This is a very interesting topic that I have only seen discussed little so far. It also comes with the twist that data consumers are often more senior in the company than data analysts and frequently have a say when it comes to performance cycles which makes it even more complicated.
We've always tried to meet new senior data consumers as they just join the company and convey the message: It's best to bring in analysts as early on as possible and help them solve a problem with you instead of specifying that you want a chart with X and Z on the axis."
This makes sense when viewed from the perspective of the data analyst but when viewed from the lens of the data consumer, sometimes what you really want and get value from is actually a clearly specified chart (as in your case with the message to Erica).
When I've seen it go really bad is when the data producer have little or no sense of the work required and what they think will be a quick data pull is in fact potentially days of work for the analyst.
Yes, all around yes. There is so much to dig into here, so many different profiles of humans on the consumer side of this divide, so many ways that data teams do and don't work with them effectively. If nothing else, I'm hoping that this post provides a nudge to examine this topic more.
It's a brilliant way of thinking. It seems to me that we are stepping on the same B2P business mistake of years ago: too much focus on product that the actual customer is forgotten. Now B2P is on the right path called CX. We need to prioritize our valuable data consumers and their context of decision to deliver value.
"...being a great data consumer"
This is a very interesting topic that I have only seen discussed little so far. It also comes with the twist that data consumers are often more senior in the company than data analysts and frequently have a say when it comes to performance cycles which makes it even more complicated.
We've always tried to meet new senior data consumers as they just join the company and convey the message: It's best to bring in analysts as early on as possible and help them solve a problem with you instead of specifying that you want a chart with X and Z on the axis."
This makes sense when viewed from the perspective of the data analyst but when viewed from the lens of the data consumer, sometimes what you really want and get value from is actually a clearly specified chart (as in your case with the message to Erica).
When I've seen it go really bad is when the data producer have little or no sense of the work required and what they think will be a quick data pull is in fact potentially days of work for the analyst.
Yes, all around yes. There is so much to dig into here, so many different profiles of humans on the consumer side of this divide, so many ways that data teams do and don't work with them effectively. If nothing else, I'm hoping that this post provides a nudge to examine this topic more.
This post inspired me to update an older post of mine where I try to dissect the term "data people"
https://arpitc.substack.com/p/data-people
It's a brilliant way of thinking. It seems to me that we are stepping on the same B2P business mistake of years ago: too much focus on product that the actual customer is forgotten. Now B2P is on the right path called CX. We need to prioritize our valuable data consumers and their context of decision to deliver value.