Article Overview Discussion

Here is a link to an article pertaining to the material we are now covering and will be tested over. We will use it for our first true Discussion Board item (DB 2).

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/7a21b12d#/7a21b12d/34

Copy and paste into your browser if the hyperlink does not work!

Here is another source from which you can retrieve it (same article):

https://informs.org/ORMS-Today/Public-Articles/June-Volume-41-Number-3/POTHOLE-ANALYTICS

Let’s work on it (i.e., “discuss it”) through the mid-term exam since it pertains to that material. I know a lot of you are busy with the current homework and so forth, but some of you might want to go ahead and knock this out so you won’t have to worry about it later. Thus, let’s take until midnight (11:59 p.m.) on Thursday evening, March 5th (due date). (Note this is actually after the mid-term exam). How about one of you take the initiative and “start up the thread” sometime this week, perhaps? The article is not lengthy, nor does your discussion of it necessarily need be.

Keep it in your Group Threads, like last time. That seems to work well.

I’m not expecting you to write pages and pages of analysis; simply comment on:

· what you thought about the article overall or in general;

· what you learned from it;

· what things/concepts/topics from class (especially chapter 3) did you recognize;

· any insights or further analysis you can think of;

· anything else that ties in this article with our class.

I think you’ll find this article interesting and you’ll recognize a lot of terms that, prior to Chapter 3 and our class, you may not have known before.

At minimum you should post your own thoughts once; feel free to respond to something that another student says. With 35 people enrolled, we have a fairly large class.

How does that sound?

I am curious to see your thoughts on this.

Thanks, Dr. Mc

p.s. one of your fellow MBA students (she’s a lawyer) this past summer dug up some more recent information; it is shared below. Here is her entire post; yes, it’s probably the best DB post I have ever seen, lol. No, I don’t expect you to knock it as far out of the park as she did; just do your best.

I found this article intriguing for a number of reasons.  First, as a county government employee, I'm always pushing the importance of data collections in all branches of government.  This article highlights how useful data collection can be in even the most unexpected places.  Second, my fiancé had to have a tire replaced earlier this year due to a pothole in Little Rock.  So, the prevalence and annoyance of potholes as discussed in this article is relatable.  He drives a small car with low profile tires, so he has to really watch out for severe potholes to avoid having major damage.  (I drive a truck, not so much of any issue for me haha).  Third, my father worked as a bridge builder for most of my life.  Due to his profession, I have a general fascination with infrastructure, particular roadways.  

Our readings assignments definitely aided in my understanding of the assigned article.  Being aware of common types of trends, time series analysis, and strategic and tactical forecasts helped to make the article "click."  

This article reinforced my belief that data retention is vital, even in unexpected areas.  Data retention is the foundation for analytics.  Since, this article was referencing 2014, I decided to google to see if any additional studies have been done or actions were taken.  I found this article linked below quite interesting.  I particularly liked the map showing the complaints per month by area of the city.  The article also stated that 29% of all pothole locations are repeat complaints spanning more than one year.  This information seems to reinforce the assigned article, that potholes are emblematic of a failed strategy - filling the potholes doesn't fix the underlying issues that cause them in the first place.  

https://www.valuepenguin.com/2018/08/where-are-potholes-largest-problem-new-york  -- here's the link.  Also, here's a link to the data relied upon by the article from NYC's DOT.   https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Social-Services/Potholes/fed5-ydvq/data (I'm including this link as well because I found it fascinating that the 311 Service Request data was so easily accessible).  

Trudy (anonymized) - I agree with your point that graphs can be very helpful to help us understand data.  I'm a very visual person so I love graphsl.  I've also found when giving presentations on data collected, graphs are vital to maintain the attention of a general audience.  While MBA students may be fascinated by statistical analysis, it's hard to keep the attention of a group without some visual guides to aid in understanding.  

Overall, fun read.  Working for county government, roadways and maintenance definitely a concern.  I'm going to spend the afternoon asking if we have any type of formal data retention process for 311 calls, specifically regarding potholes.  Now, I'm very curious as to how this article would apply to the county.