Data Science is not defined by the tools it uses

Yesterday, I wrote:

“Many [Data Scientists] will find some of their peers co-opted by tools, as it’s far easier to be religious about the merits of a tool over another one than it is to exert any sort of real leadership or independent thought.”

To expand on that point:

• Data science is results oriented – the tool is the means to the end – it isn’t the end itself.

• Arguing the merits of Cognos against SAS is akin to the chefs spending an entire episode of Bravo’s Top Chef arguing whether a boning knife or a birds beak knife should be used to cut a duck. (It doesn’t make for good TV and it doesn’t matter.)

• The central tenet of good web design, and by extension product development, is ‘don’t make me think’. Great tools don’t make you think. As a result, it’s far easier to be a mindless proponent of something and to look no further.

I don’t view the dumbing of Data Science as inevitable or even a good thing.

Do you?

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I’m Christopher Berry.
I tweet about analytics @cjpberry
I write at christopherberry.ca