“I spent 20 hours building this dashboard and no one ever used it. How can they not see its value? It is so awesome.” - Eric Weber, Data Scientist, circa 2015, making one of many embarrassing conclusions he has made in his career. When data science hit the mainstream in 2013-2014, companies rushed to call themselves “data-driven”. They hired data science teams. They built dashboards, models and insights. After all, the clearest path to getting value from data was clearly to use scientists who work with it, right? They asked “how do we become data-driven?” But they weren’t asking the right question.
I love your perspective, and I couldn't agree more with the customer perspective. I'll challenge this: back in 2013 when companies rushed to form data science teams, was that the right organizational model? Building the ideal data product requires a split perspective: 1 foot in the technology, and 1 foot firmly grounded in the domain you support.
To anticipate the "customer" needs, should you simply be part of the customer business processes from the start? Can you build sustainable, agile, or automated data products without being fully immersed - and part of the team organizationally?
I've seen it both ways. The de/centralization debate based on technology skills and overlapping requirements (a customer is a customer if you're in marketing or finance, right?) hasn't been settled. I lean toward function-specific roles, sitting in those teams, but I'm open to being wrong on that...
I love your perspective, and I couldn't agree more with the customer perspective. I'll challenge this: back in 2013 when companies rushed to form data science teams, was that the right organizational model? Building the ideal data product requires a split perspective: 1 foot in the technology, and 1 foot firmly grounded in the domain you support.
To anticipate the "customer" needs, should you simply be part of the customer business processes from the start? Can you build sustainable, agile, or automated data products without being fully immersed - and part of the team organizationally?
I've seen it both ways. The de/centralization debate based on technology skills and overlapping requirements (a customer is a customer if you're in marketing or finance, right?) hasn't been settled. I lean toward function-specific roles, sitting in those teams, but I'm open to being wrong on that...
As always, when I am reading your post, it is like taking a trip down memory lane. Where was this post three years back?
A great perspective Eric and a fantastic read. It is just what I needed to get through how to make my teams dashboards better!
Well written, and this is precisely what I see in my work. Product is solving a short term problem and it's far from being a long term solution
That was wonderful! Thanks for the insights. More of that please and thank you!
Excellent write up as always...