33 Tangents

We’re currently taking a break for a new addition to the family.  We’ll be back with new episodes starting on December 6, 2023.   This episode originally aired on April 21, 2021.   Four years ago in the episode “Is Unlimited Time Off Actually Unlimited?”, Jim, Hila, and Jason took a hard look at the concept of unlimited PTO to see if it’s something employees find valuable or just a gimmick.  They left that conversation genuinely questioning the value of “unlimited” PTO.   In the time since, Jim and Jason have discussed the topic several time through multiple means, most recently on Twitter.   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jim and Jason continue that conversation on Twitter giving their current perspective on unlimited PTO and discussing how it is tightly tied to employee autonomy.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And i

It’s often stated that “data is the new oil’ and while that may be true, it oversimplifies the value of data.  Data by itself isn’t inherently valuable.  The value comes when it is properly collected, processed, refined, and injected into the right conversations.   What is the value of data?  Is all data valuable?  Is it a boolean where data is either valuable or it is not valuable?  What is the cost of bad data?   On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim are joined by Stewart Alaniz.  Stewart is a 20+ year analytics professional who has provided valuable business insights for large brands in multiple industries.   He currently serves as a Data Governance Steward, focused on optimizing data collection, data enablement and analytics processes, including platform usage. In this role he focuses on establishing new methods to improve efficiencies in data quality and accessibility for data consumers of all kinds.   Last but not least, he drives a learning & literacy program to help educate bus

The value a team produces isn’t always apparent.  This is why it is critical for individuals and teams to ask themselves about the value they produce.  As discussed in previous episodes of the 33 Tangents podcast, the value of analytics is not usually tied directly to revenue and since that is the case, it is imperative for analytics teams to clearly define the value derived from analytics.   How does an analytics team create value for an organization?  What value does analytics bring to a company?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason discuss how analytics should provide to and organization and the traps digital analytics teams fall into trying to prove value.  The also talk about the steps digital analytics teams can take to ensure their output has actual value, not just the appearance of value.   Items we mentioned: Evan LaPointe discussing the statistics of expertise. THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with

As industries and organizations continue to recover from the covid pandemic, providing value is critical.  This is value provided by companies to their customers as well as the value provided by teams within those companies.  What does it mean to show value?   Is value always associated with a monetary value?  How can an analytics team show value when not directly tied to revenue?  What are the issues with tying analytics work directly to revenue?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim talk about the risks with revenue being the ultimate value for an analyst and other ways analysts can demonstration value.  They also discuss the pitfalls analytics teams will encounter when they fail to be proactive in defining the value they provide to an organization.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are getting you h

Value is a term that is easily thrown around, often with implied expectations.  When it’s used are all involved aligned on the definition and outcomes?   What is value?  What is value when it comes to digital analytics?  What are the expectations when the term is used?    On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason talk about how & why asking “what is value?” is something not historically done by digital analytics teams.  They also talk about what steps analytics teams can take to ensure the value of their work is in alignment with the needs and expectations of the broader organization.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are getting you hooked, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and recommend on your favorite podcast platform.   WHERE TO LISTEN The 33 Tangents video simulcast is now available on YouTube Subs

Vendor lock-in is a tactic employed across multiple industries and anyone in the digital analytics and martech space needs to be aware of it.  This tactic sees organizations you’ve partnered with implementing features and processes in such a way that you become completely dependent on them.  Any attempts to switch partners will come at a tremendous cost.   Why are you hiring an agency?  When you partner with an agency, are there signs that you can look for to determine what their priorities are?  Is your success important to them or are you just a means to an end?   On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason discuss why vendor lock-in exists and how organizations get caught by it.  They also discuss ways to determine if a potential partner engages in this practice and how it is often packaged.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.

Analytics teams were decimated during the COVID pandemic and still recovering.  Many analytics teams are smaller than they were pre-pandemic and are showing no signs to returning to prior staffing levels.   This is leading to cases where the organizations have a substantial amount of analytics software at their disposal but either don’t know how to use it or don’t have the capacity to use it to its fullest potential.  What can analytics directors do position their teams to be the most successful?  How do you recognize if your team is overwhelmed, under skilled, or both, with the software available?  What is the first thing to consider?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss how organizations can reach this point and the first steps they need to take.  They talk about the signs a team is overwhelmed with the number of tools they have preventing the team from using them to their fullest potential.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you woul

Where does analytics live within an organization?  Does it live with Marketing or Product?  Does it live completely on it’s own?  Properly positioning the analytics team is critical to enable the development of unbiased information and guidance for the organization.     What do organizations need to consider when determining where analytics lives?  What happens if analytics is not in the right place within an organization?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss what they feel is the best place within an organization for digital analytics to be placed and why.  They also discuss what organizations need to consider and the role digital analysts play in determining where analytics lives.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are getting you hooked, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and recommend on your

Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt, also known as FUD, is a commonly employed sales tactic.  Decisions made out of fear are often drastic and wrong and martech sales in particular knows how to tap into the fear of opportunity cost.   With organizations pushing analytics teams that are smaller than pre-pandemic levels to deliver at high levels, how does the director of analytics see through the fear porn to recognize if a new tool will truly help their team?  Are there questions that can be asked?  When will a new tool help a team and when will it actually hinder their productivity?     On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason discuss why FUD is so effective and how it can actually prevent organizations from seeing the root of the issues they are facing.  They also talk about how the experience associated with this approach can damage organizations internally and get them tangled up with the wrong tools.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend

Everyone has sat through vendor pitches where: The problem and solution are oversimplified The vendor doesn’t fully the situation and specific problems The vendor’s product doesn’t actually address the stated problems   If not you’re not careful to recognize these things, it becomes easy to get lost & become excited with the shiny new tool.  It’s easy to get focused on the features of the tool and not the “why” of the tool as it’s relates to your organization.  Why does your organization need this new tool?  Why is it necessary?    What steps can someone take to ensure they fully vet a new tool being pitched?  For those in director and above positions, what is the importance of asking “why”?  How does this apply to martech solutions?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason discuss how a team can ensure they fully vet a new tool that is being pitched.  They also discuss the importance of those in positions of director and above asking the question “why” and when should it be don

The typical business response to the need to deliver more work is to hire more people and grow teams.  There are cynics out there that will dispute that statement and say business response is to drive employees harder.  That may be true in some cases, ultimate you have to hire.  While in many industries, larger teams are necessary to respond to growing needs and increasing demands, is it always true for information work?   We’re seeing a trend in analytics where teams decimated by the covid pandemic are not returning to their pre-pandemic size, but expected to deliver at the same or higher level.  How can an analytics team be successful at a smaller size?  How can analytics directors position their team to be high performers without running them into the ground?  Is it true that smaller teams can be more nimble and responsive to changing needs?   On this episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jason and Jim discuss what it would take from an analytics team to be successful as a smaller team.  They talk about the

It feels as though there is a movement to apply agile development methodologies to analytics teams, both the data collection component and the analysis component.  What does this mean?  What is the driving force behind it?   What are the risks?  What are the benefits?  Does this strip out the curiosity that we want in analysts?  Does this remove any room to improvise or flexibility to address impromptu business questions or scenarios?  We talk about how analytics already doesn’t have a seat at the “grown ups” table, does this exacerbate that problem?  Does it reduce the value of the analytics team to just tickets completed?   On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss what it means to apply the Agile development framework to the analytics team’s processes and the pitfalls they’ve seen organizations encounter.  They weigh the pros and cons of Agile as it relates to an analytics program and the impact it could have.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that yo

Many analytics teams are looking to be more effective with their time so it is spent more on using data to reach business goals and less on basic reporting.  To solve for that, many are looking find ways to automate the routine tasks and reporting the team does.    What does it mean to automate aspects of the analytics program?  What could automation enable for an analytics team?  What tasks can be automated and what should not be automated?  Does automation make the team less insightful by focusing on the routine?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss how automation can improve an analytics and what it is able to unlock.  They talked about how automation and new tools are changing the analytics industry and what those within the industry need to consider.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are

There is a growing trend amongst organizations to centralize all of their data, including their web analytics data, in an internal database solution with a visualization tool layered over top.  One of the results of this is analytics teams moving, or being pushed, to use other tools for analysis and not the analytics platform itself.   Who is driving it?  Are the right people driving it?  What are people not thinking about?  Is there a level of over-simplification happening?  Is there risk in turning your analytics platform into a glorified, and very expensive, data collection pixel?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jim & Jason are joined again by Jon Narong and they discuss the reasons behind this trend and the value that can be created when done right.  They also discuss what analytics organizations need to evaluate and the potential risks?   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode

Many analytics teams are looking to be more effective with their time so it is spent more on using data to reach business goals and less on routine reporting.  To solve for that, many are looking to make part of their analytics program self-service.   What does it mean for an analytics program to have a self-service component?  What are the steps an analytics organization needs to take to achieve this?  What are the key roles that need to part of the team?  Is self-service analytics a cliche or wishful thinking?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim are joined by Jon Narong to discuss their experience with organizations wishing to make data more self-service.  They cover the benefits, what organizations need to plan for, and the risks & potential pitfalls.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are gett

What does it mean when an organization says it is “Mobile First”?  What does that mean for the customer experience?  What does it mean for employees and partners?  What does the organization need to do to ensure it follows through on being “Mobile First”?   On this week’s episode, Jim is joined by Jon Narong to discuss the idea of being mobile first.  Jon is currently living in Thailand and many companies in South East Asia have a “Mobile First” mentality, much more than it is found in other parts of the world.  They discuss what it means to truly be “mobile first” and the first steps an organizations should take if that is the direction they want to take.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are getting you hooked, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and recommend on your favorite podcast platform.   WHERE TO LISTEN The 33 Tangents vi

As we gain experience in an industry, it’s easy to develop blinders based on the region of the world in which we live and work. How are digital analytics and digital marketing different in South East Asia as compared to the US and EU?  What is a “super app”?  What are some of the key differences in the customer experience? On this week’s episode, Jim and Jason welcome back Jon Narong to discuss his experience living in Thailand for the last 6 years after living in the Bay Area.  Jon shares insights on key customer experience differences between South East Asia and North America & Europe, the reasons for them, and the adjustments he’s made.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable, we would appreciate if you would share it.   And if we are getting you hooked, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and recommend on your favorite podcast platform.   WHERE TO LISTEN The 33 Tangents video simulcast

We’re currently taking a break for some summer travel.  We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023.   This episode originally aired on September 21, 2022.   Like many things in life, there is an art to being a consultant.  The problem though is that the word consultant has come to take on multiple meanings.  In some cases it refers to an individual brought in to evaluate a portion or an entire organization and provide director.  Other times it refers to a team that provides a services and works at the direction of another organization.   What does it mean to be a consultant?  What are the reasons why an organization hires an outside consultant?  What does it mean to run a consulting engagement?   On this week’s episode of 33 Tangents, Jim and Jason discuss their expectations of a consultant and what makes someone successful in that role.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time with us. If you have found this episode to be valuable

We’re currently taking a break for some summer travel.  We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023.   This episode originally aired on January 25, 2023.   Merriam-Webster defines story as: 1) an account of incidents or events and 2) a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question.  Storytelling is a very powerful part of the human experience and a key tool used throughout human history.   It provides a level of familiarity and when done well, it conveys information in a way that resonates with all involved.   During a recent episode, guest Stephen Marshall said “Story is the glue for new facts and information.”  How does story apply to brands?  What does effective storytelling do for a brand?  How can brands ensure they are authentic?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jim and Jason are joined by two special guests to discuss brands and storytelling.  The first is returning guest Stephen Marshall, the CMO of the East Tennessee State University’s Research C

We’re currently taking a break for some summer travel.  We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023.   This episode originally aired on November 2, 2022.   What is data literacy? The text book definition as per Gartner is the ability to read, write and communicate data in context, including an understanding of data sources and constructs, analytical methods and techniques applied, and the ability to describe the use case, application and resulting value.   Looking at and thinking about that detailed, academic definition, what does all of that mean?  How does that apply to digital analytics?  How does it impact digital analytics implementation engineers and analysts?   On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss their feelings on data literacy, it’s impacts on many areas of everyday life, and how the lack of it is causing issues in the world of digital analytics.   THANK YOU We know your time is limited, so it means a lot to us that you would spend some of your time w