Analytics translation as an embedded practice in the data-driven startup
The Big Data Life's Toronto Data Science Product Development Team necessarily trains its members in analytics translation, and this is foundational to success. In this article I discuss how as the founder and facilitator of Toronto's innovative "hackathon-inspired incubation" platform, I believe analytics translation is a key piece to building our puzzle.
While a start up team requires a variety of skills and experiences to thrive - or survive - the role of analytics translation connects each of our members to the team's shared vision and goals.
Each of our product groups operate as a multi-functional agile team whose singular purpose is to mobilize a group of individuals aligned with shared values of growth, positivity, work ethic, and curiosity, to build out a product with a minimum viable solution.
Analytics translation is of growing importance in the business landscape today, and I believe our teams strengthen this skill and their exposure by way of our operations.
In a paper published by the Harvard Business Review, it was described that "companies have widened their aperture, recognizing that success with AI and analytics requires not just data scientists but entire cross-functional, agile teams that include data engineers, data architects, data-visualization experts, and — perhaps most important — translators."
The way we operate is unique. Our development meetings are also forums for sharing insights and perspectives that are accrued by individuals' experiences in corporate or startup culture, and across academic and intellectual pursuits. For this reason, we are always translating our analytics, our ideas, our tools, our methodologies, and our product to one another.
I've observed that as the team develops, an important responsibility as founder and facilitator is in ensuring that each member is fulfilled in their understanding of the tools and technologies in consideration. The vision of The Big Data Life is that - through a product development context - knowledge and skills are awarded through participation and engagement with one another. Therefore, the boundaries between knowing and not-knowing are only as real as a willingness to learn and participate.
Data is abundant but it is not readily available to all. Nevertheless, we believe there is enough of it to build out small-scale solutions that prove a point. Doing so does not require privileged access to resources, knowledge or infrastructure. The Big Data Life simply taps into a pool of open-source resources and draws together a collective brain power from a community of curious professionals.
While working within a small agile team environment, the Data Science Development Group's diverse skills and experiences drive product development forward. But it is the shared and underlying understanding of the product, its design and its purpose, that reduce friction and lead to momentum.
The role of analytics translators is very important, especially as the future delivers upon more data-driven developments. Our team has discovered that this is certainly true and very important. While we enhance our skills and share our knowledge with one another, we are also developing future skills that are just becoming widely recognized.
Not only do we embed the skills-building of translation within teams, but the entire Big Data Life platform is designed to inform and share the common understanding of tools and methodologies that build success.
We don't stumble upon these growth opportunities, we actively embed them into our process because it's the core of our success and operations. If you'd like to follow our development group and experiences, we will be sharing our journey and insights. Subscribe to our e-mail to get the latest updates and learn more about data science development and see into a startup experience.