SUMMARY

The business value expert Ammara Gafoor shares her experience of bringing product thinking to the data space in traditional organisations.

She explains how she got into this topic and highlights a project where she started with a traditional data project but realised the need to shift focus from implementing specified requirements to understanding the users of the data product. Ammara emphasises the importance of applying product thinking to data projects and how it can lead to better outcomes. She also discusses the challenges of convincing organizations to adopt this new way of thinking and shares strategies for success.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro to Show

00:30 Intro to Guest and Topic

01:38 Getting into Data and Product Thinking

06:29 Applying Product Thinking to Data

10:00 Challenges in Traditional Data Organisations

11:04 Introducing Cross-Functional Teams

15:14 Showing Success and Gaining Buy-In

17:51 Regulated vs Unregulated Industries

19:24 Using Shadow Teams to Start the Transformation

22:06 Gaining Adoption of Product Thinking in Organisations

23:34 Pitfalls of Maturity Assessments

25:50 It's not a one Size Fits all Approach

28:43 Humanising Data Strategy

31:41 Practical Takeaways

33:33 Why Product Thinking Helps Create Better Data Products

36:01 Principles for Success

38:03 Ammara's Content Recommendation

40:13 A Question for you

TAKEAWAYS

• Product thinking can be applied to data projects in traditional organizations to improve outcomes
• Understanding the user journey and identifying decision points can help prioritize and design data products
• Building trust and effective communication are key to successful implementation of product thinking in the data space
• Data quality is crucial for effective data products and should be considered throughout the process
• Applying product thinking to data projects requires a shift in mindset and collaboration across teams

AMMARA'S CONTENT RECOMMENDATIONS

• Lauf, Wigald, lauf. A book about a person in Germany who ran 52 marathons a year, one marathon every week.
• Data Mesh in Practice: Getting Off to the Right Start. An ebook written by Ammara Gafoor.
• Humanizing Data Strategy by Tiankai Feng. A book about product thinking principles for data and data strategy.

KEYWORDS

product thinking, data, data products, traditional organisations, projects, products, value, user journey, decision points, trust, data quality, product development, data strategy, business requirements, user needs, jobs to be done