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Andy Kriebel, Global Head Coach, The Data School

Describe your career to date

I started working in the data industry in the mid-1990s as a business analyst for a US-based insurance company. There, I developed a keen interest in data analysis and visualisation, which eventually led me to pursue a career in the field.

 

I went on to create the data visualisation programmes at two of the world’s biggest brands, Coca-Cola and Facebook, that revolutionised the way they analyse and communicate data.

 

I am also an active contributor to the data community. In 2010, I started VizWiz.com, a website that provides data visualisation advice and tutorials. I run a popular YouTube channel, lead the Makeover Monday project, which challenges participants to create and share visualisations based on a given data set every week, and host The Dual Axis podcast, featuring influential people in data. 

 

I am also a regular speaker at industry conferences and the author of “Makeover Monday: Improving How We Improve and Visualize Data, One Chart at a Time” with Eva Murray.

 

In 2015, I joined The Information Lab, a leading data consultancy firm, to start The Data School. In my role as global head coach, I have trained hundreds of data analysts to help clients understand and communicate their data effectively

 

What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role? 

If I had to boil my success into one word, it would be practise. When I started, I couldn’t get enough of building visualisations and learning about data visualisation. And I’m still on that learning path today. You will not improve if you don’t practise, and that practise needs to be deliberate and focused.

 

What level of data maturity do you see across the data industry and what tends to hold this back? 

Data maturity is improving, but not at the pace “promised” years ago. The data industry is still too focused on building reports and not focused enough of analysis and finding insights. Perhaps this is a skills gap, but companies need to learn that getting something from their data is more important than producing dashboards and reports. We also need to move away from a one tool will do it all mentality; there are different tools that are great at different things. Be willing to adopt more tools so that you can improve efficiencies. 

What trends are you seeing in terms of the data and analytics resources that are in demand? 

While data visualisation and data analysis skills are still super important, having a very good grasp of SQL is now a critical component in the data analyst’s toolkit. If I were starting now, I’d learn SQL before anything else. It’s simply not possible nor worth the time to try to analyse messy data. Learn to clean data to get it ready for analysis. Start with SQL before any other data prep tools.

 

What challenges do you see for data in the year ahead that will have an impact on you and on the industry as a whole? 

Stop wasting time creating “once source of truth”. There’s no such thing. Instead, get the data in a state that is “good enough” then analyse that data. You’re likely to find holes in the data that you can address to make the data “better”. Repeat that cycle every time you work with data. Analysis paralysis will hinder progress.

How do you see data literacy developing across a) your network and b) the data industry generally? 

Across my network, data literacy is already strong. What I would like to see is more people sharing what they are learning about data literacy to help improve everyone. This is important not only for business, but also for everyday life. You need to be able to make sense of the data you see every day.

 

Organisations are investing more and more in data literacy, but is it working? Not really. There need to be changes in the conversation and approach. You can’t expect to see results instantly. Companies need to be more patient and continue to invest in their employees to help improve data literacy.

 

What solutions do you see for the challenge of attracting, nurturing and retaining talent? 

The competition is fierce. To attract the best talent, you need to be seen as a desirable place to work. How do reviews look on Glassdoor? What are you promising? Are you delivering on those promises?

 

Then, once you have hired the talent, you must provide them opportunities to learn and grow. If not, they should leave. Personal and professional growth, along with a culture of open sharing, will help retain talent.

Andy Kriebel
has been included in:
  • 100 Influencers 2023 (EMEA)

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