Catalog & Cocktails: The Honest, No-BS Data Podcast

What does a Chief Data Officer do?

If data is the new oil, does that mean the Chief Data Officer is the new baron? Not exactly, but it is one of the fastest growing and most critical executive roles in the enterprise. So... what exactly does a CDO do?
In this episode, Tim and Juan welcome special guest Mohammed Aaser, CDO at McKinsey & Company, the world’s largest management consulting firm. We’ll discuss the unique responsibilities and challenges for a CDO in an increasingly data-driven economy. Plus, we’ll learn how the firm builds and maintains its own thriving data culture.
Discussion topics include how a CDO drives critical value for the business, future trends and potential disruptions in the data space, and a clear verdict on whether Tim or Juan would make the better CDO.

Do you test your data?

We test our food. We test our cars. We test our code. But do we test our data?
Join Tim, Juan, and special guest Sam Bail from Superconductive, the company behind open source data testing tool Great Expectations. We’ll chat about how to incorporate data testing into your workflow and who should be involved. We’ll also discuss why data quality is not just a tool, but a state of mind and a commitment.
This episode will feature tools for test-driven data development, best practices to incorporate data testing, and which of our hosts received the highest SAT score.

What can we learn from messy insurance data?

The insurance industry thrives on robust, diverse, accurate, and innovative data. In fact, it’s one of the most data rich verticals around, dealing in claims, ratings, coverage, pricing, geographic, and people data and so much more. But let’s be honest, working with the disparate data sources and applications is incredibly messy and inefficient!
In this episode, Juan and Tim will be joined by insurance veteran, John Lucker to find out what we can all learn from the data and analytics challenges in insurance.
This episode will include an honest look at the ugly side of insurance data, opportunities to address insurance data challenges, and an important deep dive: State Farm vs. Progressive. Which has better commercials?

Does your data governance strategy need a therapy session?

Is data governance making you more productive? Or is it a pain that you just have to deal with for the good of the company? If you’ve got data issues, it may be time for a therapy session.
Join resident psychologists Tim, Juan, and Ashleigh Faith, EBSCO’s Director of Knowledge Graph and Semantic Search, as we explore the people and culture sides of data governance. We may not be able to treat all your symptoms, but we can change the way you feel about data governance.
This episode will feature ways to transform data governance from knowledge barrier to knowledge bridge, suggestions for consultative approaches to governance, and a discussion of who has started playing chess after watching The Queen’s Gambit.

Is Your Data Fabric a Mesh?

Let’s talk data management frameworks. What is a data fabric and how is it different from a data mesh? No, seriously, we’re trying to figure it out ourselves. Is this an attempt by industry analysts and enterprising vendors to rebrand existing technology or are these fundamentally new data architectures?
In this episode, we’ll explore who and what are driving the conversation and try to demystify these emerging data disciplines.
This episode will feature:
Clear definitions for data fabric and data mesh
Where these frameworks overlap, intersect, and chart their own course
Tim’s excuses following a Cleveland Browns playoff loss

Has business intelligence jumped the shark? (with special guest Peter Bailis, CEO of Sisu Data)

There’s a dashboard for everything in the enterprise now, so it’s easy to answer your complex questions in graphical form. And new features like natural language processing (NLP) make interactions and queries faster and easier than ever. But surely there’s more on the horizon in BI and analytics, right?
Join Tim, Juan and special guest Peter Bailis, CEO of Sisu Data for a conversation on the current state of business intelligence and data analytics. We will also discuss what’s next and the all important question: why?
This episode will feature:
The state of BI today
The evolution of BI and why it’s no longer “the new black”
Where analytics should be heading
The data-driven culture and why it matters
Tim and Juan’s New Year’s resolutions

Best of Catalog & Cocktails: 95% say exit polls don’t work. 15% say they do.

In October, veteran election "race caller" Dwayne Desaulniers shared how The Associated Press has evolved their process to provide neutral, third party analysis of our most critical elections. It's even more interesting to revisit this conversation months later as we look back on what turned out to be a tumultuous election cycle.
As the year winds down, we're revisiting our favorite (and most popular) episodes exploring some of the more unique data roles out there. Next year, we hope to keep bringing guests like Dwayne onto the show, and we want to know: what are you curious about? Whose story would you like to hear? Do you have an interesting perspective to share? Drop us a line at podcast@data.world. We'd love to hear from you.
Have a happy, healthy new year, everyone. We'll see you again in 2021.

Best of Catalog & Cocktails: Is it time to hire a data product manager?

In this episode from early August, Claire Cahill from The Zebra shared what it's like to be a data product manager at a company where data is the key to success.
As the year winds down, we're revisiting our favorite (and most popular) episodes exploring some of the more unique data roles out there. Next year, we hope to keep bringing guests like Claire onto the show, and we want to know: what are you curious about? Whose story would you like to hear? Do you have an interesting perspective to share? Drop us a line at podcast@data.world. We'd love to hear from you.
In this episode, you'll hear:
* The characteristics of a great data product manager and how you can land the same role
* Who data product managers work with on a daily basis
* Whether a good podcasting mic really makes a difference (spoiler: it does)

Goodbye 2020, hello 2021

Earlier this year, our podcast began with an ambitious episode titled “The Future of Data Management.” We’ve covered a lot of ground since then, from career paths and culture changes to data governance and data policy. In our final Catalog & Cocktails show of 2020, Juan and Tim review some of the hottest topics in the dataverse and look forward to what’s new and exciting next year.

Getting your data bang for your catalog buck

YOU may recognize that your company needs a data catalog, but does your boss get it? Can you justify the investment and determine how quickly and what kind of return you’ll get? These may seem like daunting questions, but do not fear!
In this episode, Juan and Tim will discuss how to calculate your data catalog ROI, showing you how to measure a catalog’s ability to boost revenue and productivity while reducing risk. If you need to make a business case for an enterprise data catalog, don’t miss this episode!
This episode will feature:
Success metrics for a data catalog initiative
Different methods for calculating catalog ROI
What Juan and Tim like to cook