# Deskilling Analytics By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-11-02 Analytics is having a moment. It is a high-demand profession. There are currently more jobs than there are qualified applicants. Wages are increasing. There is an element of prestige associated with the profession. For those in the field, times are good. Market pressures will eventually conspire to deskill analytics. In fact, these pressures are already visible. To the degree to which analytics is defined as number crunching it is relatively straightforward how this deskilling will take place. As it becomes increasingly easy to ingest and run analytics computer software, the market is deskilling the profession. It doesn’t take an advanced degree to point and click. Competitive forces within the market attempt to drive down costs. If analysts receive a premium due to the specialty of the work, the market will attempt to deskill the work so that nearly anybody could do it. Deskilling tends to benefit organizations, as they don’t tend to like having powerful, skilled workers. Deskilling could benefit consumers through reduced prices if market pressures make organizations pass along some of the benefits to them. Deskilling tends to hurt workers. Pay and prestige are reduced. This is basic economics. It has played out throughout history as occupations ascend, recede, and disappear. The crux of deskilling analytics is the extent to which analysis can be meaningfully reduced to number crunching. As previously examined, [[analytics is not about data]]. Analysis is not number-crunching. There is a tendency for smart people to assume others aren’t. This arrogance can be observed within organizations. It is not uncommon for analysts to view themselves as being more intelligent than those in positions of organizational power. Analysts frequently lament that management doesn’t understand the nuances of analysis and that analytics is a thinking profession. It isn’t that management doesn’t understand. They do all too well. They are simply attempting to consolidate their contested power by deskilling analytics. Analytic arrogance will help them do it. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Data]] [[Deskilling]] [[Management]] [[Intelligence]] [[Power]] [[Number Crunching]]