The environments used to develop advanced analytics have changed dramatically in a number of important ways. We have moved from the era of the lone, brilliant research scientist to a widely-distributed team focused on communication, collaboration, and shared work. Also, we have moved from a time when most of the work performed was lost due to the ineffective nature of our communications systems, tools, and modes of operating to an era when our environments have transparency and daily engagement across all levels of the organization.

Furthermore, we have moved from tools that were the domain of PhDs and specialist statisticians to tools that enable business analysts and citizen data scientists to contribute their knowledge and creativity. We have moved from proprietary tools that had prohibitive price tags to open source tools and new languages that are specially developed to meet our needs in data management and in analytics.

We have moved from centralized environments...