Hi, fellow future and current Data Leaders; Ben here 👋
Before diving into today’s newsletter, I want to take a moment to thank this issue’s sponsor: Hex. Hex brings the magic of AI to data analysis workflows, whether you’re using code or no-code. Hex helps organizations work together with data and avoid jumping between different data tools for querying, data science, visualization, and spreadsheets. Over 1600 organizations use Hex to do everything from deep analysis to self-serve.
Now let’s jump into the article!
Early in my career I had a conversation with a friend who was working as a director leading both software and data teams.
One of the points they brought up was the fact that they often found that some of their senior level analysts and data scientists would provide them massive chart dumps when they ran any form of analysis.
Somewhere deep in a word document or python notebook layered with charts and explanations might be a conclusion.
I had actually not considered this point before having this conversation.
Now it’s been years since that chat and since then I’ve had nearly a hundred conversations with data leaders, and several skills and traits kept standing out in terms of what differentiates engineers and analysts. Here are three of them.
Getting Buy-In And Influencing Decisions
I don’t recall who told me this idea before, but someone once described that at every level(junior, mid, senior, etc), there are levels inside it. This breaks down into more “junior” and “senior” at that specific level.
Once you start going from a more “junior senior” to a “senior senior” many data leaders I’ve spoken with are looking to see if their ICs can start to get buy-in for their projects.
At this level many senior engineers and analysts are likely starting to feel antsy. Like they should be promoted to staff. And although every company has a different definition of what staff means, having the ability to get buy-in came up several times as a differentiator.
This is hard because it involves a combination of skills and traits.
You need to be able to communicate an idea
You need to have built some credibility in the organization
You need to be able to understand the needs of other teams
Each of these aspects require time. But, you don’t have to start with some massive project.
How to Build Buy-In as a Senior IC
Start Small – Pick a recurring pain point, propose a lightweight fix, and see it through. If you’ve never got buy-in for a small idea, you won’t be used to what push back you’ll get nor will you have the credibility to lean on.
Draft a short one-pager - This should outline the problem, impact, and a lightweight solution. We often think other people are in our heads and get what we mean when we say it. Writing things down often highlight where teams might not be aligned or where issues will arise. So do it and figure out how to resolve said issues.
Socialize Early – Float ideas in 1:1s before you “pitch.” I had plenty of ideas get shot down because I never asked individuals around the key stakeholder what they might think of the pitch. Nor did I bring anyone else in on the idea so they could feel they had helped shape the idea.
Map Stakeholders – Know who’s affected and what each group values. There will always be push back, especially when you start asking for larger requests. Prepare for it based on the various stakeholders.
Deliver Consistently – Reliability is credibility. At the end of the day, if you’re not delivering, all the pre-work won’t matter.
Show Impact – Translate technical work into business outcomes, time saved, ROI. Don’t just talk about the technical improvements as this likely won’t land.
