Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting Any Data Science Project

While technical skill is undeniably important when approaching any data science effort, there is an art to data science and machine learning that doesn't seem to be discussed as often as pure technical skill is. These more soft skills help a seasoned data scientist navigate through numerous opportunities as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. The fact of the matter is that pretty much every data science effort has its own flair to it that poses unique challenges that may (or frankly, may not) be worth pursuing. Because applied data science always grounds itself in seeking a solution to a real world problem, having subject matter expertise about that real world problem is an absolute must. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect for a data scientist themselves to have that subject matter expertise themselves.