How to think about the ROI of data work
ref: Mikkel Dengsøe
You get asked to estimate the ROI of your work, team or of hiring one more person.
Not all ROI is created equal.
There are five roles in a modern data team. The closer you’re to the left, the closer you’re to systems. The closer to the right, the closer you are to directly impacting a KPI. To keep it simple I’ll classify these roles into Systems People and KPI People.
The further you’re to the right the more your work should speak for itself through directly impacting a top-line KPI. The further you’re to the left the more the more you have impact by making data consumers downstream more efficient.
Some practical tips to what you can do
Systems People: Focus on maximising the number of consumers of your work (🎳) and on the impact your work has on each of them ( 🖇)KPI People: Focus on reducing the steps between yourself and the KPI (Ƞ) and work on the highest ROI opportunities (💰)
In conclusion, everyone plays a role
- Data Scientists and Data Analysts work faster if they have high quality data and good data models
- Analytics and Data Engineers have multitudes of impact if their data models are used by many.
Related
- Benn from Mode Analytics | A method for measuring analytical work
- Barry from Hex | Don't Tell Your Data Team's ROI Story