Today I’m joined by Vishal Singh, Head of Data Products at Starburst and co-author of the newly published e-book, Data Products for Dummies. Throughout our conversation, Vishal explains how the variations in definitions for a data product actually led to the creation of the e-book, and we discuss the differences between our two definitions. Vishal gives a detailed description of how he believes Data Product Managers should be conducting their discovery and gathering feedback from end users, and how his team evaluates whether their data products are truly successful and user-friendly.

Highlights/ Skip to:

I introduce Vishal, the Head of Data Products at Starburst and contributor of the e-book Data Products for Dummies (00:37) Vishal describes how his customers at Starburst all had a common problem, but differing definitions of a data product, which led to the creation of his e-book (01:15) Vishal shares his one-sentence definition of a data product (02:50) How Vishal’s definition of a data product differs from mine, and we both expand on the possibilities between the two (05:33) The tactics Vishal uses to useful feedback to ensure the data products he develops are valuable for end users (07:48) Why Vishal finds it difficult to get one on one feedback from users during the iteration phase of data product development (11:07) The danger of sunk cost bias in the iteration phase of data product development (13:10) Vishal describes how he views the role of a DPM when it comes to doing effective initial discovery (15:27) How Vishal structures his teams and their interactions with each other and their end users (21:34) Vishal’s thoughts on how design affects both data scientists and end users (24:16) How DPMs at Starburst evaluate if the data product design is user-friendly (28:45) Vishal’s views on where Designers are valuable in the data product development process (35:00) Vishal and I discuss the importance of ensuring your products truly solve your user’s problems (44:44) Where you can learn more about Vishal’s upcoming events and the e-book, Data Products for Dummies (49:48)

Links Starburst: https://www.starburst.io/ Data Products for Dummies: https://www.starburst.io/info/data-products-for-dummies/ “How to Measure the Impact of Data Products with Doug Hubbard”: https://designingforanalytics.com/resources/episodes/080-how-to-measure-the-impact-of-data-productsand-anything-else-with-forecasting-and-measurement-expert-doug-hubbard/ Trino Summit: https://www.starburst.io/info/trinosummit2023/ Galaxy Platform: https://www.starburst.io/platform/starburst-galaxy/ Datanova Summit: https://www.starburst.io/datanova/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/singhsvishal/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vishal_singh

Summary

With all of the messaging about treating data as a product it is becoming difficult to know what that even means. Vishal Singh is the head of products at Starburst which means that he has to spend all of his time thinking and talking about the details of product thinking and its application to data. In this episode he shares his thoughts on the strategic and tactical elements of moving your work as a data professional from being task-oriented to being product-oriented and the long term improvements in your productivity that it provides.

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