You don't need to be a data scientist to learn how to make data work for humans. In fact, one of the best ways to learn is to be on the receiving end of data projects, and that's exactly what happened to today's guest, Erik Dutilly. As a middle school teacher, Erik went through his district's attempts to bring down a data-driven culture from on high through a massive Tableau project. Erik shares his deep insight into why it didn't have the hoped-for results, and three critical ways that similar projects could succeed in the future. Spoiler alert - not one of those three interventions has to do with the technology or data themselves. It's all about how you focus on the humans that are part of the process.
Erik Dutilly’s passions lie in education, psychology, and program evaluation. He seeks to apply insights from these fields to solving persistent societal problems. He has worked in public schools, consulted with non-profit groups, and currently works at the American Indian College Fund as an evaluator and researcher. He owns and operates an innovative private tutoring company called Research Inspired Tutoring in Boulder, Colorado where he applies data-driven decision-making principles to improve student learning. He received his masters and PhD in education from the University of Colorado Boulder.
A great house will only last if it's built on a great foundation. Yet, we don't even see that foundation and we often forget it's even there. That's the same as data standards - setting processing in place that control how, when, and where data are collected and stored. If you have have different ways of defining, collecting, and processing data, it's the same as having part of your foundation made of sand, part of stone, part above ground, part below ground, and part not even finished yet! All too soon, the house will come down. So join Dave Saraiva, a co-founder and chief of products at the nonprofit CRM Driven, for an in-depth yet approachable discussion on how to get started with creating, implementing, and maintaining standards of data collection. ...
"Agile" is a formally designed approach meant to help software developers turn out better software faster and with fewer bugs. Today's guest, Bo Ruan, Head of Data at the Alzheimer's Society, helps us see how we can leverage the core concepts of agile to create more impactful data systems, analytics, and insights. Now, if you Google Agile Methodology, you can quickly get sucked into a rabbit hole of certifications and masterships and oodles of training. Bo's approach is that you're not aiming to become a formal Agile practioner, but rather to adapt the key Agile principles - which are themselves simple - to your data work. In this episode, we cover those essential elements and how to put them to use with social good data. If you want to get started with Agile in your data work, Bo recommends starting with the 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto. While they are stated in the context of software development, most of the steps have clear parallels to data work, such as delivering working outputs regularly for immediate stakeholder feedback, connecting end-users and developers continuously, and regular reflections on how things have gone and how they can go better. About Bo Ruan Bo Ruan is the first Head of Data at the Alzheimer’s Society, part of a career in serving the social good sector through data. As the first in his role, Bo faced the challenge of developing a data strategy from scratch. Alzheimer’s Society had not yet leveraged the data it has access prior to ...
While we each may lean a little bit (or a lot bit) towards more heart-centered or more cerebral in how we think and process decisions, both approaches are valid and even necessary for success with data in nonprofits. Today we talk with Blaire Hamelehle, a senior analyst and manger with a knack for "marrying quantitative and qualitative data to uncover compelling stories about our communities." Blaire Hamelehle serves as the senior data analyst and data manager for TNTP, an education nonprofit reimagining teaching. She supports clients and teams to conduct and tell meaningful stories about research and educational evaluation efforts. She holds a masters in Public Administration from the University of Denver and a bachelors in psychology from the American University. ...
