It’s official – Santa Claus is Data Scientist
The family has all come together, peaceful music is playing and the children’s eyes are shining brightly as the tree is lighted. It’s Christmas Eve and Santa’s big performance is just around the corner.
Santa Claus is a Data Scientist.
It’s official – Santa Claus is Data Scientist
The family has all come together, peaceful music is playing and the children’s eyes are shining brightly as the tree is lighted. It’s Christmas Eve and Santa’s big performance is just around the corner.
Santa Claus is a Data Scientist.
Expectations of the man in the red coat are high: the right gift in the right place at the right time. An easy task for a single child, but with billions of Christmas wishes coming in from all over the world, a seemingly impossible task. People all over the world are therefore driven by one question:
How does Santa Claus manage this?
Let’s get away from the unbelievable assumption of some adults that Santa Claus does not actually exist and find the answer to this question. Starting with the theses that have been circling for years:
Is it his experience?
Of course, Santa Claus has been on the road for many decades on behalf of children, but this can probably not be the only reason for his successful work. However, his experience and his inner peace are of course important building blocks of his success over many years. But the reason for this admirable calm is surely also the true answer to our initial question, how he manages it all.
Is it his reindeer?
His special way of getting around is certainly a decisive factor on the Christmas holidays themselves. While delivery men have to deal with the problems of road traffic all year long, Santa Claus gains a significant time advantage with his flying sleigh. In addition, Santa uses the chimney slide – he saves time-consuming ringing of doorbells and climbing stairs.
Is it his elves?
Even Santa Claus can’t do his work alone. He has a well-coordinated team that supports him both during the preparations and during Christmas night. But to manage this amount of tasks, it would need a team that would probably be as large that it would be difficult to keep it secret and hidden throughout the year.
Is it his experience?
Of course, Santa Claus has been on the road for many decades on behalf of children, but this can probably not be the only reason for his successful work. However, his experience and his inner peace are of course important building blocks of his success over many years. But the reason for this admirable calm is surely also the true answer to our initial question, how he manages it all.
Is it his reindeer?
His special way of getting around is certainly a decisive factor on the Christmas holidays themselves. While delivery men have to deal with the problems of road traffic all year long, Santa Claus gains a significant time advantage with his flying sleigh. In addition, Santa uses the chimney slide – he saves time-consuming ringing of doorbells and climbing stairs.
Is it his elves?
Even Santa Claus can’t do his work alone. He has a well-coordinated team that supports him both during the preparations and during Christmas night. But to manage this amount of tasks, it would need a team that would probably be as large that it would be difficult to keep it secret and hidden throughout the year.
So, what’s the key secret for success?
The basic requirements of Santa Claus seem good, but still the secret is probably deeper: Is it a particularly sophisticated coordination or even pure magic?
Let’s approach the answer to the initial question again. This time by looking at its basic conditions: Millions of children with individual wishes, recipients spread all over the world, constant time pressure and numerous hard-working helpers who must be deployed in the best possible way – apart from not having an elaborate business plan, Santa’s requirements hardly differ from those of a modern entrepreneur.
In addition, it is obvious: Santa has large amounts of information. Christmas wishes from previous years, data from gift production, demographic information about the world’s population, accurate weather data…the list is long.
The big old man with the long beard as a data octopus? Christmas as the first Big Data case in human history? Completely ridiculous? Probably not!
When the days get shorter at the North Pole and the hot phase of gift production kicks off, everything has to run smoothly. Unforeseen incidents could bring the Christmas family celebration to a deep crisis.
Der Weihnachtsmann braucht deshalb frühzeitig Antworten auf die wichtigsten Fragen:
- What is the most popular gift request this year?
- Which gift combinations are particularly in demand?
- Which gift wishes come from which regions of the world?
- How can the packages be optimally stored in the sleigh?
- What will the weather be like on Christmas night?
Year after year, he finds the right answers to these and many other questions with fantastic certainty. It seems as if he knows exactly how to make use of the information available to him.
Santa Claus is no longer “just” a gift delivery guy – over the years, he has become a real data scientist.
The wisdom of Santa Claus and a bit of Data Science
Data analyses provide Santa with information on how he can optimally plan his production and how he can use his elves most efficiently for this purpose. He knows the children’s wishes long before the wish lists arrive and has exactly the right parts in stock all the time. His gift production machines are maintained with foresight, and an algorithm for automated control of the machines gives even the once-stressed Christmas elves plenty of free time. Using the most common gift packages, he can estimate how to best pack his sleigh and, of course, the route is optimized down to the last detail.
Finally, it is probably the combination of data science and empirical values that makes Santa Claus so successful and the feast of love such a wonderful time for children.
Thank God it’s Christmas.
Your next new year resolution 2023?
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