This presentation will show how statisticians can work more like data scientists: producing work that is reusable, scalable and automated. It will demonstrate why these concepts are useful, and provide practical tips. This talk will then discuss how to answer a policy question with statistics. Analytics teams of statisticians, data scientists, and computer scientists are now working closer than ever with policy makers. This poses challenges when bringing these two different fields together. This presentation will provide tips for both analysts and policy makers to make analytics more useful.

Bio: Kylie is a former VUW student and is a data scientist working for the governments’ new Social Investment Agency. Kylie was instrumental in building key reusable statistical tools to reduce time to insight across the social sector. Kylie was a recipient of a Te Tipu Putaiao (Māori Knowledge) Fellowship from the former Foundation for Research Science and Technology and maintains a special interest in Maori data and outcomes. She holds an MSc in Applied Statistics from Victoria University and is an executive member of the NZ Statistics Association and the NZ Analytics Forum. Kylie is currently lead analyst at the Social Investment Agency, government’s agency charged with using data driven insights to improve outcomes for New Zealanders.