For a long time, I have been trying or wonder how to get deeper into the data world with an easy approach. However, I found different impediments in different stages such as an organisation not prepared to be data-driven, lack of knowledge at the product team or even some barriers like not budget or time to spend on this matter.
Recently, an ex-colleague, Clara Ibars, asked me to recommend some data courses. So... I've decided to get hands-on with the research in order to create data - guideline for organisations and designers in order to start from scratch.
In this first article, I am going to start with the designer point of view. After that, I will cover the process of starting to work with data with your team (squad). Finally, how to wrap up that at the organisational level.
Products are more complex. This is a fact. The tech industry is not the same like 5 years ago and the role of product designer has been changed. This days, the industry requires talent that has an holistic point of view and they are data aware.
Unfortunately, you cannot do this alone but you can start by understanding one what level your organisation is when data is involved.
Evolution of the data driven company · Christopher S.Penn
By looking at the image above you can understand at which level your business is.
Then, let's assume that your company is data-aware. So.. what you can do in order to guide the right conversations? Many companies might have data but not too many people know how to use it or how to build the right culture around it.
However, as a designer, you can start working on your squad or side projects and building knowledge around your organisation.
By using the following guideline, you will get the basic foundations and driving deeper into different fields. In the end, you will be able to activate certain conversation with your team members, stakeholders and start experimenting with more criteria.
For the following guideline, I took as an example this framework:
Framework outlined by King et al (designing with data book).