Podcast Summary
Centralized data team model: A centralized data team model enables better alignment, collaboration, broader perspective, and greater impact on business decisions by allowing data teams to have a seat at the table and focus on metrics that drive growth and revenue.
Building and scaling a data team requires a centralized model with a seat at the table for analytics as a business impact driver. According to Jessica Lacks, Vice President of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash, a centralized model allows for better alignment of goals and collaboration between teams. It also enables the data team to have a broader perspective and impact on business decisions. Additionally, defining metrics that drive short-term outputs with long-term impacts is crucial. For example, instead of focusing on retention, teams should find metrics that contribute to growth and revenue. Overall, a centralized data team with a business-focused mindset can help companies make better decisions and stay competitive in complex markets.
Centralized Data Team: A centralized data team with a seat at the table as business partners can lead to alignment, consistent methodologies, growth opportunities, team culture, and improved business performance.
Having a centralized data team with a seat at the table as business partners can lead to numerous benefits for an organization. This approach ensures that data teams are aligned with the company's goals, have consistent methodologies and metrics, and can identify growth opportunities. It also fosters a team culture of learning and collaboration, making it easier to attract and retain top talent. However, it's essential to be intentional about setting aside time for exploratory work and deep dives to uncover new opportunities and insights. One example from DoorDash saw their data team identify referral as a promising consumer acquisition channel during a hackathon, leading to significant growth for the company. By maintaining a high talent bar, offering growth opportunities, and promoting a consistent methodology and team culture, a centralized data team can drive impactful results and improve overall business performance.
Referral marketing fraud: Deep dives into referral marketing uncovered significant fraudulent behavior at DoorDash, leading to improvements in efficiency and a better understanding of the channel's true value.
Deep dives into marketing channels can uncover hidden issues and opportunities. At DoorDash, a deep dive into referral marketing uncovered significant fraudulent behavior, leading to improvements in efficiency and a better understanding of the channel's true value. Data teams can prioritize long-term projects and find time for deep dives by establishing clear priorities, communicating trade-offs, and aligning with business partners. When hiring data team members, look for curiosity and self-motivation, as these traits lead to proactive problem-solving and valuable discoveries.
Soft skills assessment in interviews: Evaluating problem-solving and adaptability during interviews is crucial for hiring well-rounded candidates. Real-world business cases help observe candidates' decision-making and reaction to ambiguity and being told they're wrong.
Assessing soft skills, such as problem-solving and adaptability, during interviews can be just as important as testing for technical skills. The interview process at DoorDash includes a coding exercise and business case to evaluate these skills. The business case presents real-world problems and allows interviewers to observe how candidates handle ambiguity, make decisions without full information, and react to being told they're wrong. The interviewer shared her personal story of becoming a data scientist without a traditional background, emphasizing the importance of having a strong desire to solve problems and the ability to learn new skills as necessary. She also highlighted the value of having a non-traditional background in hiring and building a team with diverse skills and expertise. This approach not only helps in driving business impact but also inspires individuals starting out in their careers to believe that they can succeed in fields they may not have a lot of background in.
DoorDash culture: DoorDash's early team embodied a culture of extreme ownership and customer-first mentality, with employees regularly participating in dashing and customer support to better understand the product and its audiences.
DoorDash's early team embodied a culture of extreme ownership and customer-first mentality. This was evident in their hands-on approach to growing the business, such as handing out promo codes and going out dashing to understand the customer experience. The sales team, including Joe Gracio, was a prime example of this ownership culture, as their compensation was tied to merchant sign-ups but they still joined in on early morning promotional efforts. During times of crisis, like site outages, the entire team dropped everything to prioritize customer support. This culture of ownership and customer focus continues to be a significant part of DoorDash's success, with employees regularly participating in dashing and customer support to better understand the product and its audiences. The early team's commitment to extreme ownership and the customer experience played a crucial role in DoorDash's growth and continues to be a defining aspect of the company's culture.
Metrics and Cross-functional Experience: Exploring different roles within a company and gaining a well-rounded understanding of the business is important for employees and the company. Clear and simple metrics that drive long-term outputs should be defined, and understanding how metrics relate to each other is crucial for effective decision-making. Teams should translate every decision into its impact on the final business metric.
At DoorDash, they encourage employees to explore different roles within the organization to gain a well-rounded understanding of the business. This cross-functional experience not only benefits the employee but also the company as a whole. Another thing that stands out from the conversation is the importance of defining clear and simple metrics to drive desired business outcomes. According to the speaker, it's crucial to find a short-term metric that drives a long-term output, and keeping things simple is essential. Complex composite metrics can be hard to understand and work with, making it difficult to make informed decisions. Furthermore, understanding how metrics across the company relate to one another is vital. By quantifying things in terms of a common currency, teams can make trade-offs between different areas of the business and make decisions more quickly and effectively. Lastly, the importance of translating every decision into its impact on the business's final metric, such as gross order value (GOV) and volume, was discussed. This approach allows teams to understand the potential impact of their decisions and make informed trade-offs between different areas of the business. In summary, the key takeaways from the conversation are the importance of cross-functional experience, clear and simple metrics, understanding the relationship between metrics, and translating decisions into their impact on the final business metric.
Impactful Metrics: Focusing on a few impactful metrics, even if not perfect proxies, can lead to significant improvements in the long term. Overlooking edge cases and fail states can have a significant impact on consumer experience, engagement, and profitability.
Prioritizing and focusing on the most impactful metrics, even if they are not perfect proxies, can lead to significant improvements in the long term. This was a lesson learned at Airbnb when they focused on improving one metric at a time, such as cancellation rate, instead of constantly switching between multiple metrics. Additionally, it's important to not overlook edge cases and fail states when setting metrics, as they can have a significant impact on consumer experience, engagement, and profitability. For example, at DoorDash, focusing on eliminating "never delivered" orders led to meaningful improvements in reducing churn and costs. While managing a global data org may add complexity due to differences in currencies, languages, and regulations, the problems faced are often similar to those encountered in domestic markets.
AI tools for productivity: Implementing AI chatbots can help team members write SQL queries and edit data, saving time and resources for the analytics team while empowering individuals to learn and grow within the team.
Leveraging AI tools can significantly improve productivity and empower non-technical users within a team. During the discussion, the guest shared how DoorDash implemented an AI chatbot named Ask Data AI to help team members write SQL queries and edit data, freeing up time and resources for the analytics team. This approach not only saves time but also empowers individuals to learn and grow within the team. The guest emphasized the importance of having a diverse team with various backgrounds and experiences, as it leads to a unique learning environment where team members can teach each other new skills. Additionally, the guest recommended exploring the Libby app and supporting local public libraries, and mentioned enjoying the TV shows "The West Wing" and "Alias," as well as Korean sunscreens.
Sunscreen, Sleep, Influential Women: Sunscreen is essential for skin health as we age, Korean sunscreens are effective, sleep is important for problem-solving and clarity, women have significantly influenced the speaker's career, and seeking the truth with kindness is encouraged.
Sunscreen is crucial for protecting the skin as we age, and Korean sunscreens have been impressing the speaker with their effectiveness. Another valuable tip shared by the speaker is the importance of sleep in solving problems and gaining clarity. The speaker also mentioned that women have significantly influenced her career, from her inspiring colleagues in male-dominated industries to her mother's determination to change careers later in life. When she joined DoorDash, she didn't focus on its potential for success but was driven by the experience and the people. Two moments that stood out for her were becoming the number one player in the market and the widespread use of DoorDash by consumers. To engage with the speaker, follow her on LinkedIn, where she shares insights from her experience building a global analytics org at DoorDash. Lastly, she encourages everyone to seek the truth and speak it kindly.