of Math and Maps
How math liberates and accelerates your business
How much time have you saved by using the traffic data in Google Maps? I’m sure if you add up the minutes over the years, it will be a significant chunk.
That became possible only because of data and math. Data is a good enough reflection of on-ground reality, and the math helps you navigate it in the best possible way at that time and place. Someone came up with algorithms that will find the quickest way out, ideally without increasing the distance.
Similarly, what are the algorithms you could have in your business that would make it super efficient?
They could be unrealistic at this point, but simply list them down. Also mention how they would help. It will give you clarity on what kind of data to gather at the very least.
Then comes the interesting part — crafting the calculations to happen automatically & become better with time. In the case of maps, it was connecting the route data to the current traffic data and finding the smallest & quickest way. For your business, it may be something else, but notice how easily I could define what the math should do. I’m sure you can write that much too!
Once that is clear, it will become very easy to hand it off to techies to implement it. They will have a clear-cut goal.
The best part is, if you solve it once for all the use cases (or at least the most important or common ones), it works every single time on its own. That gives you the time and space to continuously improve it.
There are also surprises waiting for you at the end of this math rainbow. For example, many people using the traffic data in maps also helps decongest traffic to whatever extent possible. These are called 2nd order effects, but that’s a topic for another time.
Btw, did you notice the geeky pun in this article?
If this helped you, forward it to one business owner you know. That’s how we grow.