Via Juice Analytics, I was up early this morning to catch up on my reading and I found myself flipping through Matthew May’s Change This presentation on elegant solutions. The slide deck is a great read and I’m definitely going to check out The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation. One thing really stood out for me as particularly relevant to the plight of companies working to be successful with web analytics.

“Make Kaizen Mandatory” is his key practice driving innovation #9. May says:

Kaizen has three steps: First, create a standard. Second, follow it. Third, find a better way. Repeat endlessly. Trying to improve and innovate without a standard as reference is like a journey with no starting point. It’s like hitting golf balls in the fog.

Over the years many companies have asked me “How can we be more successful with web analytics?” to which I invariably respond “Determine where you are today, establish goals for improvement, and iterate until you achieve your goals.” Generating and distributing the “right” reports is the key–creating a common understanding of where the business is today, and where the business needs to go tomorrow.

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Innovation through iteration. Don’t “swing for the fences” or get too clever if you can avoid it; rather, implement a functional process that allows you to move from point “A” to point “B” systematically. Often times folks are surprised that the simple solutions are also the right solutions.

I don’t know golf, but hitting golf balls in the fog sounds like a waste of money. Check out Mr. May’s ChangeThis presentation.