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Transcript for this episode (link) provided by Starburst. See their Data Mesh Summit recordings here and their great data mesh resource center here. You can download their Data Mesh for Dummies e-book (info gated) here.

Alexa's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrawestlake/

Alexa's Medium: https://medium.com/@westlakealexa

In this episode, Scott interviewed Alexa Westlake, Senior Data Analyst at Okta. To be clear though, she was only representing her own views.

Some key takeaways/thoughts from Alexa's point of view:

1. Data can be transformational but it is expensive to do the work. "Without literacy, all your analytics is is expensive." So do the data literacy work to make your data work actually valuable.
2. ?Controversial?: Don't focus your transformation initiatives around a negative, focus on a goal/aspiration. It is hard to maintain momentum around pain, especially as it starts to ease with early wins. While pain points can pique attention, shared goals and collective outcomes will keep people bought in and motivated.
3. ?Controversial?: Data is "not going to make or break you [in every case], it is there to help you be better, it is there to help you unlock your full potential." Use it to sharpen your competitive advantage.
4. As you scale your organization, if you do not prioritize data - the way you manage the people, processes, and tech around data - you will generate a ton of friction. It will create a "feedback loop of pain."
5. "Never jump and hope." You need to make sure you have the support to get your initiatives going and then maintain momentum.
6. !Important!: Data work is often not the number one priority for the stakeholders you serve. Understand that and keep close enough to make sure you are working on analytics to support their top priorities.
7. Alignment...