Welcome to another curated, Promoted Episode of Experiencing Data! 

In episode 144, Shashank Garg, Co-Founder and CEO of Infocepts, joins me to explore whether all this discussion of data products out on the web actually has substance and is worth the perceived extra effort. Do we always need to take a product approach for ML and analytics initiatives? Shashank dives into how Infocepts approaches the creation of data solutions that are designed to be actionable within specific business workflows—and as I often do, I started out by asking Shashank how he and Infocepts define the term “data product.” We discuss a few real-world applications Infocepts has built, and the measurable impact of these data products—as well as some of the challenges they’ve faced that your team might as well. Skill sets also came up; who does design? Who takes ownership of the product/value side? And of course, we touch a bit on GenAI.

Highlights/ Skip to

Shashank gives his definition of data products  (01:24) We tackle the challenges of user adoption in data products (04:29) We discuss the crucial role of integrating actionable insights into data products for enhanced decision-making (05:47) Shashank shares insights on the evolution of data products from concept to practical integration (10:35) We explore the challenges and strategies in designing user-centric data products (12:30) I ask Shashank about typical environments and challenges when starting new data product consultations (15:57) Shashank explains how Infocepts incorporates AI into their data solutions (18:55) We discuss the importance of understanding user personas and engaging with actual users (25:06) Shashank describes the roles involved in data product development’s ideation and brainstorming stages (32:20) The issue of proxy users not truly representing end-users in data product design is examined (35:47) We consider how organizations are adopting a product-oriented approach to their data strategies (39:48) Shashank and I delve into the implications of GenAI and other AI technologies on product orientation and user adoption (43:47) Closing thoughts (51:00)

Quotes from Today’s Episode

“Data products, at least to us at Infocepts, refers to a way of thinking about and organizing your data in a way so that it drives consumption, and most importantly, actions.” - Shashank Garg (1:44) “The way I see it is [that] the role of a DPM (data product manager)—whether they have the title or not—is benefits creation. You need to be responsible for benefits, not for outputs. The outputs have to create benefits or it doesn’t count. Game over” - Brian O’Neill (10:07) We talk about bridging the gap between the worlds of business and analytics... There's a huge gap between the perception of users and the tech leaders who are producing it." - Shashank Garg (17:37) “IT leaders often limit their roles to provisioning their secure data, and then they rely on businesses to be able to generate insights and take actions. Sometimes this handoff works, and sometimes it doesn’t because of quality governance.” - Shashank Garg  (23:02) “Data is the kind of field where people can react very, very quickly to what’s wrong.”  - Shashank Garg (29:44) “It’s much easier to get to a good prototype if we know what the inputs to a prototype are, which include data about the people who are going to use the solution, their usage scenarios, use cases, attitudes, beliefs…all these kinds of things.” - Brian O’Neill (31:49) “For data, you need a separate person, and then for designing, you need a separate person, and for analysis, you need a separate person—the more you can combine, I don’t think you can create super-humans who can do all three, four disciplines, but at least two disciplines and can appreciate the third one that makes it easier.” - Shashank Garg (39:20) “When we think of AI, we’re all talking about multiple different delivery methods here. I think AI is starting to become GenAI to a lot of non-data people. It’s like their—everything is GenAI.” -  Brian O'Neill (43:48)

Links

Infocepts website: https://www.infocepts.ai/ Shashank Garg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shashankgarg/  Top 5 Data & AI initiatives for business success: https://www.infocepts.ai/downloads/top-5-data-and-ai-initiatives-to-drive-business-growth-in-2024-beyond/

This week I’m covering Part 1 of the 15 Ways to Increase User Adoption of Data Products, which is based on an article I wrote for subscribers of my mailing list. Throughout this episode, I describe why focusing on empathy, outcomes, and user experience leads to not only better data products, but also better business outcomes. The focus of this episode is to show you that it’s completely possible to take a human-centered approach to data product development without mandating behavioral changes, and to show how this approach benefits not just end users, but also the businesses and employees creating these data products. 

Highlights/ Skip to:

Design behavior change into the data product. (05:34) Establish a weekly habit of exposing technical and non-technical members of the data team directly to end users of solutions - no gatekeepers allowed. (08:12) Change funding models to fund problems, not specific solutions, so that your data product teams are invested in solving real problems. (13:30) Hold teams accountable for writing down and agreeing to the intended benefits and outcomes for both users and business stakeholders. Reject projects that have vague outcomes defined. (16:49) Approach the creation of data products as “user experiences” instead of a “thing” that is being built that has different quality attributes. (20:16) If the team is tasked with being “innovative,” leaders need to understand the innoficiency problem, shortened iterations, and the importance of generating a volume of ideas (bad and good) before committing to a final direction. (23:08) Co-design solutions with [not for!] end users in low, throw-away fidelity, refining success criteria for usability and utility as the solution evolves. Embrace the idea that research/design/build/test is not a linear process. (28:13) Test (validate) solutions with users early, before committing to releasing them, but with a pre-commitment to react to the insights you get back from the test. (31:50)

Links:

15 Ways to Increase Adoption of Data Products: https://designingforanalytics.com/resources/15-ways-to-increase-adoption-of-data-products-using-techniques-from-ux-design-product-management-and-beyond/ Company website: https://designingforanalytics.com Episode 54: https://designingforanalytics.com/resources/episodes/054-jared-spool-on-designing-innovative-ml-ai-and-analytics-user-experiences/ Episode 106: https://designingforanalytics.com/resources/episodes/106-ideaflow-applying-the-practice-of-design-and-innovation-to-internal-data-products-w-jeremy-utley/ Ideaflow: https://www.amazon.com/Ideaflow-Only-Business-Metric-Matters/dp/0593420586/ Podcast website: https://designingforanalytics.com/podcast

Today I’m chatting with Iván Herrero Bartolomé, Chief Data Officer at Grupo Intercorp. Iván describes how he was prompted to write his new article in CDO Magazine, “CDOs, Let’s Get Out of Our Comfort Zone” as he recognized the importance of driving cultural change within organizations in order to optimize the use of data. Listen in to find out how Iván is leveraging the role of the analytics translator to drive this cultural shift, as well as the challenges and benefits he sees data leaders encounter as they move from tactical to strategic objectives. Iván also reveals the number one piece of advice he’d give CDOs who are struggling with adoption. 

Highlights / Skip to:

Iván explains what prompted him to write his new article, “CDOs, Let’s Get Out of Our Comfort Zone” (01:08) What Iván feels is necessary for data leaders to close the gap between data and the rest of the business and why (03:44) Iván dives into who he feels really owns delivery of value when taking on new data science and analytics projects (09:50) How Iván’s team went from managing technical projects that often didn’t make it to production to working on strategic projects that almost always make it to production (13:06) The framework Iván has developed to upskill technical and business roles to be effective data / analytics translators (16:32) The challenge Iván sees data leaders face as they move from setting and measuring tactical goals to moving towards strategic goals and initiatives (24:12) Iván explains how the C-Suite’s attitude impacts the cross-functional role of data & analytics leadership (28:55) The number one piece of advice Iván would give new CDO’s struggling with low adoption of their data products and solutions (31:45)

Quotes from Today’s Episode “We’re going to do all our best to ensure that [...] everything that is expected from us is done in the best possible way. But that’s not going to be enough. We need a sponsorship and we need someone accountable for the project and someone who will be pushing and enabling the use of the solution once we are gone. Because we cannot stay forever in every company.” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (10:52)

“We are trying to upskill people from the business to become data translators, but that’s going to take time. Especially what we try to do is to take product owners and give them a high-level immersion on the state-of-the-art and the possibilities that data analytics bring to the table. But as we can’t rely on our companies having this kind of talent and these data translators, they are one of the profiles that we bring in for every project that we work on.” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (13:51)

“There’s a lot to do, not just between data and analytics and the other areas of the company, but aligning the incentives of all the organization towards the same goals in a way that there’s no friction between the goals of the different areas, the people, [...]  and the final goals of the organization. – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (23:13) “Deciding which goals are you going to be co-responsible for, I think that is a sophisticated process that it’s not mastered by many companies nowadays. That probably is one of the main blockers keeping data analytics areas working far from their business counterparts” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (26:05)

“When the C-suite looks at data and analytics, if they think these are just technical skills, then the data analytics team are just going to behave as technical people. And many, many data analytics teams are set up as part of the IT organization. So, I think it all begins somehow with how the C-suite of our companies look at us.” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (28:55) “For me, [digital] means much more than the technical development of solutions; it should also be part of the transformation of the company, both in how companies develop relationships with their customers, but also inside how every process in the companies becomes more nimble and can react faster to the changes in the market.” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (30:49) “When you feel that everyone else not doing what you think they should be doing, think twice about whether it is they who are not doing what they should be doing or if it’s something that you are not doing properly.” – Iván Herrero Bartolomé (31:45)

Links “CDOs, Let’s Get Out of Our Comfort Zone”: https://www.cdomagazine.tech/cdo_magazine/topics/opinion/cdos-lets-get-out-of-our-comfort-zone/article_dce87fce-2479-11ed-a0f4-03b95765b4dc.html LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-herrero-bartolome/

Today I’m chatting with Emilie Shario, a Data Strategist in Residence at Amplify Partners. Emilie thinks data teams should operate like product teams. But what led her to that conclusion, and how has she put the idea into practice? Emilie answers those questions and more, delving into what kind of pushback and hiccups someone can expect when switching from being data-driven to product-driven and sharing advice for data scientists and analytics leaders.

Highlights / Skip to:

Answering the question “whose job is it” (5:18) Understanding and solving problems instead of just building features people ask for (9:05) Emilie explains what Amplify Partners is and talks about her work experience and how it fuels her perspectives on data teams (11:04) Emilie and I talk about the definition of data product (13:00) Emilie talks about her approach to building and training a data team (14:40) We talk about UX designers and how they fit into Emilie’s data teams (18:40) Emilie talks about the book and blog “Storytelling with Data” (21:00) We discuss the push back you can expect when trying to switch a team from being data driven to being product driven (23:18) What hiccups can people expect when switching to a product driven model (30:36) Emilie’s advice for data scientists and and analyst leaders (35:50) Emilie explains what Locally Optimistic is (37:34)

Quotes from Today’s Episode “Our thesis is…we need to understand the problems we’re solving before we start building solutions, instead of just building the things people are asking for.” — Emilie (2:23)

“I’ve seen this approach of flipping the ask on its head—understanding the problem you’re trying to solve—work and be more successful at helping drive impact instead of just letting your data team fall into this widget builder service trap.” — Emilie (4:43)

“If your answer to any problem to me is, ‘That’s not my job,’ then I don’t want you working for me because that’s not what we’re here for. Your job is whatever the problem in front of you that needs to be solved.” — Emilie (7:14)

“I don’t care if you have all of the data in the world and the most talented machine learning engineers and you’ve got the ability to do the coolest new algorithm fancy thing. If it doesn’t drive business impact, it doesn’t matter.” — Emilie (7:52)

“Data is not just a thing that anyone can do. It’s not just about throwing numbers in a spreadsheet anymore. It’s about driving business impact. But part of how we drive business impact with data is making it accessible. And accessible isn’t just giving people the numbers, it’s also communicating with it effectively, and UX is a huge piece of how we do that.” — Emilie (19:57)

“There are no null choices in design. Someone is deciding what some other human—a customer, a client, an internal stakeholder—is going to use, whether it’s a React app, or a Power BI dashboard, or a spreadsheet dump, or whatever it is, right? There will be an experience that is created, whether it is intentionally created or not.” — Brian (20:28)

“People will think design is just putting in colors that match together, like, or spinning the color wheel and seeing what lands. You know, there’s so much more to it. And it is an expertise; it is a domain that you have to develop.” — Emilie (34:58)

Links Referenced: Blog post by Rifat Majumder storytellingwithdata.com Experiencing Data Episode 28 with Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic locallyoptimistic.com Twitter: @emilieschario