Metrics that Matter - Module 1

[ofrancesconi]

What are two thoughts that stood out for you in each of the readings?

The first article spoke about: Creating a data-informed culture comes down to leadership. Some of the best leaders I’ve worked with are data-informed but balance it well with the ‘human’ side. They also ‘learn from each other’ and are naturally curious. They don’t merely accept the information, but ask questions to check their own understanding and get delve deeper.

Reading about Compasspoint was like looking in the mirror! I’ve worked at numerous organizations that don’t understand (or appreciate) the value and importance of data. It’s not until they fail a risk audit that they suddenly place importance on it.
I enjoyed reading the examples of GE and UPS, the goals that they achieve and the investments they make. Whilst working at a start-up, I had the opportunity to work with Data Scientist who had incredible knowledge and skills. We used consumer data to impact our marketing, our system updates, our business focus and change quickly to stay ahead of the game.

How might you apply these learnings to your everyday work? Please give a specific example.Knowing to question and dissect the data is something I consistently need to apply in my work. For example, I use Oracle’s LMS and data is constantly added to Oracle. I don’t always have the visibility or knowledge as to why certain data is entered. But when I’m required to report, I need to stop and query that data.

When have metrics mattered in your professional experience?

I often have to report on metrics eg; How many new hires have we had by month, year? How many people have taken X training? How many have passed the course? How do we measure success of a course? How much money have we spent on training?

How do you use data in your current role—would you describe your team as data driven?
I use data in my role daily via Oracle. Working in IT, I’d say we’re very data driven. My boss, Tammy, will deal with data regularly. She understands touchpoints, issues, what data we need, how accurate the data is, where our gaps are, what else do we need to feed the system, how does it talk to our other systems, etc. She blows me away by her knowledge and ability to understand data to make decisions and problem solve.