52  Business Understanding: Discovery

52.1 Business Titles

Objective

Understand the roles and responsibilities within today’s businesses.

Research the following executive business titles and their roles and responsibilities in large enterprises and in startup companies. (Not all roles might be present in all companies). List one primary concer for each role.

  • Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
  • Chief Operating Officer (COO)
  • Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
  • Chief Information Officer (CIO)
  • Chief Information Security Officer (CIO)
  • Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
  • Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
  • Chief Revenue (Sales) Officer (CRO or CSO)

52.3 So Much Management

What are the differences between

  • Product Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Program Manager

52.4 Business Problem Translation

Objective

Practice converting business challenges into data science projects.

You work for a mid-sized e-commerce company experiencing declining customer retention.

Tasks

  1. Stakeholder Analysis: Identify all stakeholders who would be involved in addressing this issue (executives, marketing, IT, customer service, etc.). Define what each stakeholder cares about and how they measure success.

  2. Problem Reframing: Transform “declining customer retention” into 3–5 specific, measurable data science questions. For each question, specify:

    • Required data sources
    • Success metrics
    • Potential challenges
    • Business impact if solved

  3. Project Proposal: Create a 2-page project proposal for one of your data science questions, including:

    • Executive summary
    • Project scope and timeline
    • Resource requirements
    • Risk assessment
    • Expected deliverables

Deliverables

  • Stakeholder map
  • Problem analysis
  • Project proposal

52.5 Research Business Terms

Objective

Become familiar with common business terminology.

Give a short definition of the following business terms:

  • Return on Investment (ROI)
  • EBITDA
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Margin
  • Gross Margin
  • Revenue
  • Profit
  • Profit & Loss (P&L) Statement (also known as the Income statement)
  • Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR)
  • Cash Flow
  • Liability
  • Equity
  • SWOT
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
  • Objectives and Key Results (OKR)
  • Retention
  • Net Retention
  • Total Addressable Market (TAM)
  • Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
  • Sales Commission
  • Click Through Rate (CTR)
  • Conversion Rate
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Initial Public Offering (IPO)
  • Strike Price
  • Vested Shares
  • Shareholders
  • Value Proposition
  • Sales Pipeline
  • Merger & Acquisition (M&A)
  • Private Equity (PE)
  • Venture Capital (VC)
  • Software as a Service (SaaS)
  • Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA)
  • Business Plan
  • Supply Chain
  • Zero-based Budgeting (ZBB)
  • Upside
  • Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)
  • Operating Expenditure (OPEX)
  • Depreciation
  • Market Segment
  • Overhead
  • Subscription
  • Pay as you go Pricing

52.6 Assessment Criteria

How well does the work address real-world business challenges?

Can non-technical stakeholders understand and act on your work?

Depth of analysis and consideration of multiple perspectives

Polish, attention to detail, and practical applicability