Analytical

Definition

Objectively reviewing data and drawing conclusions from the data.

Questions

How can we increase profit margins to attract more investors?

Where can we cut costs to be a more efficient company?

Brief Reflection

Analytical thinking is the strongest mindset I have. My mind naturally works that way, and I practiced it before in my engineering classes. I think analytically in almost every aspect of my day, all the way down to a simple task such as best routes to take when traffic is bad.

Zoom In Reflection

​During my freshman year I took one the engineering 112 class. In this class we had a giant semester project that sorted marbles. This machine was made up of multiple components that served different functions in the process of sorting the marbles. The first part funneled the marbles in the machine, the second read the size and color, and the third transferred the marbles into the appropriate bin. My role in the group was building the physical machine. Throughout the project various issues came up. We had to create the machine from scratch, and when we created certain problems, I would solve this. I utilized analytical thinking in the sense that I test ran the parts and visually reviewed what went wrong. Problems that occurred were things such as marbles feeding into the machine incorrectly, and components not matching up with the corresponding part. I reviewed the information and drew conclusions on why things wouldn’t work, then used my knowledge to appropriately fix things. I can improve upon my analytical thinking in the future by improving my capacity to review and understand data in whatever form it comes in. This will enable me to have a better overall approach towards working with data.