Bridget Cogley's Linkedin Analytics

How do we do this better? Some people can observe this thought and let it slide. For me, this question opens the door to a maze where dead ends, twists and turns all draw me towards the final exit. How do I [communicate] better? This question drove me through piles of books, trying to find the right words to articulate the thoughts in my head. I read the dictionary, seeking the perfect word for a concept. I explored how to use these words in my writing through crafting songs, poems, essays, business communications, and even blog posts. How do I [serve customers] better? Retail work encouraged me to blend physics with humor, as I cut not only fabric, but jokes with customers. I could send bolts of fabric flying, whirling like magic. My scissors flew deftly from hand-to-hand and then neatly back where they belonged. “Annie Oakley” sprawled across my badge instead of my name. How do I [make processes] better? The search for better sent me observing processes until I found the root of the problem: shrink driven by untracked samples, call flow processes that enraged clients, or data mysteries requiring a different angle. Long before I knew of DMAIC, I followed key parts of Six Sigma. How do I [interpret] better? I watched countless people sign to remember their phrasing, movements, and expressions, so I could better match consumers during interpreting encounters. I learned old signs and regional variances, growing skilled at predicting which signs clients might prefer. Call this early training for NLP and also a convergence of all my other skills. How do I [develop solutions] better? Enraged when the technology I used failed at its mission to support users, I learned everything I could about what I touched - whether it was SQL, Excel, creating design requirements, and mockups. I lugged around a 3-inch binder back printers ruled the office with everything from user personas to database schemas and down-to-the-click interaction prototypes. How do I [design] better? Finding “better” meant digging into every aspect of my data visualization work and really questioning what made things good in the first place. “Doing vis better” meant blogging, experimenting, and ultimately co-writing a book to have a discussion. It meant co-founding a company where these ideals lead to how we think about data visualization. How do I [play] better? For fun, you can find me at martial arts classes, learning how to kick higher than people's heads and slicing more than data with a sword. I may also be reading by the fire.