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Episode 251:

Data Teams at the Crossroads: Proving Value in a Changing Business Landscape with Ben Rogojan

July 2, 2025

This week on The Data Stack Show, John welcomes back repeat guest Ben Rogojan, Owner and Data Consultant of Seattle Data Guy. John and Ben discuss the evolving relationship between data teams and businesses, highlighting the challenges of proving value in a cost-conscious environment. Ben explores the impact of technological advancements, the rise of AI, and the critical skills data professionals need to succeed. Key insights include the importance of understanding business context, being proactive, and focusing on delivering tangible outcomes rather than just producing dashboards. Ben also emphasizes the need for data teams to communicate value effectively, show rather than tell, and be willing to take calculated risks. The conversation provides practical advice for data professionals looking to advance their careers, with a focus on developing business skills, understanding organizational needs, creating meaningful impact beyond technical expertise, and so much more. 

Notes:

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

  • Technical Freelancer Academy & Consulting Community (1:21)
  • Evolution of Data Teams and Technology (2:52)
  • Data Team Growth and Output vs. Outcome (4:47)
  • Internal Optimization vs. Client-Facing Data Work (7:23)
  • Audience, Delivery Mechanisms, and Actionability (12:40)
  • Proving ROI and Prioritizing Work (15:27)
  • Practical Tips for Data Team-Business Alignment (18:31)
  • Dealing with Vanity and Security Blanket Metrics (23:39)
  • AI’s Impact on Data Workflows (27:07)
  • BI Tools, AI Integration, and Dashboards (32:25)
  • Top Skills for Data Professionals (37:27)
  • Career Growth: Technical, Communication, and Business Skills (42:02)
  • Show, Don’t Tell: Prototyping and Feedback (44:37)
  • Taking Initiative and Risk in Data Roles (50:21)
  • Parting Advice and Closing Thoughts (51:16)

 

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, customer data infrastructure that enables you to deliver real-time customer event data everywhere it’s needed to power smarter decisions and better customer experiences. Each week, we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

About the Podcast

Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

To keep up to date with our future episodes, subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or the player of your choice.

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