workingwithdata_ebook_april21_awc2op 4

TREATING DATA AS A PRODUCT
Why should I do it?
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of education. Humans struggle to
process too much complex information, but are great at remembering and
retelling stories. And this is exactly what you want to do with your data. You
want people to remember the important information, act on it and draw the
right conclusions that will help them in their roles. The business critical choices
people made need to be rooted in the data you provide them with. And this can
only happen if they remember and understand what they have been told.
Beyond that, stories can be retold. New coworkers, other teams and
customers can all be provided with this information by anyone who can retell
the story. And if that happens, it can actually relieve the data team from
repetitive work, so they can focus on more exciting things like enhancing the
data or driving powerful data use cases.
Lastly, providing data as a story means that data literacy is no longer
expected or required from every team. Teams which are affected by the data,
but not directly involved in collecting or consuming it can still benefit from a
strong narrative. This way they do not have to invest in additional resources
to create understanding, but they can focus on their everyday work.
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