Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Episode 62: Leading Organizations Through Analytics Transformations with Gordon Wong
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Episode 62: Leading Organizations Through Analytics Transformations with Gordon Wong
Show Notes
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datacast.substack.com/subscribe
- (02:09) Gordon briefly talked about his undergraduate studying Psychology and Philosophy at Rutgers University in the early 90s.
- (03:24) Gordon reflected on the first decade of his career getting into database technologies.
- (05:34) Gordon discussed his predilection towards consulting, specifically his role in the professional services team at AB Initio Software in the early 2000s.
- (08:02) Gordon recalled the challenges of leading data warehousing initiatives at Smarter Travel Media and ClickSquared in the 2000s.
- (13:14) Gordon emphasized the advantage of a multi-tenant database over a traditional relational database.
- (18:30) Gordon recalled his one-year stint at Cervello, leading business intelligence implementations for their clients.
- (21:59) Gordon elaborated on his projects during his 3 years as the director of business intelligence infrastructure at Fitbit.
- (26:09) Gordon dived into his framework of choosing data tooling vendors while at Fitbit (and how he settled with a tiny startup called Snowflake back then).
- (30:02) Gordon provided recommendations for startups to be data-driven.
- (33:24) Gordon recalled practices to foster effective collaboration while managing the 3 teams of data engineering, data warehousing, and data analytics at Fitbit.
- (36:44) Gordon went over his proudest accomplishment as the director of data engineering at ezCater, making substantial improvements to their data warehouse platform.
- (38:59) Gordon shared his framework for interviewing data engineers.
- (41:39) Gordon walked through his consulting engagement in analytics engineering for Zipcar and data warehousing for edX.
- (46:17) Gordon reflected on his time as the Vice President of business intelligence at HubSpot.
- (50:50) Gordon unpacked his notion of “Data Hierarchy of Needs,” which entails the five pillars — data security, data quality, system reliability, user experience, and data coverage.
- (56:55) Gordon discussed current opportunities for driving better social outcomes and empowering democracy through data.
- (59:48) Gordon shared the key criteria that enable healthy team dynamics from his hands-on experience building data teams.
- (01:02:13) Gordon unpacked the central features and benefits of Snowflake for the un-initiated.
- (01:06:25) Gordon gave his verdict for the ETL tooling landscape in the next few years.
- (01:08:33) Gordon described the data community in Boston.
- (01:09:52) Closing segment.
People
- Tristan Handy (co-founder of Fishtown Analytics and co-creator of dbt)
- Michael Kaminsky (who coined the term “Analytics Engineering”)
- Barr Moses (co-founder and CEO of Monte Carlo, who coined the term “Data Observability”)
Book
- “Start With Why” (By Simon Sinek)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datacast.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By James LeShow Notes
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datacast.substack.com/subscribe
- (02:09) Gordon briefly talked about his undergraduate studying Psychology and Philosophy at Rutgers University in the early 90s.
- (03:24) Gordon reflected on the first decade of his career getting into database technologies.
- (05:34) Gordon discussed his predilection towards consulting, specifically his role in the professional services team at AB Initio Software in the early 2000s.
- (08:02) Gordon recalled the challenges of leading data warehousing initiatives at Smarter Travel Media and ClickSquared in the 2000s.
- (13:14) Gordon emphasized the advantage of a multi-tenant database over a traditional relational database.
- (18:30) Gordon recalled his one-year stint at Cervello, leading business intelligence implementations for their clients.
- (21:59) Gordon elaborated on his projects during his 3 years as the director of business intelligence infrastructure at Fitbit.
- (26:09) Gordon dived into his framework of choosing data tooling vendors while at Fitbit (and how he settled with a tiny startup called Snowflake back then).
- (30:02) Gordon provided recommendations for startups to be data-driven.
- (33:24) Gordon recalled practices to foster effective collaboration while managing the 3 teams of data engineering, data warehousing, and data analytics at Fitbit.
- (36:44) Gordon went over his proudest accomplishment as the director of data engineering at ezCater, making substantial improvements to their data warehouse platform.
- (38:59) Gordon shared his framework for interviewing data engineers.
- (41:39) Gordon walked through his consulting engagement in analytics engineering for Zipcar and data warehousing for edX.
- (46:17) Gordon reflected on his time as the Vice President of business intelligence at HubSpot.
- (50:50) Gordon unpacked his notion of “Data Hierarchy of Needs,” which entails the five pillars — data security, data quality, system reliability, user experience, and data coverage.
- (56:55) Gordon discussed current opportunities for driving better social outcomes and empowering democracy through data.
- (59:48) Gordon shared the key criteria that enable healthy team dynamics from his hands-on experience building data teams.
- (01:02:13) Gordon unpacked the central features and benefits of Snowflake for the un-initiated.
- (01:06:25) Gordon gave his verdict for the ETL tooling landscape in the next few years.
- (01:08:33) Gordon described the data community in Boston.
- (01:09:52) Closing segment.
People
- Tristan Handy (co-founder of Fishtown Analytics and co-creator of dbt)
- Michael Kaminsky (who coined the term “Analytics Engineering”)
- Barr Moses (co-founder and CEO of Monte Carlo, who coined the term “Data Observability”)
Book
- “Start With Why” (By Simon Sinek)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datacast.substack.com/subscribe