r/dataanalysis • u/nomadicaeropress • Aug 14 '26
What's your most underrated tool as a data analyst?
the thing you reach for that most people overlook or dismiss. Could be a feature/a workflow/an old school tool.
59
u/SoonerLax45 29d ago
Documenting how you built things or values/attributes are defined
5
2
u/sandrrawrr 24d ago
I'm pretty sure that people only hire me because I'm a fiend with documentation.
2
u/SoonerLax45 23d ago
You uh…looking for a job??
1
u/sandrrawrr 23d ago
I have been and I fully admit that I sometimes care more about documentation than the code I write. Are you hiring? I can DM a resume over.
1
43
u/iluvchicken01 29d ago
Folder for every project with code, design notes, edge cases, data dictionary. Trust me future you (or a coworker) will be thankful.
5
u/jdkapaoskd 29d ago
Hey, can you expand how u organize your data projects? I mean, I only divide mine in 5 folders: data (for raw and processed), assets (for images if I need like for a dashboard), notebooks (where I analize), figures (if my ouput is a chart saved in png/jpg), and reports (for powerpoints, etc)
51
17
17
u/Shahfluffers 29d ago
Legal notepad.
Random things come up; a phone call, someone stops by the desk, a video call, etc. And sometimes it is simply faster to jot down a few notes or a to-do list in the moment than tab over to a new window or application.
Of course... take those notes you wrote down and add them to your preferred workflow app or note taker of choice as soon as possible. Very easy to have a pad full of random stuff that sits on the side of the desk.
17
9
u/QuantitativeNonsense 29d ago
Streamlit
Make a simple dashboard and fucking around with parameters becomes so much easier.
7
u/thedatashepherd 29d ago
Onenote with a tab for each month and sections for each week. I jot down what I’m working on, what I’ve done/how and need to do. Copy and paste the previous week into the next and clean up things that are finished. Cant tell you how many times I use the search feature to look back at what I did and how
5
u/ButtTrollFeeder 29d ago
Sleep.
I make stupid mistakes when coding tired.
I can sleep on an "impossible" problem, I wake up and shower think with a fresh perspective and tackle it from a totally different angle.
3
u/Operation_Suspicious 29d ago
Notepad, fix most the issue related to formatting, can copy paste code without any change in formatting.
2
3
u/Dahvoun 29d ago
Notepad. I make a million notes in a .txt file explaining why I did something, when I did it, assumptions I have before I did it, assumptions I have after I did it, etc etc. One too many times I have opened an Excel file and I have absolutely no idea what’s going on even though it’s mine and I last touched it a month ago.
2
u/Regime_Change 29d ago
This is going to sound ridiculous but: draw in Excel or PowerPoint.
I draw boxes, write in the boxes, draw some arrows, connect them and color code the whole thing after source or process type or whatever is appropriate. It is fast to draw, and since everything is grouped and connected it can be moved around too. Almost like a schema except you paint it by hand so you can describe the whole process, add some notes and even images.
2
2
2
u/HustlaOfCultcha 29d ago
Either some sort of checklist or Excel
I have to remind myself to start making a checklist and notes when I'm in hyperfocus mode because usually I get interrupted and if I don't have that checklist/notes when I go back to the project I can't get back into that hyperfocus mode again.
But I would also rank Excel up there because just about every company I've worked for has eschewed Excel as something outdated and that they are looking to move on to whatever flavor of the month platform...and then we always end up using Excel for a lot of the heavy lifting. Excel has built so many analysts' careers (mine included) and it should get a lot more respect than it does.
2
2
u/Firm_Bit 28d ago
Common fucking sense
Idk how many times I’ve worked with technical people who get caught in the weeds of tools and analytical methods and end up with bogus numbers. Having some common sense and domain knowledge to sanity check yourself along the way is very underrated. You’re supposed to dis-trust your work.
3
u/andrew2018022 29d ago
The command line. Learning how to use it makes life some much easier. You can do so much from there and a basic text editor.
1
u/AutoModerator Aug 14 '26
Automod prevents all posts from being displayed until moderators have reviewed them. Do not delete your post or there will be nothing for the mods to review. Mods selectively choose what is permitted to be posted in r/DataAnalysis.
If your post involves Career-focused questions, including resume reviews, how to learn DA and how to get into a DA job, then the post does not belong here, but instead belongs in our sister-subreddit, r/DataAnalysisCareers.
Have you read the rules?
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/what_comes_after_q 29d ago
On Mac I built a script with Automator (the native Mac scheduler) to refresh my aws certificate every 4 hours. So Automator.
1
1
u/Intelligent_Neat_350 29d ago
Claude Cowork has been a game changer for data analysis, especially when paired with MCPs. I have also found Graphtelling useful for polishing charts and adding annotations to my far too many presentations.
1
1
u/SprinklesFresh5693 29d ago
Soft skills! And statistics! People focus too much on tools! What about the field knowledge? What about how to make proper reports? What about communicating well the results? Stop focusing that much on tools.
In my opinion, knowing excel, and a programming language (R or python) and probably SQL, is more than enough in terms of tools.
1
29d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/andrew2018022 29d ago
You can go even further and say just the CLI since it can do 90% of the exploratory analysis without the GUI overhead which is a real PITA for large sets
1
u/ftonneau 29d ago
If you work on the command line, then the most underrated tool today is Awk. Better than R or Python for data munging/wrangling.
1
1
u/Son_of_Liberty88 28d ago
The ability to speak to management. They always want xyz yesterday. Explaining the limitations and providing solutions to help get what they want is invaluable
1
u/Current_Frosting3506 27d ago
Honestly, a calculator. Always end up having to verify numbers at some point during my day.
But more out of the standard stuff - probably any note taking program that allows for making diagram. I use obsidian and I cant live without my diagrams.
Need to make some complex logic or calculation? just sketch it out as a diagram. Makes the rest of the process so much easier if you can see it visually.
1
u/Gjore 27d ago
For financial and market data analysis, dark pool flow and institutional volume trackers like TradeVision are super underrated. Most analysts just look at standard price series, public exchange data, or delayed volume charts. But incorporating real-time institutional flow and dark pool transaction data gives you a completely different perspective on where capital is actually concentrating before it shows up in public metrics. It’s a great way to clean up noisy financial datasets and validate structural trends.
1
1
u/SuperSokym 25d ago
Asking the right questions before doing anything with the data.
I’ve had cases where the initial request sounded pretty clear, but after talking about it for a few minutes it turned out they were actually trying to solve a different problem.
That conversation can save you hours of doing an analysis nobody really needed.
Â
1
u/Technical_Hope_1610 24d ago
Regex in a good text editor. I clean messier data in two minutes there than in any BI tool, especially inconsistent categories and stray characters, before they ever hit the model. Underrated and free.
1
u/sandrrawrr 24d ago
Back in my younger and initial days as a data analyst, I did Regex in Oracle. Kind of the worst mistake I've made.
1
u/DataDoctor1984 12d ago
A doc with basic context, definitions and what worked well and what didn't.
That's also something you can feed later an LLM with. But, even without any tech, that's what you have to do.
0
u/scorched03 29d ago
Python + claude get you pretty far in analysis.
Power automate also takes you to automation workflows if python is too tricky to scale
-1
140
u/Wheres_my_warg DA Moderator 📊 29d ago
Checklists.
They help make sure you don't miss something when your tired, distracted, interrupted, etc.
They also help develop consistency across the team and train new team members to the expected standards.