HBR Guide to Data Analytics Basics for Managers

This course helps managers think like analytics-savvy decision-makers. Practice framing sharp business questions, clarifying decisions before pulling data, partnering effectively with data experts, following a simple analytics process, and balancing intuition with evidence so decisions are both data-informed and practical.

This course focuses on acquiring the right data for the decision at hand. Learners practice planning targeted data searches, choosing and combining data sources, designing simple business experiments, selecting meaningful metrics, and judging data quality and bias before relying on results.

This course builds a manager-friendly understanding of analytical thinking. Learn to grasp core concepts (ex: descriptive/diagnostic/predictive analysis, correlation, regression), question model assumptions, think beyond straight-line projections, and turn analytical results into realistic decision options instead of getting stuck in “analysis paralysis.”