Ideation is an invaluable process to an organization. In the day to day processes a company is involved with better creating business value, identifying revenue leakage, and implementing a heightened customer experience should be the pillars of operation. How many degrees are you removed from one of these pillars? When was the last time you thought, “We can do this better”? Did you take this idea to management?

One of the common myths widely propagated in companies is that top-down leadership is the best method of management, but often times the best ideas in a company don’t have a path to reach the top. There are of course, business transformation organizations and business innovation units, but even then there is usually little vertical alignment.

All of this to say, data teams bring ideas to the table, and in a time where data scientists are hailed as essential to business transformation it’s never been more important to give them the ability to be successful. Level your organization in such a way that ideas (both big and small) can move to a company’s change agents, and ultimately data scientists and business analysts alike will be as powerful as you’d hoped they would be.

There is a common theme when working for a manufacturing company: get it done, and get it done right. The non-device / product related items, such as documentation, that are involved in the manufacturing process are often left on the back burner because of this. In my opinion, it is this documentation that is most necessary in the product lifecycle.

Every touch point of the product will come back to one question: why? Why does the product behave this way? What are the exceptions of software behaviors? Software is working on the next generation of a product by the time reports come in from product use, and their attention is no longer focused on that previous back burner item. It’s imperative, however, to properly and extensively document software before it hits the field. Whether healthcare, where FDA audits are required, or manufacturing, where industry audits are required, it comes down to one simple question: is the device / product working as it is supposed to.

When it is time to answer this question I’ve seen software teams point fingers and say, “That’s not our job”, “The software isn’t supposed to be used for this purpose”, and “It’s in the manual”. This vicious circle of shifting responsibility and haphazardly patching code to meet the next version release date only increases problems down the line, so take the time now and do the job right.

As product life cycle management continues to fall into the hands of freshman data teams these teams must know how to respond and how to support the product. In order to do that we need to understand how the device works, plain and simple. So, software, this is me sincerely asking, “Please, please document how your device is designed to operate”.

As I introduce this site and develop my internet voice I thought the introduction a perfect time to ask you nicely, please shake my hand.

As a woman who has worked in energy, manufacturing, and healthcare I can attest that one thing is consistent: a limp first handshake. I have started two jobs with a male counterpart at the same time, and each time my handshake is lackluster in comparison. Meanwhile the male to male handshake is firm, eye contact is held, and usually has a “mmph” to it that mine does not. In fact, I’ve even been told that my handshake was firm… for a woman. Maybe so, but I can ask every man, here and now, to shake my hand. Do not turn your wrist over, do not limply shake, instead shake with a hand that says, “I respect you”. I want 100% of your handshake, not 80%.

Mothers and fathers I urge you to teach your children, regardless of gender, how to respectfully shake hands. This and the next generation of women are continuing to close the gap, and I encourage the gap to end between our hands as well. There should be no disparity in a business handshake between a man and a woman.

 

Thanks for reading.