Avinash Kaushik was the inspiration for this issue of The Measurement Advisor, in the form of his post “Five Strategies for Slaying the Data Puking Dragon.” (When you’re done with our articles this month, go read his.) His blog, Occam’s Razor, brings reason, common sense, and business sense to measurement. As do his two best selling books: Web Analytics 2.0, and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day. Naming Avinash our Measurement Maven of the Month was an obvious choice.
We’ve been following Avinash and admiring his work for over a decade now. I first met him at a conference on what was then the emerging phenomenon of social media. Today his advice is timelier than ever. In communications measurement we’re past the stage of evangelizing for measurement or web analytics. Today’s problem is not the paucity of metrics, its their overabundance. That’s why we’ve followed his lead and made dealing with too much data the theme of this issue of The Measurement Advisor.
Avinash began his wonderful blog in 2006 when he was Director of Research and Analytics at Intuit. Since then his books have become the bibles of web analytics. (Web Analytics: An Hour a Day is how I learned pretty much all I know about the topic.) He is an energetic and in-demand speaker; catch one of his presentations if you possibly can. Read more about him here.
Many of the Measurement Mavens we’ve featured in these pages are his disciples. Whenever I’m speaking and asked how to learn about web analytics, I mention Avinash’s books. Inevitably there will be a clap or a “yeah!” from the audience. So, if you haven’t already subscribed to Occam’s Razor or bought his books, do so immediately. It will put you a big step closer to becoming your own Measurement Maven.
Big, big thanks and congrats to Avinash Kaushik for inspiring this issue, and being our Measurement Maven of the Month. ∞
