Why do we need or care about design in the work of data science? Jesús Templado, Managing Director at Bedrock, is here to tell us about how Bedrock executes their mantra, “data by design.” 

Bedrock has found ways to bring to their clients a design-driven, human-centered approach by utilizing a “hybrid model” to synthesize technical possibilities with human needs. In this episode, we explore Bedrock’s vision for how to achieve this synthesis as part of the firm’s DNA, and how Bedrock adopted their vision to make data more approachable with the client being central to their design efforts. Jesús also discusses a time when he championed making “data by design” a successful strategy with a large chain of hotels, and he offers insight on how making clients feel validated and heard plays a part.

In our chat, we also covered: 

• “Data by design” and how Bedrock implements this design-driven approach. (00:43)

“Many people in corporations don’t have the technical background to understand the possibilities when it comes to analyzing or using data. So, bringing a design-based framework, such as design thinking, is really important for all of the work that we do for our clients.” - Jesús Templado (2:33)

“We’ve mentioned “data by design” before as our mantra; we very much prefer building long-lasting relationships based on [understanding] our clients' business and their strategic goals. We then design and ideate an implementation roadmap with them and then based on that, we tackle different periods for building different models. But we build the models because we understand what’s going to bring us an outcome for the business—not because the business brings us in to deliver only a model for the sake of predicting what the weather is going to be in two weeks.”- Jesús Templado (14:07)

“I think as consultants and people in service, it’s always nice to make friends. And, I like when I can call a client a friend, but I feel like I’m really here to help them deliver a better future state [...] And the road may be bumpy, especially if design is a new thing. And it is often new; in the context of data science and analytics projects.”- Brian T. O’Neill (@rhythmspice) (26:49)

“When we do data science [...] that’s a means to an end. We do believe it’s important that the client understands the reasoning behind everything that we do and build, but at the end of the day, it’s about understanding that business problem, understanding the challenge that the company is facing, knowing what the expected outcome is, and knowing how you will deliver or predict that outcome to be used for something meaningful and relevant for the business.”- Jesús Templado (33:06)

“The appetite for innovation is high, but a lot of the companies that want to do it are more concerned about risk. Risk and innovation are at opposite ends of the spectrum. And so, if you want to be innovative, by definition—you’re signing up for failure on the way to success. [...] It’s about embracing an iterative process, it’s about getting feedback along the way, it’s about knowing that we don’t know everything, and we’re signing up for that ambiguity along the way to something better.”- Brian T. O’Neill (@rhythmspice) (38:20)

• Bedrock: https://bedrockdbd.com