Bring the question.
A decision, forecast, dashboard, campaign analysis, recommendation, sanitized dataset, or AI answer that is not yet strong enough to defend.
WORKING LAB // REAL WORK // LIVE REVIEW
Bring the project you are working on right now. Get to an answer you can defend.
For three months, bring the forecasts, dashboards, recommendations, campaign analyses, operating questions, and AI-assisted answers you already own. Twice each week, get an experienced second set of eyes on what to trust, what to challenge, and what to do next.
AI suggests.×You provide the judgment.
LIVE SCHEDULE
Your time, automatically.
Tuesday + Thursday1:00 PM Central75 minutes3 months
THIS IS THE APPLICATION LAYER
The free series teaches the method. The Lab applies it to the work you actually own.
There is no separate curriculum to complete before the Lab becomes useful. Bring a finance forecast, variance question, scenario, pipeline analysis, attribution problem, segmentation decision, dashboard, recommendation, or AI answer and use the room to make the work stronger now.
WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE
We work the analysis you need to finish, not a hypothetical exercise.
Show the evidence.
Explain what you tried, what AI suggested, and where your confidence breaks down.
Challenge the work.
Test assumptions, context, alternatives, evidence, and whether the answer actually supports the decision.
Make the call.
Leave with a clearer analytical decision, next step, verification test, or monitoring trigger.
THE CADENCE
Two working sessions every week.
75 mineach session
15 minfocused lesson
60 minQ&A / review
3 minquestion limit
SESSION TIMES
SessionsTuesday and Thursday
Time1:00 PM
TimezoneCentral Time
Next entryMonthly
Sessions are live. Join in any month and attend for three months, except announced vacation and holiday weeks.
This is not work on top of your work. Bring the forecast, dashboard, analysis, or recommendation you already need to finish and use the Lab to reduce wrong turns.
Your advantage is knowing the business. Bring Excel, Power BI, Tableau, Python, or the AI workflow you already use. The goal is not software-engineering identity. It is knowing whether the answer holds up in your real context.
Use the Lab on decisions you already own. The value is repeated review while the forecast, recommendation, campaign, or operating decision is still being shaped, not after the work is finished.
PURCHASE QUESTIONS
Know what you're buying before you buy it.
Can my employer pay or reimburse me?
Yes. The Lab can be purchased as professional training. Team buyers should use the Teams option for three or more seats.
What if I miss a session?
Attend the sessions that fit during your three-month access period. The program is continuous rather than built around one fragile weekly attendance schedule.
Will you do the work for me?
You remain the owner of the work and the decision. I help challenge the reasoning, diagnose weak analysis, and find a stronger path.
Can I use company data?
Yes, with appropriate sanitization. Use aggregated, de-identified, or a stand-in dataset with the same structure. Private team delivery is available when confidentiality requires a closed environment.
What happens if it is not the right fit?
Attend up to the first two live sessions. If the Lab is not right for the work you brought, email engage@fastdatasecrets.com before the third live session for a full refund. After the third session begins, the purchase is nonrefundable, but you may transfer the remaining access to one colleague.
WHO YOU ARE WORKING WITH
Stephen McDaniel
Analytics, forecasting, and decision work at Netflix, Tableau, SAS, Oracle, and Yahoo. Practitioner teaching for INFORMS, TDWI, and the American Marketing Association. Author of The Accidental Analyst, which Pat Hanrahan used in his Tableau Conference keynote and discussed as an influence on how he taught analytics at Stanford.
Stephen starts with the business need, identifies the critical actionable insight, and works backward to the technology.
CFO, Nordstrom Card Services
Stephen is a true data and analytics subject-matter expert. He teaches complex material effortlessly.
General Manager, Deloitte AI Practice
Stephen had an immediate and substantial impact. He created metrics and visualizations we had not envisioned.
Head of Strategic Partnerships, GoFundMe
WHY LIVE REVIEW MATTERS
“In four days of live training I built confidence in the areas where I was on the right track; learned time-saving shortcuts; and moved through roadblocks I had not been able to surmount through reference manuals and trial-and-error. I’ll now not only be faster, but also more capable and able to produce a better product.”
Susan Kistler, AEA365, on Stephen McDaniel's Tableau training
I DON'T HAVE TIME
Bring the work already consuming your week.
Use the session to get through the point where the forecast, analysis, recommendation, or AI answer has stalled or become hard to trust.
I'M NOT TECHNICAL ENOUGH
The objective is better business judgment, not software-engineering identity.
AI increasingly handles the mechanics. You bring the context, accountability, and judgment. The Lab gives you an experienced second set of eyes on what deserves to drive the decision.
IS $2,450 WORTH IT?
Use it on decisions you already own.
Three months of repeated expert review can be applied to the forecasts, variance analyses, scenarios, pipeline questions, attribution work, dashboards, recommendations, and AI answers you already have to deliver.
WHAT YEARS OF LIVE TRAINING SUGGEST
“I’ll now not only be faster, but also more capable and able to produce a better product.”
Susan Kistler, American Evaluation Association
“I was immediately able to go back to work and apply the skills I gained... to solve a problem that some thought couldn’t be done in-house.”
Danyelle Mannix, PhD, US Department of Health & Human Services
“The class has provided insights I needed to consider in the way I design data structures.”
Gary deBoer, Enterprise Architect
These are historical training outcomes, not promises of a specific result. The Working Lab applies the same hands-on, real-work philosophy to today's AI-assisted analysis.
THE WAY I WORK
START WITH THE BUSINESS
“Stephen is a master at understanding the business, identifying what key actionable insights are critical, and then building the analytical and technical systems to support that.”
John Lodmell, Nordstrom / financial-services leadership
TEACH COMPLEX MATERIAL CLEARLY
“Stephen is a true Data and Analytics subject matter expert... The course was excellent.”
Diego Saenz, Deloitte AI leadership
CREATE BETTER INSIGHT
“Stephen had an immediate and substantial impact... [and] produced metrics and visualizations that we hadn't envisioned before.”
Jeff Katz, GoFundMe
YOU PICK THE TARGET. AI IS THE ARROW.