Metadata
- Author: Dan Poppy
- Full Title:: Data as an Assembly Line
- Category:: 🗞️Articles
- Document Tags:: Data culture,
- URL:: https://roundup.getdbt.com/p/data-as-an-assembly-line-w-cedric
- Finished date:: 2024-11-20
Highlights
the problem with most businesses and most business people is that there’s too many questions they can be asking. And there’s no way to narrow down the set of questions that really matter in the business. And because you can’t differentiate between what’s a good question, what’s a bad question, the data team is like this service desk that is overwhelmed with questions. (View Highlight)
You have to figure out what the input metrics are. And the rule is we don’t talk about the output metrics. We only talk about the controllable input metrics. So you need to go figure out what those controllable input metrics are. So now a fire is lit under your ass to work with your data team. And the data team is embedded inside your organization to figure out what those controllable input metrics are. And the way you figure it out is that you do trial and error quickly. You drive this and see if it pushes the output metric after some lag. No, doesn’t work. Let’s try another one. (View Highlight)
metrics trees. That’s just as good. The point is that you need some kind of practice like this. And unfortunately, it requires shoving down by the CEO. At least all the successful examples I’ve seen has been somebody in a position of power on the executive team enforcing this. (View Highlight)
Somebody in my community, observed that this kind of operational excellence only emerges when you have a very low return on invested capital. Not very low, single digit. Because if you think about it, if your margins are super, super high, your return invested capital is super high, because like Google, you can be sloppy. It doesn’t really matter. Who cares? You have a network effect. You’re just generating gushes of cash. If your return on investor capital is negative, then it doesn’t matter. Your operational excellence is just staving off the inevitable. You’re just going to die. (View Highlight)
But if you have a 3% return on investor capital, an operational excellence can double that for free, for effectively free. (View Highlight)