Struggling with data trust issues, dashboard drama, or constant pipeline firefighting? In this deep‑dive interview, Lior Barak shows you how to shift from a reactive “fix‑it” culture to a mindful, impact‑driven practice rooted in Zen/Wabi‑Sabi principles.

You’ll learn:

Why 97 % of CEOs say they use data, but only 24 % call themselves data‑driven

The traffic‑light dashboard pattern (green / yellow / red) that instantly tells execs whether numbers are safe to use

A practical rule for balancing maintenance, rollout, and innovation—and avoiding team burnout

How to quantify ROI on data products, kill failing legacy systems, and handle ad‑hoc exec requests without derailing roadmaps

Turning “imperfect” data into business value with mindful communication, root‑cause logs, and automated incident review loops

🕒 TIMECODES

00:00 Community and mindful data strategy

04:06 Career journey and product management insights

08:03 Wabi-sabi data and the trust crisis

11:47 AI, data imperfection, and trust challenges

20:05 Trust crisis examples and root cause analysis

25:06 Regaining trust through mindful data management

30:47 Traffic light system and effective communication

37:41 Communication gaps and team workload balance

39:58 Maintenance stress and embracing Zen mindset

49:29 Accepting imperfection and measuring impact

56:19 Legacy systems and managing executive requests

01:00:23 Role guidance and closing reflections

🔗 Connect with Lior

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liorbarak

Website - https://cookingdata.substack.com/

Cooking Data newsletter: https://cookingdata.substack.com/

Product product lifecycle manager: https://app--data-product-lifecycle-manager-c81b10bb.base44.app/

🔗 Connect with DataTalks.Club

Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.html

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🔗 Connect with Alexey

Twitter - https://x.com/Al_Grigor

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agrigorev/