Academic Director, MSBA Program, University of California at Davis | We Glow-Up Analytics Skills for Working Professionals, Recent Graduates, and Everybody in Between. Call me when you need SF-based Geek Juice.
$1 billion? It's literally 1 billion reasons to pay attention to solving the right problem. S.F. EXPRESS CO. LTD took a multi-stage approach to redesigning their network: first they optimized the air, then the ground, then finally in-city. This led them to a reduced carbon footprint, more parcels, and lower costs. Like $1 billion in lower costs. How does one do such a complicated thing and what sorts of skillsets do you need? Listen to the Resoundingly Human podcast interview with Yixiao Huang and Fei Gao to find out. https://lnkd.in/gP4EsbzX (Spoiler alert: things never work right the first time. The word 'perseverence' surfaces!) Does your company have a similar accomplishment? Consider submitting to this year's Edelman prize. Are you nowhere close, and want to level up? Reach out to INFORMS - it's where the world's leading analytic talent is sitting, just waiting for a good-n-complicated problem to solve. Flagging Warren Powell in case he has thoughts on this framed as a sequential decision problem, and Zohar Strinka to see her thoughts on solving the meta-problem? #analytics #SFExpress #UCDavisMSBA
I agree fully INFORMS and specifically the Edelman competition gives you a playbook for what it means to have data actually drive business benefits. For the meta-problem approach - the way they tackled the problem is definitely aligned. From the sequence of tackling the issues (start with high benefit balanced with the effort), the exploratory learning as they went, and the organizational change efforts. Mostly, I think their work is proof of the immense opportunity when you choose the right problems to solve.
Professor Emeritus, Princeton University/ Co-Founder, Optimal Dynamics/ Executive-in-Residence Rutgers Business School
4dSounds like a very rich sequential decision problem! I always recommend: model first, then solve, and modeling starts in English. See https://tinyurl.com/BridgingDecisionProblems/