Category: Data Architect

  • The Three Best Tips For Effective Code Reviews And Preventing Knife Fights!

    Bring a group of senior business intelligence professionals or SQL Server pros together to review each others code and you have all the potential for a good knife fight.  As our team is getting ready to make design/code reviews a regular part of our development process we’re looking to make sure we get off on […]

  • Is Your Team Defending The Status Quo? (Are you?)

    Saw this blog post from Seth Godin.  It outlines a number of points that might indicate you are defending the status quo.  Don’t get me wrong, in many cases there are benefits to the status quo.  It’s proven, it’s understood, you know the pros and you know the cons.  In many cases sticking with the […]

  • The Houston Rockets Say “Better Data, Not Better Analysis” Is The Key

    Came across this post on the Harvard Business Review site by the GM of the Houston Rockets.  Thought provoking stuff.  As the title implies the data you have is more important than the analysts using the data.  If you’re too lazy to read it here are my cliff notes (you lazy bum):

  • Business Intelligence Teams Could Learn Something From Barcelona Football

    Just came across a brief but interesting article looking at how the top ranked Barcelona Football Club has handled some tricky management issues, one of which is particularly common to the business intelligence team:

  • Radar Chart? You must be kidding.

    I’ve been thinking about the display of data quite a bit lately.  Some ways of presenting data are clearly more effective than others.  When providing data in a visual format the goals are one of the following:

  • Using Power, Seduction, and War To Improve Productivity

    Ouch! Fail! Just endured a smack down at the hands of my team.  I pointed out a clear issue affecting the team’s productivity (with a solution ready in my back pocket).  The team denied it was an issue, saying it was in fact one of the things they take pride in.  I was left in […]

  • Rebuilding A Business Intelligence Team

    On April 29th I took on a new position as the lead of the Business Intelligence Team for a local money management firm. To make the story a bit more interesting, I had worked for the same firm five years earlier as the supervisor of their database group. Since that time the firm’s assets

  • When Hiring Your Database Team – Do Not Settle!

    One of the unwritten qualifications of a great business intelligence or database team lead are interviewing skills.  Finding the right business intelligence pro can often be a slow process that frequently results in upper management demanding you “just pick someone!”.  Do not give in!  This recent interview with Digg founder and angel investor Kevin Rose […]

  • Database Architects – You Are In Demand

    Finding a great Database Architect is a challenging task.  I stumbled across a recent post by marketing guru Seth Godin which happened to touch on this and lumped DB Architects in with some rarefied company: