33 Tangents
308 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 17 ratings33 Tangents is a podcast that covers a wide range of topics from digital analytics to business and technology to remote work.
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Episodes
#304 - What Can Digital Analytics Learn From Industries That Try To Be Everything To Everyone?
May 15, 2024 16:10 - 27 minutes - 50.3 MBWe’ve all experienced this kind of scenario. A new company arrives on the market with a product that is highly functional and meets our needs phenomenally. The product is well designed and is of high quality. The care and focus of the manufacturer is obvious. The company gains a good foothold in the market, then decides to start adding more to it’s product line, and the focus starts to get lost. The company moves beyond it’s core business and quality drops. What can digital analytic...
#303 - What Role Does The Concept Of Sustainable Analytics Have In Making Digital Analytics Indispensable To A Business?
May 08, 2024 17:15 - 30 minutes - 56.3 MBWe talk regularly, both internally and externally, about the concept of Sustainable Analytics. This is the practice of running your digital analytics program so that it focuses on providing value and support the key areas of the business while ensuring it is maintainable and accurate. When looking at Sustainable Analytics, how can it help a digital analytics program be indispensable to a business? Wouldn’t doing less, not tracking everything for example, make a digital analytics progra...
#302 - What Is Preventing Digital Analytics From Becoming Indispensable?
May 01, 2024 14:45 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBOn last week’s episode we talked about the concept of businesses that can be seen as boring, but are very profitable. One of the key things with those businesses is that they are indispensable to their customers. Over the years we’ve talked about the struggles with digital analytics, and while there has been progress, it’s still not seen as indispensable to a business. Why is that? What does it mean for something to be indispensable? What does a digital analytics team need to do to b...
#301 - What Does It Mean To Be Boring Yet Profitable?
March 27, 2024 16:48 - 31 minutes - 58.5 MBWhat comes to mind when the term “boring yet profitable business” is used? Often times these are businesses that have developed & refined offerings that are integral and indispensable to their customers. They can often be derided for not being flashy or trendy, but that treatment fair? What goes into reaching that kind of status? Are businesses actively thinking about reaching that point? What can prevent a business from reaching that? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents po...
#300 - Developing A Testing Roadmap
March 20, 2024 16:10 - 39 minutes - 71.9 MBWe’re currently doing a series of episodes looking at the concepts of getting back to basics and simplicity. We’re looking at the benefits of refocusing attention on the key concepts and practices that can get overlooked or forgotten as analytics and testing programs age. When working with a testing tool, it’s easy to get lost in the excitement of all of the possibilities. Those possibilities though may never materialize if proper planning doesn’t happen. Looking through the lens o...
#299 - The Core Analysis Your Analytics Practice Must Be Doing
March 13, 2024 17:26 - 30 minutes - 55.4 MBIn recent episodes we’ve looked at the concept of getting back to basics and simplicity. We’ve discussed the benefits of refocusing attention on the key concepts and practices that can get overlooked or forgotten as analytics and testing programs age. When a large amount of data is collected, it is easy to get lost in all of the possible analysis that can be done. While it can be fun to search out insights, are there certain analyses that are core to a successful analytics program? Ar...
#298 - Tag Management Methodologies
March 06, 2024 14:15 - 39 minutes - 73 MBWe’ve started a series of episodes about getting back to basics and the value of simplicity. We’re looking at the benefits of refocusing attention on the key concepts and practices that can get overlooked or forgotten as analytics and testing programs age. What are the best practices when it comes to designing a tag management architecture? What needs to be considered when deciding on a TMS approach? Is there a TMS methodology that provides the best approach? On this week’s epi...
#297 - The Draw Of Over-Engineering Analytics Data Collection Solutions
February 28, 2024 14:28 - 39 minutes - 72.5 MBA new implementation can be exciting! It’s a fresh canvas to work with. A new client can present opportunities to try out ideas you’ve only thought of. These are just two of the scenarios that analytics implementation engineers are presented with that create the pull to collect all of the data. While this can be fun, exciting, and provide unique sets of data, there are problems that can result from an over-engineered analytics data collection solution. Problems such as: Many times ...
#296 - The Architecture Pitfalls of Single Vendor Solutions
February 21, 2024 14:15 - 34 minutes - 63 MBArchitecting data collection for multiple tools within a single vendor solution can be appear to be beneficial from the stand-point of reduced logic and streamlined integrations. It can seem simplified and streamlined resulting in a solution that can be managed with greater ease. Are there pitfalls when it comes to single-vendor solutions? What problems with the data collection can present themselves? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason are joined by Je...
#295 - The Risks, Costs, And Potential Benefits Of Vendor Lock-In
February 14, 2024 14:45 - 30 minutes - 56.4 MBVendor lock-in occurs when a customer is made dependent on a vendor for products & services, unable to utilize other vendors without substantial cost. How can organizations fall into a vendor lock-in situation? What are the costs that are associated with vendor lock-in? How can point analytics solutions lead to vendor-lock in? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jim and Jason discuss what can lead organizations to get stuck in a vendor lock-in situation. While vend...
#294 - Customer Experience Breakdowns Caused by Siloed Data
February 07, 2024 14:14 - 34 minutes - 63.8 MBRisks of point analytics solutions include myopic vision and teams working in isolation. Teams implement solutions that fit a small amount of needs that do not take the needs of the organization, or the impacts to the organization, into account. The downstream result is siloed data creating incomplete insights and even a poor customer experience. If you have a customer experience this is supported by multiple data/platform touch points, and analytics is siloed, everyone may be able to...
#293 - What Can Be Done To Prevent An Analytics Practice From Developing Conflicts Of Interest?
January 31, 2024 16:15 - 33 minutes - 60.7 MBWhen people think of analytics data, many often think of “cold hard facts”, but this is can be very inaccurate. Like many other things in life, data can be skewed, biased, or even outright corrupted. Everyone has a bias and for an analytics team to act as an independent voice in an organization, steps need to be taken to ensure bias does not impact a team’s ability to deliver on that promise. Putting unintentional issues and flaws with data aside, what steps can those that lead analyti...
#292 - How Can Conflicts Of Interest Happen With An Analytics Practice?
January 24, 2024 14:15 - 32 minutes - 59.2 MBConflicts of interest can do significant damage to an analytics practice. It doesn’t take much for conflicts of interest to occur and in many cases all it takes is the perception of one. What are the potential conflicts of interest that an analytics program can face? What impact do they have on an analytics program? How do these conflicts of interest develop? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason discuss the different types of situations analytics team...
#291 - Running An Analytics Practice So That It is Viewed as More Than Just A Cost Center
January 17, 2024 14:15 - 32 minutes - 59.6 MBMany organizations view teams and divisions in very basic terms. They are either profit centers or cost centers. Profit centers are those parts of the organization that have direct impact on revenue while cost centers are essential parts of the business but don’t impact revenue. Cost centers are viewed as something that needs to be contained. Since analytics teams do not have direct impact on revenue, how can they be viewed as more than cost centers with their contributions to the or...
#290 - From The Archives: How Can A Low Level Of Data Literacy Impact An Organization?
December 27, 2023 21:01 - 47 minutes - 86.4 MBWe’re currently taking a break for the holidays. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on January 3, 2024. This episode originally aired on November 16, 2022. As the saying goes, one rotten apple spoils the bunch. In the real world, one person can ruin an entire team. How will a low level of data literacy impact an organization? Can you think of example of organizations where it’s apparent where they are not very data literate? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents ...
#289 - From The Archives: What Will Make Someone Successful in Digital Analytics?
December 20, 2023 21:00 - 42 minutes - 78.1 MBWe’re currently taking a break for the holidays. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on January 3, 2024. This episode originally aired on August 3, 2022. The people that make up the digital analytics space come from a variety of backgrounds and have wildly different educational backgrounds and career paths. Unlike other careers, there are no prescribed paths or series of steps to get into and move forward with a career in digital analytics. What are some of the common trai...
#288 - Building An Analytics Practice Like It Is Its Own Business
December 06, 2023 12:30 - 44 minutes - 82.3 MBAnalytics teams are realizing that it’s no longer good enough to just check boxes to show value. They need to show how the organization benefits from both the team in place and the tools that have been implemented. Analytics practices need to evolve and directors have to look at the practice as business unto itself. On social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram we see a lot of the hustle and entrepreneur hype. It doesn’t take much to find posts like “look how much I made in my fi...
#287 - From The Archives: What’s The Deal With Server-Side Tracking?
November 29, 2023 20:30 - 55 minutes - 101 MBWe’re currently taking a break for a new addition to the family. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on December 6, 2023. This episode originally aired on April 13, 2022. Server-side tracking is being pitched as the next great leap forward in analytics and marketing data collection. It is positioned as the cure for all current ills facing digital analytics and marketing data collection as well as those to come. What is it? Is it overhyped? What can it really do and what ...
#286 - From The Archives: Buying and Selling Services: Do RFPs Actually Provide Value?
November 22, 2023 14:25 - 42 minutes - 78.3 MBWe’re currently taking a break for a new addition to the family. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on December 6, 2023. This episode originally aired on February 16, 2022. Requests for Proposal (RFPs) are a staple when it comes to the procurement of products and services. They are often dreaded by not just those completing them, but by those running them. What value can a company get by running an RFP to procure services? Is there anything a potential vendor be aware of...
#285 - From The Archives: Why Is Unlimited PTO So Polarizing?
November 15, 2023 18:44 - 54 minutes - 99.6 MBWe’re currently taking a break for a new addition to the family. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on December 6, 2023. This episode originally aired on July 20, 2022. Over last couple of years, the summer vacation season has provided the opportunity to talk about what is often seen as a controversial topic…Unlimited PTO. It is something that has its fervent proponents and its ardent detractors. It’s a conversation that is ever evolving and where we people have changed thei...
#284 - From the Archives: Employee Autonomy and PTO
November 08, 2023 20:30 - 45 minutes - 84 MBWe’re currently taking a break for a new addition to the family. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on December 6, 2023. This episode originally aired on April 21, 2021. Four years ago in the episode “Is Unlimited Time Off Actually Unlimited?”, Jim, Hila, and Jason took a hard look at the concept of unlimited PTO to see if it’s something employees find valuable or just a gimmick. They left that conversation genuinely questioning the value of “unlimited” PTO. In the time s...
#283 - Talking About The Value of Data, or Rather, The Cost Of Bad Data With Stewart Alaniz
November 01, 2023 22:31 - 52 minutes - 96.6 MBIt’s often stated that “data is the new oil’ and while that may be true, it oversimplifies the value of data. Data by itself isn’t inherently valuable. The value comes when it is properly collected, processed, refined, and injected into the right conversations. What is the value of data? Is all data valuable? Is it a boolean where data is either valuable or it is not valuable? What is the cost of bad data? On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim are joined by S...
#282 - What Are Ways Analytics Creates Value For An Organization?
October 25, 2023 23:29 - 38 minutes - 71.1 MBThe value a team produces isn’t always apparent. This is why it is critical for individuals and teams to ask themselves about the value they produce. As discussed in previous episodes of the 33 Tangents podcast, the value of analytics is not usually tied directly to revenue and since that is the case, it is imperative for analytics teams to clearly define the value derived from analytics. How does an analytics team create value for an organization? What value does analytics bring to a...
#281 - How Does An Analytics Team Show Value Without Being Tied Directly To Revenue?
October 18, 2023 16:40 - 38 minutes - 71.2 MBAs industries and organizations continue to recover from the covid pandemic, providing value is critical. This is value provided by companies to their customers as well as the value provided by teams within those companies. What does it mean to show value? Is value always associated with a monetary value? How can an analytics team show value when not directly tied to revenue? What are the issues with tying analytics work directly to revenue? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tange...
#280 - What Is Value?
October 11, 2023 16:15 - 43 minutes - 79.1 MBValue is a term that is easily thrown around, often with implied expectations. When it’s used are all involved aligned on the definition and outcomes? What is value? What is value when it comes to digital analytics? What are the expectations when the term is used? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason talk about how & why asking “what is value?” is something not historically done by digital analytics teams. They also talk about what steps analytics tea...
#279 - Working With Agencies That Make You Dependent On Them
October 04, 2023 15:45 - 42 minutes - 78.2 MBVendor lock-in is a tactic employed across multiple industries and anyone in the digital analytics and martech space needs to be aware of it. This tactic sees organizations you’ve partnered with implementing features and processes in such a way that you become completely dependent on them. Any attempts to switch partners will come at a tremendous cost. Why are you hiring an agency? When you partner with an agency, are there signs that you can look for to determine what their prioritie...
#278 - We Have All Of This Software, But We Don’t Know How To Use It. What Do We Do?
September 27, 2023 14:15 - 47 minutes - 87.1 MBAnalytics teams were decimated during the COVID pandemic and still recovering. Many analytics teams are smaller than they were pre-pandemic and are showing no signs to returning to prior staffing levels. This is leading to cases where the organizations have a substantial amount of analytics software at their disposal but either don’t know how to use it or don’t have the capacity to use it to its fullest potential. What can analytics directors do position their teams to be the most succ...
#277 - Where Should The Analytics Team Live?
September 20, 2023 14:15 - 45 minutes - 84 MBWhere does analytics live within an organization? Does it live with Marketing or Product? Does it live completely on it’s own? Properly positioning the analytics team is critical to enable the development of unbiased information and guidance for the organization. What do organizations need to consider when determining where analytics lives? What happens if analytics is not in the right place within an organization? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Ji...
#276 - How Can You See Through The FUD And Fear Porn To See What Is Truly Going On?
September 13, 2023 14:15 - 45 minutes - 83.2 MBFear, Uncertainty, & Doubt, also known as FUD, is a commonly employed sales tactic. Decisions made out of fear are often drastic and wrong and martech sales in particular knows how to tap into the fear of opportunity cost. With organizations pushing analytics teams that are smaller than pre-pandemic levels to deliver at high levels, how does the director of analytics see through the fear porn to recognize if a new tool will truly help their team? Are there questions that can be asked? ...
#275 - Vendor Pitches: Having The Wisdom To Know When To Ask Why
September 06, 2023 17:15 - 53 minutes - 97.6 MBEveryone has sat through vendor pitches where: The problem and solution are oversimplified The vendor doesn’t fully the situation and specific problems The vendor’s product doesn’t actually address the stated problems If not you’re not careful to recognize these things, it becomes easy to get lost & become excited with the shiny new tool. It’s easy to get focused on the features of the tool and not the “why” of the tool as it’s relates to your organization. Why does your organizatio...
#274 - How Can You Be Successful With A Smaller Analytics Team?
August 30, 2023 17:45 - 48 minutes - 88.1 MBThe typical business response to the need to deliver more work is to hire more people and grow teams. There are cynics out there that will dispute that statement and say business response is to drive employees harder. That may be true in some cases, ultimate you have to hire. While in many industries, larger teams are necessary to respond to growing needs and increasing demands, is it always true for information work? We’re seeing a trend in analytics where teams decimated by the covi...
#273 - Using Agile To Manage The Analytics Program
August 23, 2023 14:15 - 42 minutes - 77.9 MBIt feels as though there is a movement to apply agile development methodologies to analytics teams, both the data collection component and the analysis component. What does this mean? What is the driving force behind it? What are the risks? What are the benefits? Does this strip out the curiosity that we want in analysts? Does this remove any room to improvise or flexibility to address impromptu business questions or scenarios? We talk about how analytics already doesn’t have a sea...
#272 - How Can Automation Make Your Analytics Team More Insightful And Valuable?
August 16, 2023 14:15 - 40 minutes - 73.7 MBMany analytics teams are looking to be more effective with their time so it is spent more on using data to reach business goals and less on basic reporting. To solve for that, many are looking find ways to automate the routine tasks and reporting the team does. What does it mean to automate aspects of the analytics program? What could automation enable for an analytics team? What tasks can be automated and what should not be automated? Does automation make the team less insightful b...
#271 - Driving Users To Not Use Web Analytics Platforms For Analysis
August 09, 2023 14:15 - 57 minutes - 106 MBThere is a growing trend amongst organizations to centralize all of their data, including their web analytics data, in an internal database solution with a visualization tool layered over top. One of the results of this is analytics teams moving, or being pushed, to use other tools for analysis and not the analytics platform itself. Who is driving it? Are the right people driving it? What are people not thinking about? Is there a level of over-simplification happening? Is there risk...
#270 - What Does It Mean, And What Is Involved, For An Analytics Team To Provide A Self-Service Offering?
August 02, 2023 14:15 - 56 minutes - 104 MBMany analytics teams are looking to be more effective with their time so it is spent more on using data to reach business goals and less on routine reporting. To solve for that, many are looking to make part of their analytics program self-service. What does it mean for an analytics program to have a self-service component? What are the steps an analytics organization needs to take to achieve this? What are the key roles that need to part of the team? Is self-service analytics a clic...
#269 - What Does It Mean To Be “Mobile First”?
July 26, 2023 14:15 - 47 minutes - 87.4 MBWhat does it mean when an organization says it is “Mobile First”? What does that mean for the customer experience? What does it mean for employees and partners? What does the organization need to do to ensure it follows through on being “Mobile First”? On this week’s episode, Jim is joined by Jon Narong to discuss the idea of being mobile first. Jon is currently living in Thailand and many companies in South East Asia have a “Mobile First” mentality, much more than it is found in oth...
#268 - Digital Marketing Technology & The Digital Customer Experience in South East Asia
July 19, 2023 14:15 - 55 minutes - 102 MBAs we gain experience in an industry, it’s easy to develop blinders based on the region of the world in which we live and work. How are digital analytics and digital marketing different in South East Asia as compared to the US and EU? What is a “super app”? What are some of the key differences in the customer experience? On this week’s episode, Jim and Jason welcome back Jon Narong to discuss his experience living in Thailand for the last 6 years after living in the Bay Area. Jon shares...
#267 - From The Archives: The Art of Being a Consultant
July 12, 2023 14:15 - 40 minutes - 73.6 MBWe’re currently taking a break for some summer travel. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023. This episode originally aired on September 21, 2022. Like many things in life, there is an art to being a consultant. The problem though is that the word consultant has come to take on multiple meanings. In some cases it refers to an individual brought in to evaluate a portion or an entire organization and provide director. Other times it refers to a team that provide...
#266 - From The Archives: Discussing Storytelling For Brands with Stephen Marshall and Chase Friedman
July 05, 2023 14:15 - 1 hour - 115 MBWe’re currently taking a break for some summer travel. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023. This episode originally aired on January 25, 2023. Merriam-Webster defines story as: 1) an account of incidents or events and 2) a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question. Storytelling is a very powerful part of the human experience and a key tool used throughout human history. It provides a level of familiarity and when done well, it conv...
#265 - From The Archives: What is Data Literacy?
June 28, 2023 14:15 - 46 minutes - 85.1 MBWe’re currently taking a break for some summer travel. We’ll be back with new episodes starting on July 19, 2023. This episode originally aired on November 2, 2022. What is data literacy? The text book definition as per Gartner is the ability to read, write and communicate data in context, including an understanding of data sources and constructs, analytical methods and techniques applied, and the ability to describe the use case, application and resulting value. Looking at and ...
#264 - How Do You Build A Proper Test Hypothesis?
June 21, 2023 14:15 - 33 minutes - 61.9 MBMany assume that the measure of success for an optimization program is a high testing velocity. The problem here is that in order to support a high velocity, other parts of the test development pipeline become neglected, including developing a well thought out hypothesis. How critical is a test hypothesis to the success of a test? What goes into developing a test hypothesis and why is it important? What happens when that part of the process is neglected? What is more important, veloc...
#263 - Don’t Separate Your Analytics And Optimization Programs
June 14, 2023 14:15 - 51 minutes - 94.6 MBIt is very common to see organizations split out their analytics and optimization programs among different teams. What does it mean to integrate you analytics and optimization programs, or at least prevent them from being separated? What are some of the risks that are created when you keep them separated? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jim and Jason continue their series focused on optimization and a/b testing with Jason Boal, focusing on why organizations shouldn’t ke...
#262 - What Should You Not Do When Getting Started With An Optimization Tool?
June 07, 2023 14:15 - 48 minutes - 87.9 MBLaunching an a/b testing & optimization tool brings with it a great deal of temptation. It is very appealing to just want to jump in and start deploying tests to see what it can do. What are some of the traps when launching an a/b testing tool and optimization program? What are some of the common mistakes when getting started with optimization? What should you avoid? On this week’s episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jason and Jim are joined by Jason Boal to continue the conversat...
#261 - How Do You Stand Up An Optimization Program?
May 31, 2023 14:15 - 50 minutes - 92.7 MBLaunching an a/b testing & optimization tool brings with it a great deal of temptation. It is very appealing to just want to jump in and start deploying tests to see what it can do. What is involved with standing up an optimization program? Should you just jump in and start using the a/b testing tool? What is the approach that should be taken? What are the key first steps? On this week’s episode, Jason and Jim welcome Jason Boal, Principal Analytics and Optimization Strategist at...
#260 - Are You Working On Cool Stuff For The Sake Of Doing Cool Stuff Only?
May 24, 2023 14:15 - 48 minutes - 88 MBLet’s admit it, working on digital analytics can be fun. For many of us in this space, it gives us a creative outlet. That being said, doing good stuff alone is not good enough. Are you working on cool stuff for the sake of doing cool stuff? Does your work have value? Does it have it’s place? On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss the balance between working on the tasks needed for today and spending time on items and research for the future. They talk...
#259 - Are Your Efforts Tied to Organizational Goals Or Are You Just Window Dressing?
May 17, 2023 14:15 - 42 minutes - 78.6 MBThere is a fine line between valuable work and work that no one really cares about. Is the work that you’re doing closely associated with the goals of the organization or are you just doing superficial work? Do you know why your analytics team exists? What constitutes “valuable” work in your organization? On this episode of the 33 Tangents Podcast, Jason and Jim discuss what can lead to focusing on the wrong things and not being attached key organizational goals. They also discuss...
#258 - Does Your Client Actually Care About Digital Analytics?
May 10, 2023 14:15 - 53 minutes - 98.5 MBOne of the faults of the digital analytics industry is that we often assume the value of what we’re doing is clearly apparent. Does your buyer actually care about digital analytics? Do they have a vested interest in the outcome of the project or are they just signing another SOW? Are you just doing stuff that is cool to you with no actual value to the wider organization? On this episode of the 33 Tangents podcast, Jason and Jim discuss how to recognize if digital analytics is import...
#257 - Do You Have Your Ultimate Buyer In Mind?
May 03, 2023 14:15 - 50 minutes - 91.6 MBDuring the day to day of a project, whether client side or vendor side, it is easy to loose sight of who is ultimately responsible for the project. On the client side, this could be some senior level executive sponsor who seen infrequently. On the vendor side, this could be the person who signed a statement of work, but has delegated the project to someone else. As someone leading a project, keeping the ultimate buyer of your services in mind is critical to success. Are you doing work...
#256 - Do You Know Who Your Ultimate Buyer Is?
April 26, 2023 14:15 - 39 minutes - 72.1 MBWhether you are working vendor-side or client-side, there is ultimately a buyer associated with the project you are engaged with. What does this mean and who is this person? As someone leading a project, do you know who the ultimate “buyer” of your services is? Are they your day to day stakeholder? Why is knowing who this person is critical to your success? On this episode of 33 Tangents, Jim and Jason discuss the importance of identifying the ultimate buyer of your project, risks...
#255 - What Do You Do When Your Organization Always Thinks The Next Piece Of Technology Will Solve All Of The Problems?
April 19, 2023 14:15 - 32 minutes - 59 MBNote: We encountered some recording issues in the early parts of this episode and recovered the audio that we could. While every organization deals with this issue to one degree or another, there are those where it is really bad. It can take the form of “we just need to implement this new project management software and all of our project delivery issues will be solved”. It can also be seen with “we just need to upgrade to the premium package from our digital analytics vendor and we wo...