A Journey To Bridge The Gap Between Data Users & Data Practitioners

Hi, I am Loris and I am the host and founder of The Data Project.

As far as I can remember I always had a passion for science, public speaking and leadership. I grew up and studied in Rome-Italy and continued my studies in Sydney-Australia where I now live and work. Things I like the most: thinking, building, organising, helping, and persuading.

From five years of information engineering, I learned statistics and maths and how to find the signal in the noise. During my research years in quantum physics, I developed patience and perseverance, I learned introspective meditation, I mentored younger students and I found many ways to work efficiently. In 2017 I joined a tech startup as a data scientist, where I learned that maths has little to do with the job, and I was saved by my engineering, system thinking, and above all people skills. There is a gap between data users and data experts, something I could no longer ignore after working as a data architect in a logistics scaleup.

Throughout this roller-coaster, podcasts have been invaluable to keep a bit of sanity. But as I grew my subscription list I realised that most shows either focus on technical problems or were specific to a particular data role.

I wanted a show that focused more on people and less on the technology, something that helped tackle the really hard problems in data teams, and more broadly data-mature organisations. I couldn't find the show I was looking for - so I started The Data Project :-)

The hype around AI/ML widened the gap between data perception and data reality. Many executives and business leaders today still expect transformative data-driven insights to “just happen" often ignoring the importance of education, architecture and design.

In part because of lack of vision, in part, because this is considered "technical" work, teams tend to skip the design part and start working relentlessly to ingest and model data into the warehouse. Engineers are under a ton of pressure to deliver something tangible for the business, which is hard when progress is measured in the number of lines of code. Eventually, the business loses trust in the project and everyone feels miserable.

I lived these problems first hand, and it wasn’t nice. I was spreading myself too thin, between communicating the vision, defining the data ROI to gain leadership support, maintaining servers and writing production-quality code. Soon enough my sleep started to be affected, and I had less energy to nurture my most important relationships - my wife & my newborn. The pandemic made everything worse and my lowest point was in May 2020 where I felt demotivated, frustrated and kind of trapped. I really didn't know what to do.

Many conversations and introspections later, it clicked. While I was caring for my little one, this big data mess suddenly seemed more approachable, and I found the mental clarity to decide to do something about it.

I went back to my little desk and started what is now The Data Project, a podcast to bridge the gap between data users and data experts. I explore data through a human lens, speak about non-technical challenges in data and information management, and I hope to inspire a healthier and more effective way to work with data.

I aligned the podcast to my consultancy business (datafoundations.com.au) and made it a top priority for me, for my mission, and for my personal brand. Luckily I was able to cover the upfront costs (mic, editing software, hosting) and I received encouragement and support from family and friends. I am especially grateful to my wife, especially in the very early stages from idea to launch.

In short 1. personal growth 2. meaningful connections, and 3. marketing. I love podcasts for their on-demand nature and for the long format which allows my guests and I to dive into a topic as much as we want. Each episode is a challenge, I research and read the best books I can find on the topic, align with my guests and learn how to promote the show on social media. Even though I am at the beginning of a long journey, I noticed that my speaking and thinking already gained clarity and I am close to finding a repeatable process. I am aware that a lot of my growth has been fuelled by the candid and honest feedback from guests and listeners, and for that, I am forever grateful.

The Data Project follows a hybrid format. Everything starts from a pitch and a quick catch up with the prospective guest, followed by an alignment phase. This is where we both take 5 minutes to write down what we want to accomplish with the episode and why. We then collaborate asynchronously, first to come up with relevant ideas, then to flash out the talking points. Recording sessions are typically 1.5 hours long, followed by editing, website page, distribution and promotion.

Mostly LinkedIn and Twitter, but I am thinking to add an Instagram account soon. I also make sure the show is listed on the major platforms, and actively guest on other podcasts or youtube channels.

There is a lot more to it than you think. In retrospect, I am glad that I approached this project cautiously especially when it comes to publishing cadence. I started with a 4 weeks gap, then realised I could safely reduce it to 3 weeks without compromising quality. If the show keeps growing as it has so far, I will soon outsource the editing and promotion, and perhaps publish every fortnight. While this is an infinite game, listeners decide whether this is worthwhile doing or not. I am just curious to see how this is going to evolve.

datafoundations.com.au/thedataproject, lorismarini.dev, linkedin.com/in/lorismarini