In this episode of the Agile Data Podcast, host Shane Gibson sits down with Scott Herman, a community builder who successfully launched and grew the Data Mesh Learning community.

In this episode, the conversation explores the core patterns and strategies for building and sustaining modern tech communities. Scott explains how community success relies on driving active engagement rather than chasing vanity metrics, distinguishing between passive observers and true contributors. He emphasizes the importance of reducing friction for participation, offering focused niche content, and staying adaptable rather than strictly sticking to rigid, upfront marketing plans.

The discussion also dives deep into “community ops” and operational execution, detailing how to manage varying member fluency through automated onboarding and dedicated spaces for beginner questions. Scott breaks down his “ask, not offer” approach to member recruitment and outlines why a viable community team requires at least two full-time roles—one focused on inviting and enabling members, and another on content flow and friction reduction—to avoid overloading a single individual. Additionally, they examine how communities can survive founder transitions by deliberately cultivating and anointing new champions.

Whether you are curious about community acquisition funnels, designing an optimal two-person community team, managing member onboarding across fluency levels, or strategies to ensure long-term community survival beyond a single founder, this episode is packed with valuable insights for data professionals and community leaders.

If you want want to read a summary generated with GenAI, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/217042685/google-notebooklm-briefing

If you want to download the transcript for the podcast, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/217042685/transcript

Listen to more podcasts on applying Agile Data patterns over at https://podcast.agiledata.io/

If you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility on LinkedIn.

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“That’s not what I wanted.”

Shane runs a one-day workshop on the Information Product Canvas, a repeatable way to gather data requirements in 30 minutes. The approach he actually uses with his stakeholders, not a textbook version that falls apart on contact with messy data and vague stakeholder requirements.

Latest dates: Gather data requirements in 30 minutes using a shared language.

Simply Magical Data Ways of Working

In this episode of the Agile Data N’ Info Podcast, host LinkedIn or over at https://thinksolverepeat.substack.com/

If you want want to read a summary generated with GenAI, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/204924358/google-notebooklm-briefing

If you want to download the transcript for the podcast, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/204924358/transcript

Listen to more podcasts on applying Agile Data patterns over at https://podcast.agiledata.io/

If you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility on LinkedIn.

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Simply Magical Data Ways of Working

In this episode of the Agile Data N' Info Podcast, host Shane Gibson sits down with Shaun McGirr, a generalist data professional with over 20 years of experience who currently works at Dataiku.

In this episode, the conversation explores the impact of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) on the data value stream. Shane and Shaun explain how LLMs represent an "iPhone moment" in technology, offering powerful conversational interfaces that can grasp context better than previous systems. By focusing on automating and augmenting their own workflows first—such as reading complex database schemas or writing board proposals—data professionals can find immediate value before rolling out these technologies to business stakeholders.

The discussion also dives deep into the complexities of requirements gathering and stakeholder engagement, clarifying the crucial differences between automated AI outputs and the necessity of human interaction. Shaun and Shane break down how over-automating requirements through AI risks cutting out the vital human-to-human collaboration that drives real strategic differentiation, while highlighting how LLMs can serve as excellent "rubber ducks" to identify blind spots in enterprise documentation.

Whether you are curious about tech waves like Big Data or the Modern Data Stack, how LLMs are revitalizing semantic layers and metadata, or how the role of the business analyst is making a comeback in the AI era, this episode is packed with valuable insights for data professionals.

If you want want to read a summary generated with GenAI, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/214159336/google-notebooklm-briefing

If you want to download the transcript for the podcast, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/214159336/transcript

Listen to more podcasts on applying Agile Data patterns over at https://podcast.agiledata.io/

If you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility on LinkedIn.

Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast  | Amazon Audible | TuneIn | iHeartRadio | PlayerFM | Listen Notes | Podchaser |  Deezer | Podcast Addict | 

“That’s not what I wanted.”

Shane runs a one-day workshop on the Information Product Canvas, a repeatable way to gather data requirements in 30 minutes. The approach he actually uses with his stakeholders, not a textbook version that falls apart on contact with messy data and vague stakeholder requirements.

Latest dates: Gather data requirements in 30 minutes using a shared language.

Simply Magical Data Ways of Working

Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Ahmed Elsamadisi on the Activity Schema Modeling pattern.

Listen to more podcasts on applying AgileData patterns over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/

If you want to join us on the next podcast, get in touch over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/#contact

Or if you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility or Nigel @nigelvining on LinkedIn.

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Simply Magical Data

Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Hans Hultgren on the core Data Vault Modeling patterns.

If you want want to read a summary generated with GenAI, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/167680739/google-notebooklm-briefing

if you want to download the transcript for the podcast, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/167680739/transcript

Listen to more podcasts on applying Agile Data patterns over at https://podcast.agiledata.io/

If you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility on LinkedIn.

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Simply Magical Data Ways of Working

Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Joe Reis on his experience in building and running a successful data and analytics consulting company.

If you want to read the transcript for the podcast head over to:

Listen to more podcasts on applying AgileData patterns over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/

If you want to join us on the next podcast, get in touch over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/#contact

Or if you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility or Nigel @nigelvining on LinkedIn.

Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast  | Amazon Audible | TuneIn | iHeartRadio | PlayerFM | Listen Notes | Podchaser | 

Simply Magical Data

In this episode of the Agile Data N’ Info Podcast, host Shane Gibson sits down with Tomas Kratky, founder of Manta and a software engineer with over two decades of experience helping large enterprises master data lineage.

In this episode, the conversation explores the intricate world of data lineage and the shift toward active metadata. Tomas explains how lineage should move beyond just simple traceability or the mere collection of data to focus on “design lineage,” giving organizations full visibility into all possible system dependencies to enable safe and agile change management. By focusing on integrating and activating metadata, companies can embed insights directly into users’ daily workflows rather than relying on massive, often empty, centralized data catalogs.

The discussion also dives deep into the complexities of mapping metadata across diverse enterprise architectures, clarifying the immense challenge of parsing everything from custom SQL grammar to Excel sheets and legacy SAS macros. Tomas breaks down how automated, detailed lineage can unlock powerful use cases, such as proactively alerting users of data quality drops or significantly reducing compute costs by identifying and decommissioning unused data pipelines.

Whether you are curious about why lineage is often relegated to a feature rather than a standalone category, how the industry’s obsession with data self-service overlooks the “silver service” needs of everyday business users, or want to learn about the ongoing challenges facing open metadata sharing standards, this episode is packed with valuable insights for data professionals.

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/207557902/google-notebooklm-briefing

If you want to download the transcript for the podcast, head over to:

https://agiledata.substack.com/i/207557902/transcript

Listen to more podcasts on applying Agile Data patterns over at https://podcast.agiledata.io/

If you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility on LinkedIn.

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Simply Magical Data Ways of Working

Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Raj Joseph on his experience in defining data observability patterns.

Listen to more podcasts on applying AgileData techniques over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/ or read more on our AgileData Way of Working over at https://wow.agiledata.io/way-of-working/

If you want to join us on the next podcast, get in touch over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/#contact

Or if you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility or Nigel @nigelvining on LinkedIn.

Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast  | Amazon Audible | TuneIn | iHeartRadio | PlayerFM | Listen Notes | Podchaser | 

Simply Magical Data

Join Shane and Nigel as they discuss how and why we define a conceptual model of Concepts, Details and Events in AgileData and how we map these to a physical Data Vault model.

Listen to more podcasts from Shane and Nigel on applying AgileData techniques over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/

If you have a suggestion on a subject you would like us to discuss on the next podcast, or even better you want to join us on the next podcast, send us a suggestion over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/#contact

Or if you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility or Nigel @nigelvining over on Twitter.

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Simply Magical Data

Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Justin Bauer on his experience combining the worlds of agile and product in a data driven company.

Listen to more podcasts on applying AgileData techniques over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/ or read more on our AgileData Way of Working over at https://wow.agiledata.io/way-of-working/

If you want to join us on the next podcast, get in touch over at https://agiledata.io/podcasts/#contact

Or if you just want to talk about making magic happen with agile and data you can connect with Shane @shagility or Nigel @nigelvining on LinkedIn.

Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast  | Amazon Audible | TuneIn | iHeartRadio | PlayerFM | Listen Notes | Podchaser | 

Simply Magical Data