33 Tangents

This week Jim and Jason sit down and have a conversation with Ben Gaines who is a Group Product Manager with Adobe.  Ben shares his insights and learnings from what it was like when he started with Omniture to what his day to day looks like today.  Ben discusses what it means to be a product manager with Adobe, what he sees as the current trends in Analytics, and how he stays focused on the strategic view of the product.   WHAT YOU’LL HEAR… 

Please note: We’re taking a break during the holidays and we’ll will be back with new episodes on January 11, 2019.  This episode was previously published on August 17, 2018   What does air quality have to do with data and collaboration?  This week Randy Zwitch, Senior Developer Advocate at MapD, joins Jason and Jim.  Randy and Jason have been working together on a project using MapD’s platform and air quality data from Jason’s home state, Utah.  The conversation starts off talking about the specifics of the project but then moves onto the broader topic of remote collaboration and there is even mention of a spicy sushi challenge from 7 years ago.   Links to blog posts documenting the project: https://33sticks.com/analyzing-utahs-air-quality-cleaning/   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

Please note: We’re taking a break during the holidays and will be back with new episodes on January 11, 2019.  This episode was previously published on August 3, 2018.   This week Jim, Jon, and Jason discuss two different, yet related problems faced by remote workers today.  The first is the concept of being “always on”.  The expectation, explicitly stated or implied, that you’re always accessible via phone, or email, or a messaging platform such as Slack.  The second piece is distractions.  This could be the latest email that comes into your inbox, the tweet you just got, or the alert that just popped up on your phone.  Both of these take discipline to manage to prevent being thrown off track.  How can these be dealt with?  What are some of the steps that can be taken to manage them?   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

We’ve gotten this question, in one form or another, many many times: I’m looking at system A and system B and they don’t match, how do we fix that?  To validate that a system is collecting data correctly you need to compare it to another system.  For example you would compare your Analytics implementation to your backend order management system to ensure that you’re conversion tracking is accurate.  However these two systems will never match exactly and if you’re not careful, your validation can spiral out of control.   If the wrong audience is involved, they won’t trust any of the data so this process has to be managed very carefully.  What are some reasons systems will never match exactly?   If they don’t match exactly, what is the point of doing this validation?  How do you manage expectation, both yours and others?   How do you prevent it from spiraling out of control?  This week Jenn, Jason, and Jim discuss their experience with reconciliation efforts, how they can spawn more problems than they solve, and how to properly manage them.     Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

What is a Customer Data Platform, or CDP, and how can it help my business?  This week Hila and Jason sit down with Aaron Fossum, Director of Digital Analytics at Holland America Line to discuss CDPs.  Aaron talks about Holland’s goal with being better able to talk to their customers and how a CDP plays into that.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

Often times we see the effort to implement, maintain, and use Analytics be questioned by those who aren’t involved in the day to day.  Focusing on after the initial implementation work is done, many times management does not see the value in functionality that does not provide direct revenue.  Once implemented how do you demonstrate and prove the value of the data being collected?  How do you justify things such as software costs, the ongoing maintenance, and hiring of people to use the data?   Related Blog Posts: How to Sell Your Boss on a New Data Layer ObservePoint: How to Sell Your Boss on a Digital Data Layer    Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

Created and defined by GrowthHackers (https://growthhackers.com/articles/north-star-metric), “The North Star Metric (NSM) is a powerful concept that has emerged in recent years from Silicon Valley companies with breakout growth. It helps teams move beyond driving fleeting, surface-level growth to instead focus on generating long-term retained customer growth.  The North Star Metric is the single metric that best captures the core value that your product delivers to customers. Optimizing your efforts to grow this metric is key to driving sustainable growth across your full customer base.”   This week Jim, Jon, and Jason discuss the concept of a North Star Metric, the value an organization can see by defining and measuring one, and some real world examples of where it has been used.     Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

You won’t be as successful as you could be with out a plan.  Without planning and/or preparation it’s easy for your workday to get away from you.  This week Hila, Jason, and Jim discuss steps they take to stay organized and focused so they can get the important items we need done and not be distracted by the little stuff.  Creating structure in your day is definitely not one-size-fits all and they provide recommendations for those that may be struggling with it.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

This week Jim was in Boston and paid a visit to The Christian Science Monitor, one of 33 Sticks’ clients.  As part of the visit he and Jason were able to get time with Todd Schauman to record a podcast episode.  Todd is the Director of Marketing and Analytics for the Christian Science Monitor and has a great deal of experience working in the publishing space.  One of the things that Jim and Jenn have talked about on a previous episode was that there are many tried and true best practices when it comes to ecommerce analytics but not with publishing.  We ask Todd his thoughts on why?  With the cost of implementing, maintaining, and running an analytics practice, how does Todd make the case to his management?  What are some unique options that are available to non-profit publishing organizations?   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

When it comes to implementing analytics tracking, some feel the need or design to tag everything a visitor can click on.  While there may be value tracking most of the interactions a visitor can make, there is a core set that can be lost in the mix if not careful.  What are the most important interactions on a site to have tagged first to ensure you’re clearly tracking the important details a customer is trying to tell you?  This week Jenn and Jim dig into the weeds and talk about those interactions that they see as most important, those that are distractions and noise, and how to tell the difference.     Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

You’ve just started a new job as the Analytics/Insights manager.  You’re coming into a position where an analytics solution was designed and implemented by one of your predecessors.  What are the critical first steps that you take now that you own it?  This week, Jim, Jon, and Jason sit down to discuss what they see as the important items to tackle first along with the common missteps with this kind of scenario.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

Adobe recently announced the end of life plans and sunset date for DTM.  With migrations from DTM to Launch estimated to take up to 9 months it means that if many organizations are not talking about migrating they could already behind the 8 ball.  The time between now and DTM’s sunset date will fly by.  What should organizations do to get things started?  What are the most important things to consider?    This week Jason, Jenn, and Jim are joined by special guest Corey Spencer.  Corey is Director of Product Management at Adobe and was gracious enough to sit down with us to talk about the move from DTM to Launch and all of the benefits that brings to an organization.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

Technology addiction is a very real thing.  With the latest iOS version, Apple has released a feature called “Screen Time” to measure how much you use your phone and to give you the ability to shut down applications after a certain amount of usage per day as well as at night.  During a recent vacation, Jim noticed a large number of people being sucked into their phones and taken out of the moment.  For those of us who have a passion for technology and have a career in technology, there is a conflict between being up to date on the latest & greatest as well as living our lives not being completely consumed by technology.  This week Jim, Jason, and Jon discuss this conflict and what each are doing to create balance in their lives.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/

We’ve all been there.  A prospect or client is excited to get started with something, you take all of steps necessary to get everything prepared and then…bam…things stop dead.  How do you handle handle these “hurry up and wait” situations?  What is the root cause of them?  This week Jim, Jon, and Jason dig deep into these questions, but first talk a little bit about coffee.  Jim and Jason actually find something to disagree about.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/  

Once a testing and optimization program is up and running, what are the key components of making it successful?  What needs to be done to ensure that it’s advancing and becoming more sophisticated?  Last week, Jason, Hila, and Jim spoke about the important steps to take when starting a testing and optimization program.  This week they continue the conversation but focusing the common pitfalls that can cause a test program to become stagnant or even fail.   Website: www.33sticks.com Email: Podcast@33sticks.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/33Sticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/33sticks/