Patterns for being a successful internal data consultancy with Dylan Jones
AgileData Podcast #51
Join Shane Gibson as he chats with Dylan Jones on how to adopt patterns used by successful data consultancies and apply them in your organisation as an internal data team.
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Read the podcast transcript at:
https://agiledata.io/podcast/agiledata-podcast/patterns-for-being-a-successful-internal-data-consultancy-with-dylan-jones/#read
Google NoteBookLLM Briefing
Overall Theme: Treating Internal Data Teams Like Consultancies
The central idea is that internal data teams can significantly boost their impact and value by adopting practices used by successful external data consultancies. This involves things like:
Strategic positioning: Identifying their core value proposition and communicating it clearly.
Marketing and communication: Actively promoting their work and the value they deliver within the organisation.
Playbook development: Creating repeatable processes and frameworks for common tasks and projects.
Community building: Fostering data fluency and engagement within the organisation and peer group.
Personal branding: Developing individual expertise and visibility.
Key Ideas and Concepts
Positioning and the "Asset Vault":
Dylan emphasises that you need to understand your audience first. Start with positioning and building an "asset vault".
The asset vault is about profiling past projects: "identify what was the pain, what was the agitation and what was the kind of solution and outcome that you delivered."
He stresses that content should focus on the business impact, not just the technical mechanics of data, unless you are speaking to other technical people.
The Power of Case Studies:
Dylan highlights the effectiveness of simple case studies: "this was the problem we had. This was the agitation it caused to the organization. This was the solution we came up with..."
He recommends using the "PERSOA" framework (Problem, Emotion, Solution, Outcome, Action) for storytelling.
Focus on telling the story from a person / stakeholders perspective - starting with their pain and frustration and ending with the positive outcome. "We want to start the story with people and end with people."
"It’s once you learn those kind of case study formulas, you can reuse those over and over again"
Building Internal Blogs and Communities:
Dylan supports the idea of internal blogs to share project updates, solutions, and successes. He notes that many organisations are seeing internal teams use the concepts of content marketing internally "because they realize, if they want to reach a bigger audience and have bigger impact And basically demonstrate the value that their unit has, they have to mark it internally, just like a consultancy would."
He points to the need to talk differently to different audiences within an organisation.
Internal blogs should focus on things that resonate with other departments, such as "lead time, performance and cost reduction".
Shane mentioned the importance of telling stories with Kat Greenbrook’s “and, but, therefore and so” model.
The podcast suggests different types of internal content:
Case studies for stakeholders
Training materials and tool demos for internal teams
Sharing information on the data being used.
Webinars, book clubs, ask me anything sessions, "show and tell" events.
The Importance of "Playbooks":
Dylan believes that data teams need to develop "playbooks" that document how they deliver common services like building pipelines or data governance structures.
He states, "What is the playbook for how we build a pipeline? What is the playbook for how we build a data governance council? What is the playbook for how we build a data warehouse".
This ensures knowledge isn't lost when team members leave and provides a framework for scale.
The playbook should also remove variance and get rid of individual preferences around how things are done
Shane mentioned using “information value streams” to help understand systems thinking.
Playbooks should define “nodes and links” that go between each task.
Community and Culture:
The chat highlights the importance of learning days (e.g., "Friday afternoons are learning days").
Teams should share their learnings and help others understand what they know and learn from each other.
Building internal and external communities for data professionals using non-competitive peer groups can help accelerate skill development.
Personal Branding and Moats:
Shane stresses the value of internal brand building by actively communicating and showing the value of your work: "So just finish that last mile and present the work in a way that a stakeholder can see the value".
He suggests that a playbook can act as a "moat" that protects teams from sudden changes in direction. "This playbook idea can create this form of moat… a form of safety net to potentially help your team carry on working the way they want to work."
You should create a personal brand based on your own experiences and your own writing style and content, rather than mimicking how others create content.
Dylan adds that it helps to have "air cover" from different stakeholder groups to protect your work from change.
Content Creation and Being Authentic:
Dylan and Shane emphasize that it's important to create content with your own voice rather than following the crowd: “write with your own voice.”
“the practice of writing [is] as valuable to you as much as to everybody else”
“Don’t sweat the kind of tech just make it simple”
Dylan says the best content for him is based on realisations about a pattern of failure and a solution, not just “here’s five tips for doing this”.
Shane says that if you are doing sponsored or paid posts, then be honest with the audience because they can tell.
Predictable Sales and Marketing:
Dylan advocates for focusing on sales and marketing fundamentals.
You need to be able to explain the transformation you offer in a way that’s simple for your target audience and is in their language.
Be strategic about what content you create and focus on getting more content out there than your competitors.
Focus on where there is a pattern of failure and what you have done about it to improve that situation.
Positioning
Dylan notes that of the most successful consultancies he has worked with, the most important thing is positioning.
He says to “nail one problem and becoming the best in the industry at that one problem”.
He notes that there are multiple dimensions of positioning.
He asks if there is a zone of incompetence, competence, excellence and genius that you operate in, and it is important not to be pulled into areas that you are not a genius in.
“Once you nail that one thing, you playbook so detailed that you can actually scale”
Key Takeaway
This conversation provides practical advice for data professionals to increase their impact, influence, and personal brand by using techniques from the world of consulting and content creation. It’s not just about doing the technical work; it’s about communicating the value, building relationships, documenting processes, and contributing to a thriving data culture.