MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

[vaticanplum]

Rick, can you tell us more about any of the panels? Some of these look so fascinating -- injury analytics, science of team chemistry. There's a whole panel about luck. WHAT DO SABR PEOPLE SAY ABOUT LUCK?? The mind boggles.

[RedsManRick]

Rick, can you tell us more about any of the panels? Some of these look so fascinating -- injury analytics, science of team chemistry. There's a whole panel about luck. WHAT DO SABR PEOPLE SAY ABOUT LUCK?? The mind boggles.

You know, the quality of discourse regarding luck wasn't really any more advanced than it is around here. The big theme of the conference was more about the need for analysts to learn 2 things:

1. That their models are incomplete. They may do a great job at predicting what they're trying to predict, but they often predict an incomplete picture of what the coach has to consider.

2. How to better communicate to different people in the organization. Nobody cares about your data; use the data to make a compelling case in a way that your audience will understand and value.

[vaticanplum]

You know, the quality of discourse regarding luck wasn't really any more advanced than it is around here. The big theme of the conference was more about the need for analysts to learn 2 things:

1. That their models are incomplete. They may do a great job at predicting what they're trying to predict, but they often predict an incomplete picture of what the coach has to consider.

2. How to better communicate to different people in the organization. Nobody cares about your data; use the data to make a compelling case in a way that your audience will understand and value.

Very interesting. I'll tell you what, I know that not everybody "buys into" sabermetrics, but the tendency of its purveyors toward self-awareness and their role in the bigger picture of things is something everyone could learn from.