Podcast
How to Build & Scale a Data Team: Hiring, Production ML, Forecasting & Driving Adoption
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How to Build & Scale a Data Team: Hiring, Production ML, Forecasting & Driving Adoption
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Episode Overview
How do you build and scale a data team that moves beyond dashboards to production ML, reliable forecasting, and real adoption across the business? In this episode Tammy Liang, Chief of Data at Platanomelón and co-host of Data for Future, walks through her journey building data capabilities for marketing, e-commerce, and operations at a mission-driven consumer brand.
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Chapter Summary
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- 0:00 - Podcast Introduction
- 1:14 - Guest Background: Tammy Liang’s career path into data
- 4:07 - Chief of Data Responsibilities: Marketing, e-commerce, and operations
- 6:44 - Data Challenges for Sensitive Products: Social media restrictions & creative
- 7:22 - First Project: Business health monitoring and dashboards
- 8:51 - Cross-team Collaboration: Streamlining reporting and building trust
- 10:06 - Handling Resistance: Spreadsheet culture and adoption hurdles
- 12:00 - Scaling from Dashboards to Predictive Projects
- 14:43 - Model Delivery Challenges: From notebooks to production
- 15:04 - Hiring Progression: First analyst then data engineer
- 17:11 - Building a Data Warehouse to Enable Forecasting
- 18:41 - Business-Facing Role: Hiring for adoption and communication
- 22:32 - Data Stack Overview: Stitch, GCP, dbt, Data Studio, and Notion wiki
- 23:11 - Rethinking Hiring Order: Importance of senior hires early
- 26:26 - Prioritizing Roles: Analyst, engineer, and business analyst tradeoffs
- 29:20 - Demand Forecasting: Data provision, stakeholder input, and iteration
- 30:57 - Analyst Skills: Time series and basic machine learning as advantages
- 33:09 - First-Hire Qualities: Business alignment and leadership mindset
- 35:38 - Data Accuracy & Governance: Errors, playbook, and rebuilding trust
- 40:09 - Data Testing & Monitoring: dbt tests and regular dashboard checks
- 41:42 - Timely Insights: Operational visibility and campaign monitoring
- 45:39 - Offline Attribution: Surveys, community sampling, and measuring TV/banners
- 47:08 - Useful Data Products: Product mindset and business alignment
- 49:00 - Driving Adoption: Workshops, Q&A sessions, and building data culture
- 50:52 - Leadership Approach: Delegation, ownership, and team empowerment
- 52:39 - Resources for New Data Leaders: Communities, courses, and mentors
- 54:09 - Data For Future Podcast: Data + sustainability focus
- 56:19 - Supporting Stuck Team Members: Google, communities, and networks
- 58:57 - Closing Remarks & Where to Find Tammy (LinkedIn, dataforfuture.org)