From immeasurable tasks to roadmaps
Advice on 'just launching', learning from chaos and what's next for Datent... and a one off offer
I challenge anyone to either transform an organisation without a roadmap or to produce a credible roadmap at the start of a transformation.
Before I explain this conundrum, I need to defend roadmaps which some argue are incompatible with agile. I do not advocate using roadmaps as version-controlled project plans with neatly mapped dependencies to manage a transformation. Neither transformations nor the world is that neat.
However, it is impossible to set the right pace without a roadmap. An increasing number of companies I meet have ambitious data strategies. Move the central team off BI and onto products. Build an active data culture. Many even get into the specifics with, for example, 15-20% of people capable of self-serve analytics.
The same organisations then celebrate 1% of the workforce upskilling in the data platform in the last year. They’re either happy with a transformation that stretches beyond a decade or have never developed a roadmap and asked how long it will take to achieve their goals at the current pace.
Without a roadmap, you cannot assess progress; corporate visions are little more than daydreams.
Starting by starting
However, transformations are complex, and often, there are too many unknowns to produce a roadmap at the start.
Entrepreneurs have the same challenge and get started by diving in and learning. Or as Jensen Huang, Nvidia founder, put it “the superpower of an entrepreneur is they don’t know how hard it is, they only ask themselves how hard can it be”. This quote resonated with me so much that it is printed out and stuck on my wall to my left, as I write.
The same logic applies to intrapreneurs, individuals who try to transform an organisation from within. I had pretty much the same feeling starting Datent as I did when I started an enterprise data transformation. It felt like setting out to climb a mountain peak in the distance but first needing to cross a foggy valley. The destination was clear, but little was known about the route and potential obstacles.
By getting stuck in, two things happen. First, you encounter some unexpected and unplanned challenges, which typically lead to a busy, verging on chaotic period. As an intrapreneur, I underestimated team setup and my cofounder and I ended up conducting 12 interviews a week, 4 weeks in a row, while managing internally delivered and externally delivered (via consultants) projects and updating the strategy for the next phase. Chaos? Yes. Fun? Yes, that, too! Would I do it again? Unlikely…
When I started Datent I briefly attempted a roadmap before realising that there were too many unknowns, put away the various startup books and committed to cycle of piloting products before launching them. I didn’t anticipate the volume of work involved in starting a business.
A free Accelerator pilot paced the way to launch the service. It was tough but manageable. Then came the enterprise Accelerator at the same time as unexpected startup work caught up … website relaunch, onboarding accountants and accounting platform, legal services and terms and conditions … all necessary work but much more time-consuming than anticipated. Apologies but this is why the newsletter dropped for a period.
However, as I’d learned as an intrapreneur, these busy/chaotic periods have an upside. After that period at JLR, I had enough understanding of transformation to lay out a rough roadmap for the rest of the transformation, which, COVID aside, didn’t change much in the next four years.
Therefore, my advice to anyone trying to launch or change an organisation is to do a minimal amount of reading and prep before getting started. Don’t waste time planning until you have enough experience to make a decent plan. Once you’ve been through the first unanticipated busy period, take time out to reflect and then have a go at roadmapping the next few years.
The exercise will make you reflect on a realistic pace of change and, in all likelihood, show both how and why the pace needs to pick up.
Or, in short, don’t start a transformation with a roadmap, but don’t get more than 12 months into one without one.
Datent’s Roadmap
Time to practice what I preach…
After an unexpectedly busy quarter, I’ve learned enough to share a Datent roadmap for the next three quarters.
The goal for the year is to set up a support system for data intrapreneurs. Nothing like this exists yet, so an MVP is fine for year one. The minimal viable offer is:
An Accelerator Programme that develops best practice data strategy through leadership development, as an alternative to strategy consulting;
A Data Culture and Benchmarking assessment that delivers actionable advice on data strategy, prioritises data culture work and monitors progress;
A Data Intrapreneurs Community to provide ongoing support to any involved in running a data transformation or creating a more data driven organisation.
2024 Q1 - Accelerator went live
1st full Accelerator - 15 hours of content and 6 hours of group coaching
Develop first Enterprise Accelerator - closed cohorts for data strategy and leadership team development
Back office setup - accounting and legal systems and website relaunch
2024 Q2 - Culture and Benchmarking Assessment go live
2nd full Accelerator Programme
1st Enterprise Data Accelerator
Launch of Data Culture and Benchmarking Assessments
Launch Data Intrapreneur Community Pilot (more below)
We built the accelerator programme by piloting it for free first and advertising the opportunity for one week in this newsletter.
We’re taking the same approach with the community. In Q3 we’ll be building out our community strategy and building out our wiki - a one stop portal for data strategy tools, frameworks, presentations etc.
We need a community to help with this. In return for contributing to workshops to structure and prioritise content for the community, you will have free access to the community for a year and option to join the May Accelerator Programme with a significant discount.
We’re looking for people with a keen interest in data strategy, transformation and communities. If this is you or you know someone that would be a good fit email me (benny@datent.com) with to email to explain your interest, how you could see yourself helping and any questions. I’ll be in touch with next steps in a week when (as with the pilot) this section in italics will also disappear.
2024 Q3 - Community Development and Launch
Q3 is Datent’s downtime to focus on product and community development. Our focus will be on:
Developing the community portal
Trialling community ideas with Accelerator alumni and the pilot group
Launching the community at Big Data London on 18 -19 September. Tickets are free and we will be hosting a informal data drinks on the 18th.
2024 Q4
3rd Accelerator programme (for individual attendees and enterprise groups)
1st community state of data report (more info coming soon)
2025 roadmap development
Freemium Data Community
At Datent we believe in the data community and with everything Datent does there will always be a freemium approach.
Charged services are important, they pay our costs and allow us to invest in more content. But we’re committed to not only keeping free content going but also growing it as we grow and ultimately developing an open source transformation playbook.
In Q3 as the community strategy is finalised and launched this newsletter will also be formalised and additional free resources announced. This also means there will be no more unplanned newsletter down time from Q3 on. I will do my best to keep up the newsletter until then.
In the shorter term, every time we run an Accelerator we will also run a free open webinar series on an aspect of data strategy.
Next week we are running two sessions on making the case for a data transformation. Sign up even if you can’t make, and you will receive a link to the recording and materials.
Final thought, we aim to practice what we preach and run Datent as a true lean startup. It will be bumpy, but it means we will develop faster and better adapt our roadmap to your needs.
With that in mind, this is the first time we’ve shared a roadmap. I can’t wait till the first face to face Datent event in September to ask, what do you think? What would you like next time we share a roadmap? Let me know in the comments.