Driven by Data: The Podcast

In Episode 38 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sami Rahman, Head of Data Engineering and Data Platform at Penguin Random House, where they discuss how to build an MLOps capability that drives business benefit, which includes;

• His journey from Business Psychologist to MI5 reject to Data Leader
• Being told to give up because he would never work in data without a computer science degree
• Being unemployed for 1 year and receiving 326 rejections
• Building an entire MLOps system for £50,000
• Reducing the time to build models from months to days
• Reducing the time to productionise ML models from 5 months to minutes s
• Generating a 200% increase in performance across all 12 measures of success
• Why MLOps forces you to think about how the model will drive value
• How MLOps can be beneficial across the whole D&A value chain
• The differences between MLOps and AIOps
• Why MLOps isn’t new DevOps
• The future of MLOps and the relationship with Genertaive AI
• Choosing the right MLOps tech and tooling
• Why you need to explain MLOps in less than 2 sentences
• When you should start your MLOps journey
• The usual pitfalls both technical and business that people should be aware of
• The ethical considerations
• AI Explainability - how to understand the outcomes in a business context
• Why we should build an “evil” AI to tackle bias
• The skills you need to execute successful MLOps

In Episode 37 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Lena Mass Cresnik, where they discuss how organisations can develop a Generative AI strategy, which includes;

• The 7 components of a Generative AI strategy
• Generative AI as human intelligence augmentation
• Organisational ROI for using Generative AI tools
• The considerations of developing a Generative AI strategy and roadmap
• Financial Services and Fintech Generative AI business use cases
• The need for upskilling existing staff
• The role of organisational design and operating model in relation to Generative AI
• Measuring the performance and impact of Generative AI models
• The level of expertise or skills required within the data team to successfully execute a generative AI strategy
• The risks of Generative AI
• The differences to consider across different sectors
• The increase in hyper-personalised content
• The role that Generative AI will have on the Data & Analytics job market
• Where Data Leaders should start

In Episode 36 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Andy Cotgreave, Senior Data Evangelist at Tableau, where they discuss the role of data visualisation in driving change and realising value, which includes;

• Why successful data analysts often have varied backgrounds
• Why communication is not a soft skill
• How data visualisation is a language
• The impact that dashboards can have when presented effectively
• How even the most average dataset is highly subjective
• How it is so easy to tell different stories with the same data
• How the pandemic provided both examples of how you can strive to be neutral or enforce an opinion
• The art of creating effective dashboards
• The role of data visualisation in driving change and realising business value
• How, many executives use poorly presented charts in their keynotes
• Four practical tips for better presentation with data visualisation
• Why he disagrees with Seth Godin
• Why you should think about changing your visualisations even if the data is the same
• Who should care about storytelling with visualisations
• The importance of aesthetics
• Why different audiences require different dashboards
• The impact of data democratisation and self-serve on data visualisation
• Some key people of influence to follow in this space

In Episode 35 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Asheeka Hyde, Head of Trading Analytics and Data Science at Dunhelm, where they discuss tangible advice on how to be a better communicator to drive value, which includes;

• Having Data & Analytics as a key pillar of the organisation
• How to achieve executive alignment
• Why most executives are already bought-in
• Why it’s important for executives to actually experience the benefits of Data & Analytics
• How to demonstrate value as early as possible
• The importance of making data problems visible to the execs
• Why you have to truly inspire people
• Why “quick wins” are often merely for winning trust
• Understand what we mean by “value”
• The importance of saying ‘No’
• Why you need to change your communication depending upon the maturity of your organisation
• Why you need to get the execs to prioritise for you
• The differences to consider between organisations with a clear business strategy and ones without
• How there is more than one way of communicating and influencing
• Why working with a comms professional changed her communication style
• Why consistency of communication is absolutely critical
• Understanding if you are the right person to communicate the message you want to deliver
• Why your communication needs to be thoughtful
• If you want 80% of people to leave a room with the right message, you need to tell them 5 times
• Why you have to find different ways of saying the same thing
• The importance of utilising internal comms teams
• The know, do and feel communication framework
• The importance of testing if your message is landing
• Why, if you don’t tell your story then people will create their own

In Episode 34 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at The Very Group, where they discuss how to move data from a cost centre to a value creator, which includes;

• A transformation journey that has been ongoing for over a century
• Why some D&A teams are still seen as a cost centre and not a value-creating function
• Why demonstrating value creation is a primary responsibility of a Data Leader/CDO
• The tangible things that Steve has done to be seen as a value-creating function
• The 4 key pillars of their Data Strategy and measuring the capability maturity
• The value-creation measurement framework they’re using and how that helps to communicate
• Why you have to connect data and insight to action
• The importance of talking in outcomes and the benefits of those outcomes, and not data
• Why it’s imperative to have an operating model that supports value-creation
• A Joint-Venture model to prove value and take to an investment board
• How they’ve used hastags to demonstrate the value of Data & Analytics as an enabler to the business functions in those JV’s
• Why ‘data as a product’ has bridged the communication gap and acts as a client success manager
• Why PR has been critical in the success of the D&A team and how external validation has helped

In Episode 33 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Micheline Casey, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Siemens Energy, where they discuss how to create value-driven data products using design-thinking, which includes;

• Being the first CDO at the Federal Reserve
• Working in Senior Data Leadership at household names such as Ford, Maersk and now Siemens Energy
• The spin-off of Siemens Energy from Siemens and the challenges they’re tackling
• How there are close to a billion people worldwide who are under-served or don’t have energy
• How Data/AI is creating commercial value to the energy sector
• The sustainable energy transition movement
• The concept of design-thinking
• How to use design thinking to create tangible business value
• How to apply design thinking to create data products and artificial intelligence solutions
• Why it allows us to speak the right language to business stakeholders
• Why it allows you to get value iteratively and quickly
• Some real-life case studies in creating innovative data products that create business value
• The importance of slowing down to speed up
• Connecting design thinking to Data Strategy
• How design-thinking fits into the organisational design conversation
• Economic modelling for valuation - hard benefits and soft benefits
• The importance of designing for component reusability to allocate value  

In Episode 32 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Diane Berry, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Phoenix Group, where they discuss the journey from devising a data strategy to executing that strategy, which includes;

• The importance of providing interim value while on your strategic journey
• Why to do anything at scale you’ll need to have a multi-year strategy
• Why building relationships with key stakeholders/business leaders is essential for success
• The importance of validating your problem statement
• Why you need to develop a “front door process”
• The challenge of not being a P&L centre
• Why you need to tie the value of your work to key business projects
• Why it’s critical to align your data team to the business teams they’re serving
• Why your team need autonomy
• Why the Data Leader shouldn’t own all the relationships with the business
• The benefits of having a multi-disciplinary team
• Being able to attract career changers
• How to communicate your success and why you need to market yourself
• Knowing if you’ve got the buy-in of the business
• Measuring how you’re tracking against your data strategy
• Why you should never lose sight of the long-term
• The likely traps that can derail your data strategy
• The importance of your data teams ‘store front’
• The relationship between culture and buy-in

In Episode 31 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Taylor Culver, Founder of XenoData, where they discuss how Data Leaders can deliverable measurable value from their data strategy, which includes;

• Why ROI is a 'nice to have' for company executives, not a priority
• Innovation is what company execs and shareholders care about the most
• Finance leaders don’t measure impact on ROI, but IRR
• Organisations will happily spend on capex but not an opex, and what that means for Data Leaders
• Why culture and literacy aren’t the magic bullet, but good leadership is
• Data isn’t an asset, and if it was, why it wouldn’t be a good asset to have
• Why Data Leaders need to focus on adding the enterprise value of a firm
• If you’re being held accountable for ROI as a Data Leader then you’re already on the way out!
• Why Data Leaders already have everything they need to be successful
• The relationship between “value” and “ROI”
• Why innovation is what company execs and shareholders care about the most
• Why intangible value is far greater than the ROI you’ll generate
• Why finance leaders don’t measure impact on ROI, but IRR
• How data leaders can quantify their impact
• The importance of language
• Calculating the financial impact of data initiatives
• The differences between quantifying tangible and intangible benefits
• How ROI merely makes you more credible as a Data Leader
• Why organisations keep investing capital into data initiatives

In Episode 30 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Bethany Lyons, Chief Product Officer at Kawa Analytics, where they discuss the current data product landscape and what actually constitutes a data product, which includes;

• The fascinating story of Kawa and the problems it solves
• Delivering Data Products versus Data Projects
• The differences between product management principles applied to data and data products 
• Why most data teams operate like an IT Service Desk and why product thinking can change that
• Why you should start by applying product management to data before you try to build data products
• Why a product management approach forces value-driven thinking
• How we have ‘Data Product Managers’ who aren’t doing Data Product management
• Why there’s a better success measure for your data initiative than usage/adoption
• Where you should hire your first Data Product Manager
• Platform versus Feature Product Managers and why they’re rarely interchangeable
• How data products differ from traditional products
• Why marketplaces will be the future of data product
• The relationship between self-service analytics and data as a product
• What actually constitutes a data product
• The biggest unspoken challenge in the data-mesh discussion
• The impact of org structure and operating model on data product success
• Why too many businesses try to scale their data product before establishing product market fit
• What data product people should do to position themselves for the wave of incoming opportunity

In Episode 29 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sally Bashuan, Executive Director; Head of Data Governance at Federated Hermes, where they discuss the role of data and analytics within ESG, which includes;

• The Importance of having a great Leader
• Why ESG is important to everyone
• Why companies and boards are paying attention to ESG
• How ESG will impact D&A teams
• Understanding the fundamentals of ESG from a data standpoint
• The current landscape of 3rd party ESG data
• The major challenges for Data teams
• The ESG data journey that Federated Hermes are on
• ESG Strategies V Data Strategies
• The role of Data Literacy within ESG
• The importance of ensuring everyone is talking the same language with ESG
• Pros and Cons of ESG Data providers
• How should data teams be structured to win at ESG
• The commercial benefits of great ESG scores
• Why there is more to consider than just regulation
• The consequences of getting it wrong
• Formulating an ESG Data team
• The future of ESG