The Visual Organization by Phil Simon

Author:Phil Simon [Simon, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-11-04T14:43:37+00:00

90 ▸ I n t r o d u c I n g t h e V I s u a l o r g a n I z a t I o n

Even without knowing everything there is to

as netflix shows, Visual

know about Netflix, we can draw some high-level

organizations understand

conclusions. The company clearly demonstrates

that they can only realize the

critical lessons for aspiring Visual Organizations.

benefits of Big data if they

First, harnessing the power of Big Data to the extent

incur the attendant costs—

that Netflix has takes time. Companies like Netflix do

new tools, new hardware,

not appear on day one, wave magic wands, instantly

and new employee skills.

gain fascinating insights into consumer behavior,

above all, a new mind-set is

and mesmerize us with accurate predictions on day

essential.

four. In the case of Netflix, it has taken more than

15 years for it to be able to do everything that it does

today, not to mention significant investment and its fair share of bumps along

the way. Yes, dataviz may result in grabbing some low-hanging fruit, but an

enterprise doesn’t go from “zero to Netflix” overnight.

Second, Hastings knows that dataviz is not a silver bullet. Rather, data

visualization needs to be part of an integrated information-management

strategy. Netflix has deployed powerful data-visualization tools to handle Big

Data, but those tools are predicated on an even more powerful infrastructure

(read: AWS).

Finally, realize that the path to success is not linear. A fair amount of trial

and error and, dare I say, failure is inevitable. As the Lipstick example demon-

strates, new tools need to be created because old ones no longer suffice.

Next

The data side alone of the Netflix story could fill a sizeable tome by itself. Maybe

one day Hastings will let the world in on what goes on there. Nevertheless, it’s

time to move on to other Visual Organizations. Netflix is hardly alone in its

appreciation for data, data exploration, and dataviz.

Notes

1. Anderson, Mae, and Liedtke, Michael, “Hubris—and Late Fees—Doomed

Blockbuster,” NBC News, September 23, 2010, http://www.nbcnews

.com/id/39332696/ns/business-retail/t/hubris-late-fees-doomed-block-

buster/#.UgZSI1OE6AI, Retrieved August 10, 2013.

2. Harris, Derrick, “Netflix Analyzes a Lot of Data About Your Viewing Habits,”

Gigaom, June 14, 2012, http://gigaom.com/2012/06/14/netflix-analyzes-a-

lot-of-data-about-your-viewing-habits, Retrieved June 25, 2013.

3. Paskin, Willa, “The New Rules of the Hyper-Social, Data-Driven, Actor-

Friendly, Super-Seductive Platinum Age of Television: Rules 9 & 10,”

t h e Q u I n t e s s e n t I a l V I s u a l o r g a n I z a t I o n ◂ 91

Wired magazine, March 19, 2013, http://www.wired.com/underwire/

2013/03/netflix/, Retrieved August 10, 2013.

4. “Netflix Accounts for 1/3 of Nightly Home Internet Traffic, Apple’s iTunes

Takes 2%,” Apple Insider, May 14, 2013, appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/14/

netflix-accounts-for-13-of-nightly-home-internet-traffic-apples-itunes-

takes-2, Retrieved June 25, 2013.

5. http://news.cnet.com/8301–1023_3–57561454–93/amazon-apologizes-

for-netflixs-christmas-eve-streaming-outage/.

6. Vance, Ashlee, “Netflix, Reed Hastings Survive Missteps to Join Sili-

con Valley’s Elite,” Bloomberg Businessweek, May 09, 2013, http://www

.businessweek.com/articles/2013–05–09/netflix-reed-hastings-survive-

missteps-to-join-silicon-valleys-elite, Retrieved June 25, 2013.

7. Moore, Brian, “What Is Garbage Collection Visualization?,” The Netflix

Tech Blog, May 22, 2013, http://techblog.netflix.com/2013/05/garbage-

collection-visualization.html, Retrieved June 10, 2013.

8. Deutscher, Maria. “Netflix’s Jeff Magnusson on Big Data Visualization,” Sili-

conAngle, July 13, 2013. http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/07/12/netflixs-

jeff-magnusson-on-big-data-visualization, Retrieved July 12, 2013.

9. Schmaus, Ben, “Deploying the Netflix API,” The Netflix Tech Blog, August

14, 2013, http://techblog.netflix.com/2013/08/deploying-netflix-api

.html, Retrieved August 20, 2013.

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