# Vagueness as a Feature of the Analytics Profession By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-06-22 The Data Scientist will die in a few years, just as the Operations Research Analyst, Management Scientist, and Analyst died. The AI Scientist will replace it. Then, in another decade or so, the AI Scientist will also die and be replaced by something else as trends in terminology go in and out of favor with marketed technology. Analysts will adopt the most popular titles because we all need to eat, and one should strike while the iron is hot. However, it is interesting that the titles of the analytics profession have changed so often while other professional titles remain firm in the lexicon. For example, accounting, human resources, sales, marketing, management, finance, and even information technology. While subtle shifts in these professional titles have occurred, they remain very stable, with any departures merely classified as a minor fad. Examples of these minor fads are human resources being called people operations, and information technology being called business technology. These are rebranding efforts that often fall short. Yet, the business analytics realm has seen at least five significant title shifts since the 1940s. Nothing substantial has changed about the role: problem-solving, analysis, mathematics, computers, data, statistics, decision-making, and algorithms. Since its modern emergence, these things have stayed the same. So, one is left to wonder why our language continues to shift around these ideas. If the name were effective, we would not feel compelled to change it. But analysis remains elusive, and it is hard to pinpoint anything. Even my rough definition of it is only an extensive collection of ideas and methodologies. Many view this as a problem with the profession, but it is an asset and perhaps the only defining feature of the profession. By being vague-specific, it can adapt and morph into whatever it needs to be, and this enables it to solve whatever problems come its way. By not being any one thing, it is not constrained. It is free to move about, keep its allure, and do a better job injecting the right amount of doubt into the system. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Profession]] [[Vague-Specific]] [[Organization]] [[Business]] [[Language]]