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CASE STUDY #1

From fragmentation to a focused modernization program

Exec summary:  

What changed for one European marketplace team: focus + ownership. 
We cut the noise and set up three work areas with named leads: 

  • Tooling & Training (clean up SQL, adopt dbt, improve discovery). 
  • Data Product Layer (pick a few products, define standards, pair analysts/engineers). 
  • Metric Layer (shared definitions, certification, simple governance). 

Weekly rhythm. Short wins only. 1:1 coaching for each lead. 
No “big bang”— just visible progress the business can feel. 

In four weeks they had a plan leaders could back, pilots in motion, and less rework. 
Lesson: reducing load and creating ownership beats adding tools every time. 

 Audience takeaway: We turn messy analytics into an execution rhythm your leaders can trust. 

 Context:  

Company’s analytics landscape had grown fast but uneven. Teams were doing heroic work, yet standards, ownership, and metric consistency lagged. 

 Challenges (before we started):

  • Tooling gaps and hard‑to‑maintain SQL; slow queries and low discoverability.
  • Inconsistent documentation and practices; analysts carrying end‑to‑end work without support.
  • Fragmented ownership and overlapping datasets; conflicting definitions for key metrics.
  • A culture of “acceptable dysfunction” that normalized technical debt.

 What we did (advisory, training & coaching)

  • Facilitated a series of internal workshops to establish shared language on data products, roles, and standards. 
  • Ran an advisory sprint to frame strategy into three themes: fix delivery friction, define & reuse key metrics, and stage the platform roadmap. 
  • Co‑created three workstreams with named leads and first actions: 
  1. Tooling & Training — dbt Core adoption, metric‑layer approach, and discovery tooling. 
  2. Data Product Layer — identify flagship products, pair analysts/engineers, define pragmatic standards and certification. 
  3. Metric Layer — reuse‑ready strategic metrics, ownership model, and certification workflow. 
  • Set up 1:1 coaching with each stream lead and agreed a four‑week follow‑up to lock scope and top actions. 

 Outcomes so far: 

  • Clear owner‑led workstreams and a multi‑week action plan to show visible change. 
  • Regular cadence and rituals established inside the core team; first PoCs on dbt Core and semantic layer. 
  • Agreement to avoid tool PoCs without stakeholder buy‑in; align next moves with analytics leadership direction.

 What made the difference: 

  • We reframed success from “tools first” to visible business‑facing improvements, then backed it with role‑level coaching.

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