In your data leadership role, do you feel that you need to switch between wearing a technology-focused hat and a business-focused hat, or have you found a way to incorporate these two perspectives? Any tips for doing this?
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President & Chief Data Officer in Services (non-Government)a year ago
You have to understand the technology challenges, all the dependencies and the business goals to be able to articulate to leadership: sometimes there's technology dependencies that the business doesn't understand or vice versa.I think it goes without saying, you have to be able to translate from the tech team to the business and from the business to the tech team. You need to figure out what motivates the different personas, which vary widely based on the roles people are playing. It's kind of like teaching in school, you reach the students where they're at. You start with whatever resonates with them.
Chief Data Officer in Mediaa year ago
The 2-sided skillset is critical for data leaders. Customer and user focus are the right places to begin blending both sides. Live with customers and users until you have an innate sense of their needs. We know those teams need data and AI literacy but overlook the need for the data team to gain business literacy. Data and AI product managers and leaders are business literacy trainers who introduce domain knowledge to the team.The business should have a data and AI strategy to support data leaders. That’s the top-level alignment that puts strategy in control of technology. Data leaders struggle with merging the two sides due to a lack of data and AI strategy. They must be set up for success because they don’t own enough to be the only driver. The data organization leader needs a seat at the strategy planning table, but it's a collaborative, enterprise-wide process.
Co-founder/Practicum Director in Travel and Hospitalitya year ago
It has to given that we need to ensure that we get value from the project keeping in mind that we are using technology to realise the business value from data. So both goes hand-in-hand actually. I feel more importantly regardless of what hat you have to wear, alignment with the overall strategy or tactics at the department or team level is more important.Founder, CEO in Services (non-Government)a year ago
What has worked for me and what I share with me team is the start with a "value" hat.1. What is the measurable transparent value - outcome
2. How then does technology aid that? if it is a decision on an application or tool ...we can then assess, does the tool and related investment give us more and enough of the defined value ? if yes, then
3. Dive into the technology and the specifics around it.
1- balance your technical depth with your business acumen
2- Unlearn->relearn->learn - Spend atleast 15 min each, reading about tech and business topics
3- find opportunities to collaborate cross functionally