In your data leadership role, do you feel that you need to switch between wearing a technology-focused hat and a business-focused hat, or have you found a way to incorporate these two perspectives? Any tips for doing this?
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As I looked to develop an analytics team from a reporting group is was essential to have staff become more technical savvy and understand the business problems. #love the problem became our mantra.
You need to wear both hats, at the same time. You need to incorporate business-thinking into technology decisionsj, and technology thinking into business decisions. Business thinking would include a consideration of things like business strategy, culture, leadership, cost/benefit and ROI, etc. etc. etc. Technologist thinking would include a consideration of things like scalability, long-term architecture, roadmaps, risk assessments, etc. etc. It's not easy, but I would argue these are skills that can be learned.
What has worked for me and what I share with me team is the start with a "value" hat.
1. What is the measurable transparent value - outcome
2. How then does technology aid that? if it is a decision on an application or tool ...we can then assess, does the tool and related investment give us more and enough of the defined value ? if yes, then
3. Dive into the technology and the specifics around it.
It has to given that we need to ensure that we get value from the project keeping in mind that we are using technology to realise the business value from data. So both goes hand-in-hand actually. I feel more importantly regardless of what hat you have to wear, alignment with the overall strategy or tactics at the department or team level is more important.
In my experience as a data leader, I've found that seamlessly blending the technology-focused and business-focused perspectives is not just beneficial but imperative for success (the idea of "wearing BOTH hats" as @Malcolm Hawker and others have suggested in their excellent answers to this question. Effective communication plays a pivotal role, fostering a shared understanding between technical and business teams and transforming perceived obstacles into collaborative opportunities.
By encouraging both groups to appreciate each other's viewpoints and guiding each extreme towards the other, we create a culture where the business side becomes more acquainted with technology and the technical side learns about business processes. Leadership must model this mindset themselves, showcasing the value of collaboration over competition and modeling the integration of these perspectives rather than mandating it. This approach fosters a culture of collaboration rather than competition, ultimately enhancing our collective capacity to drive innovation and achieve strategic objectives.