subconscious, that has stuck with me. So I understand when people bring their childhood math
