Podcast appearances and mentions of david stephenson

This weeks guest is David Stephenson, Studio Principal (Smart Building Studio) at Little Diversified Architectural ConsultingIn this episode, Griffin and David talk about the evolution of smart building technology and its implementation in facilities management. David shares his extensive experience in the industry, discussing the challenges faced by facility managers, the importance of change management, and best practices for technology adoption. If you'd like to learn more about Little's Smart Building Studio, check out their brochure here. 00:00 Introduction to Smart Building Technology03:01 David's Journey in Facilities Management05:48 Challenges in the FM Industry09:01 Best Practices for Change Management12:01 Implementation Strategies for Technology15:04 Integrating Smart Building Technologies18:06 Taking the First Steps in Tech Adoption

We reflect on the Art Destinations Lutruwita | Tasmania season in a wrap-up episode that draws links between the 10 artists and writers in conversationacross the episodes. We also draw parallels between season 1 Venice and season 2 Lutruwita | Tasmania. World leading philosopher on place Jeff Malpas lays the foundation for the Lutruwita | Tasmania season as his conversation frames the role of place in thinking. We examine how artists' practices are shaped by cultural memory and the natural environment. In this episode we cover: : examine art as activism from the perspectives of Matthew Newton, David Stephenson and Raymond Arnold, the role of isolation in forming a connection with nature, building community and finding resonances interationally as shared through the work of Troy Ruffels, Zoe Grey and Ellen Dahl, imagination and place through Pat Brassington's surreal works explore feminist themes while reflecting an imagined sense of place, stories that give access to isolated worlds through Adam Thompson's short stories based on his Indigenous culture and Lisa Garland's stories behind the portraits of her North-West Coast community, and we draw parallels between the Venice and Lutruwita | Tasmania seasons. In Venice, artists embrace marginality as a strength, collaborating on smaller islands in the lagoon to reimagine shared spaces. In Tasmania, geographical isolation inspires self-reflection and deep connection with the natural world. In summary, being on the edge—geographically, culturally, or conceptually—offers unique opportunities for reflection, innovation, and meaningful engagement with place and environment. We explore how art thrives in these peripheral spaces.

We are in conversation with US-born photographic artist David Stephenson, who received an MFA from the University of New Mexico in 1982 before taking a teaching position at the University of Tasmania's School of Art. His work has consistently explored the sublime, in relation to his transcendental experience of place. With an ongoing interest in human interventions in the landscape, David arrived in Tasmania in the lead-up to the Franklin Dam blockade and continues to document Tasmania's contested places. He also experiments with the different ways the photographic image, and different subject matters, can represent time. His work is in many permanent collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. David Stephenson is represented by Bett Gallery, Hobart, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta and Boutwell Schabrowsky, Munich. You can see David's work on our instagram page @artdestinations.podcast

David Stephenson fotografiert Großstädte bei Nacht. Der Bildband "Light Cities" fasziniert und schockiert zugleich.

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In today's episode, Trinity Chaplain David Stephenson sits down with a mental health panel to discuss issues specific to high school-age students. He is joined by Leecie Brown, a licensed clinical social worker and TCS parent;  our own Peter Schnuda, TCS Dean of Campus Life, sixth-grade teacher; and TCS parent, and Kelly Stephenson, a licensed professional counselor. 

Ulysses is a groundbreaking novel in which Irish author James Joyce explores realism through stream-of-consciousness technique and shifting narrative styles. It was published in serial form between 1918-1920 and first published in book form in 1922. The story follows Leopold Bloom through Dublin during the course of one day: June 16, 1904. The events and characters of Ulysses parallel those of Homer's Odyssey, with Bloom corresponding to Odysseus. Although the book was the subject of early obscenity prosecutions, was banned in several countries, and has been considered unreadable by many, it is nevertheless one of the most important English-language works of the 20th century and is undoubtedly a masterpiece of Modernist literature. To this day, the 16th of June is celebrated as Bloomsday by Joyce enthusiasts. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)Production note for Episode 15 (Circe): Circe was written in the style of a play complete with stage directions. It was recorded as it was written, with 73 LibriVox volunteers providing more than 230 character voices.Credits for Circe:Book coordinator: AvailleAudio editor: David LawrenceNarrator: Peter WhyLeopold Bloom: Richard WallisStephen Dedalus: mbLynch: Ben Lindsey-ClarkZoe Higgins: Amanda FridayAdditional voices provided by: alanmapstone, AS - andreastrano, Availle, bala, Elizabeth Barr, Bill Boerst, CaprishaPage, Phil Chenevert, Ted Delorme, Charlotte Duckett, Barry Eads, Nadine Eckert-Boulet, ElleyKat, Margaret Espaillat, Elliot Gage, Filippo Gioachin, Kristin Gjerløw, gmrbill, Libby Gohn, April Gonzales, Amy Gramour, Aiden Herrera, Nathanial W.C. Higgins, hikarudream, Hunter, Grant Hurlock, Drew Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Emily Jones, Kanta, Kevinc, KHand, Josh Kirsh, Elizabeth Klett, Pamela Krantz, David Lawrence, Loveday, Brendan MacKenzie, Marty, MaryAnn, Chris Meabe, Eric Metzler, Andy Minter, Moromis, Cynthia Moyer, Julia Niedermaier, NoelBadrian, David Olson, Naomi Park, Lucy Perry, Algy Pug, Rapunzelina, Jaysen Raye, rookieblue, Savannah, shivagogo, Anna Simon, Anastasiia Solokha, David Stephenson, thechanneler, Beth Thomas, ToddHW, tovarisch, TriciaG, Laurie Anne Walden, Chuck Williamson, WoollyBee, and zaanta.Ulysses was proof-listened by Betty M., Ken Sterry, HeartofTexas, Annise, David Lawrence, and TriciaG.

Thinking about taking the ATA Certification Exam? Failed the practice text and wondering what to do now? Then this podcast is for you!   In this episode, ATA Podcast Host Matt Baird speaks with David Stephenson, Chair of ATA's Certification Committee. David shares insights into the practice test, explains what you should do with the results, and provides a long list of ways to prepare for the exam.   Show Notes:   “I failed the Practice Test. Now What?” by David Stephenson: https://www.ata-chronicle.online/highlights/i-failed-the-practice-test-now-what/ “Forming a Peer Study Group to Prepare for ATA's Certification Exam” by Jason Knapp: https://www.ata-chronicle.online/featured/forming-a-peer-study-group-to-prepare-for-atas-certification-exam/   ATA Certification: https://www.atanet.org/certification/ Free Webinar on ATA Certification: https://www.atanet.org/event/the-ins-and-outs-of-the-ata-certification-exam/ ATA Podcast E74: The ATA Certification Exam On Demand: https://www.atanet.org/podcast/e74-the-ata-certification-exam-on-demand/ Exam Schedule: https://www.atanet.org/certification/exam-schedule-and-registration/ Practice Test: https://www.atanet.org/certification/practice-test/ ATA Certification Exam Technical Requirements: https://www.atanet.org/certification/prepare-to-take-the-ata-certification-exam/restrictions-and-requirements/ Questions about the ATA Certification Exam? Email certification@atanet.org   Virtual Conference: Translating and Interpreting the Future: https://www.atanet.org/ata-events/virtual-events/ ATA Socials: https://linkin.bio/americantranslatorsassn  March/April 2023 issue of The ATA Chronicle: https://www.ata-chronicle.online/highlights/should-you-start-a-translation-agency/ Join ATA: https://www.atanet.org/member-center/join-ata/ ATA's 64th Annual Conference in Miami: https://www.atanet.org/ata64/ The ATA Podcast Archive: https://www.atanet.org/news/the-ata-podcast/   Please send comments, questions, or requests about this podcast to podcast@atanet.org. Thank you for listening!   Audio Production: Derek Platts | Announcements: Cris Silva | Technical Support: Trenton Morgan

Possible school closures in the Alpine School District has led to a pending lawsuit by parents against the district. Dave and Maura speak with one parent, Crystal Muhlestein, about why they feel the district has not met the legal demands for these closures. David Stephenson with The Alpine District joins the show with insight on the closures and the feedback process. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sermon & Special Music: "The Alarm Is Sounding" by David Stephenson

David Stephenson and Clair Woodward upend the week's big TV shows --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

As voters receive their ballots in the Alpine School District - there is a 595-Million-dollar bond on the docket. This bond has been getting news coverage in relation to the Orem City Split from the Alpine district, but also discussion that it may increase the tax rate....What is in it and what's the problem some have with it? David Stephenson, Spokesperson for the Alpine School District joins the show, followed by the Rusty Cannon with the Utah Taxpayers Association who is saying the framing of this bond may be misleading. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

9:05 - 9:20 - UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Resigns after 45 days   If you thought American Media was tough, we've got nothing on the UK. Here's the front page of the Daily Star regarding British Prime Minister Liz Truss. "How long can wet lettuce Liz romaine?” But that kind of talk only lasted a few more hours... she has now stepped down as UK Prime Minister after 44 days. Dave and Debbie discuss what she did wrong. Nick Mason, BYU British Literature Professor shares the significance of her quick resignation.      9:35 - 9:50 - F-35 Crash at Hill Air Force Base  Hill Air Force Base is investigating what caused an F-35 fighter jet to crash on the runway last night. The pilot of an F-35 Lightning 2 managed to eject safely BEFORE his jet crashed into the North end of a runway at Hill Air Force Base.  KSL Newsradio Repoter, Adam Small joins the show with the latest information.  Rep. Stewart joins the show to share his perspective of what likely caused the crash based on his own experience as an air force pilot.   10:05 - 10:20 - Non-answers to the crisis of Prescription drug prices  This week 2 candidates for US Senate, Evan McMullin and Sen. Mike Lee faced off in a debate. Deb's ears perked up when the topic of prescription drug prices arose. and again when neither one dealt a solid proposal on how to tackle the ridiculous cost of critical drugs to fight medical conditions. Dave and Debbie discuss the issue of prescription Drug Prices    10:35 - 10:50 - What is in Alpine School District's $595 Million Bond?  As voters receive their ballots in the Alpine School District - there is a 595-Million-dollar bond on the docket. This bond has been getting news coverage in relation to the Orem City Split from the Alpine district, but also discussion that it may increase the tax rate....What is in it and what's the problem some have with it? David Stephenson, Spokesperson for the Alpine School District joins the show, followed by the Rusty Cannon with the Utah Taxpayers Association who is saying the framing of this bond may be misleading.    11:05 - The significance of Liz Truss' Resignation  Just six weeks after being sworn in as Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned. Where did she go wrong and what are the effects for America? Boyd Matheson, Host of Inside Sources joins the show.    11:20 - The disease nobody is talking about: Shingles  It's affecting those 50 and over.. and if not you,  your parents.. I am talking about shingles. Richard Ferguson, Founder of Black Physicians of Utah and Chief Medical Officer at Health Choice Utah   11:35 - Revisit F-35 Crash   Hill Air Force Base is investigating what caused an F-35 jet to crash on the runway last night. The pilot of an F-35 Lightning 2 managed to eject safely BEFORE his jet crashed into the North end of a runway at Hill Air Force Base.  KSL Newsradio Repoter, Adam Small joins the show with the latest information and Rep. Stewart shares his own perspective as a former Air Force pilot.       11:50 - Get Gephardt: Cars flooded by Ian may soon be flooding Utah roads  Cars flooded by Ian may soon be flooding the streets of Utah! You would think the cars that were floating around in Florida would go straight to the junk yard!...think again. KSL Investigative Reporter, Matt Gephart joins the show to explain more on what he found out about these flooded cars and how Utah ties into the mix. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Stephenson and Clair Woodward almost make sense of the weird world of television --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

David Stephenson & Clair Woodward sort the good from the bad in the TV schedules --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

Sunday Express' David Stephenson and Sunday Times' Clair Woodward go large on TV shows with new sounds effects --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

Bowman's Friends is a podcast created to connect and inform UK students of issues, events, and cool stuff on campus and the Lexington area. It is hosted by UK students, for the UK community. Our goal is to amplify student voices through advocating for equity, inclusion, and representation of all. On this episode, Julia Price sat down with UK College of Communications School of Journalism Assistant Professor David Stephenson. They discussed his career at UK, his life as a photojournalist and what it means to be a journalist, the world of pigeons and all that comes with it, and more.

Radio previewer Clair Woodward and Sunday Express TV critic David Stephenson overcome huge technical challenges to broadcast another compelling podcast amid a cost of living crisis --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

In this week's episode, our speaker David shares some of the key principles to sustaining a relationship with God long-term. One of them is "To keep going with God we need to Keep Growing with God". So let's dive in and learn about Sustaining our Faith.

Dr. David Stephenson is the Choral Director at Lexington High School in Lexington, SC. In today's interview, Randy and David discuss what it takes to keep a vibrant high school program going through the ups and downs of community uncertainty. Serving in public schools, David has a deep sense of call to the students he serves. Today, David shares with us his commitment to choral excellence and being a role model for the young singers under his care.

The Song Surfing Podcast features the best in independent music! On this episode of Song Surfing we'll hear music from New York; Paderborn, Germany; Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain; St. Louis, Missouri; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Manchester. Featuring the music of Paige Kennedy, Exkursion Kleinhirn, Sophia Catalina, Cafe Solo, Spaz996, and David Stephenson. Visit the https://songsurfingpodcast.com/episode-17/ (Show Notes Page) for show notes, including links to the artists' sites and the best places to purchase and stream the music featured on this and all episodes of Song Surfing. Watch John on Studio Live Today'shttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6BWO4JfxBFSSf41dtF8hqg ( “Creator Town Hall”)   https://player.captivate.fm/episode/90e89664-2cc3-44fa-b5b8-eed6567cf568 (John's was interviewed on ) In the Key of Q The theme music for this episode ishttps://wiensolo.bandcamp.com/album/message-from-the-future ( “Living in a Fishbowl” by Wien Solo) The outro music ishttps://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%253A%252F%252Fsong.link%252Fca%252Fi%252F1550227807%253Ffbclid%253DIwAR2CysDJ3sGhbQdDqtevSeAWvN17o7dfo-U6MHenI7LzHCoG1Gy8gMgtulA&h=AT0X9EEeP8CyW1hy_058bFFTqadmBHhxbXsJAu4Wrvp0NO9podlWP9oKOU7ElH8cLX0Jh_qzoX7yL8qvCB33CAl8WLFWySG ( Little Pills by Patrick Moon Bird) Want to help the show?  Rate & review on one (or all) of these sites: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/song-surfing/id1549025544 (Apple podcasts) (scroll to the bottom to find the review link) https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/song-surfing-1581825 (Podchaser) (scroll down then click +add a review) https://castbox.fm/channel/Song-Surfing-id3721681?utm_source=website&utm_medium=dlink&utm_campaign=web_share&utm_content=Song%2520Surfing-CastBox_FM (Castbox) (add a comment instead of a review) https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/3212595 (Podcast Addict) (click on reviews tab) https://song-surfing.captivate.fm/listen (Listen, Follow and Subscribe to Song Surfing) https://forms.gle/p3ugGg2mBiv1V7jv5 (Join the Song Surfers Mailing List -US listeners get a free sticker!) Follow Song Surfing onhttps://www.facebook.com/songsurfingpodcast ( Facebook) https://www.instagram.com/songsurfingpodcast/ (Instagram) https://forms.gle/casuqyVN8e5RGVd58 (Submit your music to Song Surfing) https://forms.gle/kNLGHpkNk3wDExUM6 (Spotify playlist) Song Surfing is part of thehttps://www.thelincolnlodge.com/podcasts ( Live from the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network) Check out these other podcasts: https://pop-of-passion.castos.com/ (Pop of Passion) Mentioned in this episode: Plugin Boutique Use our referral link next time you're shopping for plugins at pluginboutique.com https://pluginboutique.com/?a_aid=songsurfing

TV critic David Stephenson and radio critic Clair Woodward unravel a week of wonder on television --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

David Stephenson and Clair Woodward dive into this week's television. It's not pretty... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

Clair Woodward and David Stephenson review the week's television, including a previously unheard clip from the late Helen McCrory about Peaky Blinders in 2017 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

Sunday Express TV editor David Stephenson and arts writer Clair Woodward mull over the week's telly, with reviews of #Grace, #Bloodlands, #InteriorDesignMasters, #GreatCanalJourneys and the classic #FawltyTowers. There's also an exclusive preview of #LineofDuty, together with a look at the new Churchill documentary on Channel 5, and Kate Garraway's new film on ITV about her husband Derek. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/david-stephenson5/message

Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns for The Freedom Association chatted with David Stephenson, TV Editor of the Sunday Express. They explored what the future will look like for the print media in the UK and the BBC. Does the TV licence fee have a future? Will the BBC have to explore alternative funding models? Spoiler alert: the answers to the last two questions are no and yes respectively! Click on the following link to become a member of The Freedom Association: https://www.tfa.net/become_a_member​Click on the following link to make a donation to help our work: https://www.tfa.net/donate

Solar Reflections Services owner, David Stephenson, joins us to talk tint, wraps & graphics galore. SRS offers a multitude of services for businesses & individuals. Tune in to learn what they can do for you!To watch the full video and transcript of this episode visit: https://fusiononemarketing.com/biz-talk-with-david-stephenson-of-srs/To learn more about our marketing services, visit: https://fusiononemarketing.com/Facebook: https://facebook.com/fusiononemarketing LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/fusion-one-marketing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/fusiononemarketing Twitter: https://twitter.com/fusiononeteam

In the latest episode of How You Doing? I had the chance to talk to distinguished photographer/photojournalist David Stephenson as we discuss what inspired him to pick up a camera, the evolution of phone cameras, and more!

In this episode I caught with an old online buddy, W. David Stephenson (aka @Data4All on Twitter).David is a prolific writer on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) on his Stephenson Strategies website as well as writing a regular column for Industry Week, a speaker, and author of the book The Future is Smart: How Your Company Can Capitalize on the Internet of Things--and Win in a Connected Economy.I asked David to come on the show to chat about all aspects of the IIoT and we had an awesome conversation spanning shipping, automotive, manufacturing, and many more topics. I really enjoyed putting this podcast together, I hope you enjoy listening to it. If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to leave me a voice message over on my SpeakPipe page or just send it to me as a direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn. Audio messages will get played (unless you specifically ask me not to).To learn more about how supply chain leaders improve end-to-end supply chain visibility, download the research study of 1,000 COO's and Chief Supply Chain Officers – “Surviving and Thriving How Supply Chain Leaders minimize risk and maximize opportunities” And if you want to know more about any of SAP's Digital Supply Chain solutions, head on over to www.sap.com/digitalsupplychain and if you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. Thanks.And remember, stay healthy, stay safe, stay sane!

The buzz: “Sawyer the Robot will work for the equivalent of $4 per day. And he's never in a bad mood. Can you compete with that?” Sawyer is the brainchild of Rodney Brooks, the inventor of robotic vacuum Roomba and PackBot, the robot used to clear bunkers in Iraq and Afghanistan and at the World Trade Center after 9/11. (newsweek.com) No matter how far Industry 4.0 automation goes, manufacturers will ALWAYS need humans to fill roles that cannot be automated – completing complex tasks and making intuitive decisions. The key is to define what roles do and don't need human intervention. The goal: augment humans with Industry 4.0, not replace them. AI doesn't take the person out of the process, it takes the robot out of the person. As the degree of automation increases, so does decision-making complexity. We'll ask W. David Stephenson at Stephenson Strategies and Richard Howells at SAP for their insights on Industry 4.0: Augmenting Humans to Empower Productivity and Decision-Making.

Show Notes(2:40) Brian discussed his career as a musician and his mission as a consultant to bring design principles into the analytics world.(5:25) Brian talked about his career inception as a UX designer and his interest in human-centered design.(9:48) Brian shared the backstory behind starting Designing for Analytics and his advice for anyone interested in becoming a consultant (hint: finding the minimum viable audience for your craft!).(20:44) Brian shared the common problems that his clients ask him to solve - citing that many of the solutions in engineering-driven organizations are “Technically Right, Effectively Wrong” (listen to Brian’s podcast with David Stephenson).(27:20) Brian explained why data product design goes well beyond user interfaces and helps define what is required to enable the desired user and business outcomes, referring to his post “Does your data product enable surgery or healing?”(33:14) Brian revealed the tactical tips for designing an effective prototype for data products, as shared in his post “Designing MVPs for Data Products and Decision Support Tools.”(40:31) Brian talked about the importance of using human-centered design to measure meaningful engagement in the context of data products, as shared in his post “Why Low Engagement May Not be the Problem with Your Data Product or Analytics Service” (Hint: Think about the last mile and use design to make deliberate choices to improve user engagement).(47:46) Brian unpacked the design framework CED (which stands for Conclusion, Evidence, and Data), which helps build customer trust, engagement, and indispensability around advanced analytics.(54:55) Brian shared his take on how to structure a quad team, including software engineers, UX designers, data scientists, and product managers to build machine learning-powered products.(01:03:25) Brian emphasized the importance of trust in modern data products, after countless conversations with leaders in his podcast Experiencing Data.(01:06:34) Brian unveiled his seminar called Designing Human-Centered Data Products for data scientists, technical product managers, and analytics practitioners.(01:09:47) Closing segment.His Contact InfoDesigning For AnalyticsTwitterLinkedInExperiencing Data PodcastInsights NewsletterHis Recommended ResourcesSeth Godin’s podcast AkimboMinimum Viable ProductWizard of Oz TestingCED FrameworkChris DoScott Berkun (his book “How Design Makes The World”)Juhan Sonin (Involution Studios)Amanda Cox (NYT’s The Upshot)“Good Charts” (by Scott Berinato)“Change By Design” (by Tim Brown)“Infonomics” (by Douglas Laney)“Competing In The Age of AI” (by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani)

Show Notes(2:40) Brian discussed his career as a musician and his mission as a consultant to bring design principles into the analytics world.(5:25) Brian talked about his career inception as a UX designer and his interest in human-centered design.(9:48) Brian shared the backstory behind starting Designing for Analytics and his advice for anyone interested in becoming a consultant (hint: finding the minimum viable audience for your craft!).(20:44) Brian shared the common problems that his clients ask him to solve - citing that many of the solutions in engineering-driven organizations are “Technically Right, Effectively Wrong” (listen to Brian’s podcast with David Stephenson).(27:20) Brian explained why data product design goes well beyond user interfaces and helps define what is required to enable the desired user and business outcomes, referring to his post “Does your data product enable surgery or healing?”(33:14) Brian revealed the tactical tips for designing an effective prototype for data products, as shared in his post “Designing MVPs for Data Products and Decision Support Tools.”(40:31) Brian talked about the importance of using human-centered design to measure meaningful engagement in the context of data products, as shared in his post “Why Low Engagement May Not be the Problem with Your Data Product or Analytics Service” (Hint: Think about the last mile and use design to make deliberate choices to improve user engagement).(47:46) Brian unpacked the design framework CED (which stands for Conclusion, Evidence, and Data), which helps build customer trust, engagement, and indispensability around advanced analytics.(54:55) Brian shared his take on how to structure a quad team, including software engineers, UX designers, data scientists, and product managers to build machine learning-powered products.(01:03:25) Brian emphasized the importance of trust in modern data products, after countless conversations with leaders in his podcast Experiencing Data.(01:06:34) Brian unveiled his seminar called Designing Human-Centered Data Products for data scientists, technical product managers, and analytics practitioners.(01:09:47) Closing segment.His Contact InfoDesigning For AnalyticsTwitterLinkedInExperiencing Data PodcastInsights NewsletterHis Recommended ResourcesSeth Godin’s podcast AkimboMinimum Viable ProductWizard of Oz TestingCED FrameworkChris DoScott Berkun (his book “How Design Makes The World”)Juhan Sonin (Involution Studios)Amanda Cox (NYT’s The Upshot)“Good Charts” (by Scott Berinato)“Change By Design” (by Tim Brown)“Infonomics” (by Douglas Laney)“Competing In The Age of AI” (by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani)

In this episode, we are taking a break from bodybuilding, supplementation, and any fitness related topics. We sit down with David and Taylor Stephenson, and as usual, get to know them on a more personal level and dive into how we became the friends we are today. Introductions are short and we jump quickly into discussing our stance on being a voice for the black lives matter movement. I have come to realize my podcast resonates with many and I have a chance to use this platform for a greater purpose. Tay and David dive into their experiences personally, the backgrounds they come from, and open up about so much more. Tune in, listen, and then listen again to make sure you understand the message we wanted to get across. If you have the chance to make an impact, or have the chance to help invoke change, then we ask you to please use that to your advantage. If you want to see change, then be the change. Do the research, go out with an open mind, and realize that the world we are living in does need to be fixed. Share this on your social medias, spread word to your family and friends, and help get these stories out. Sign petitions, make donations, and go the extra mile to do your part. If you are not already, make sure to give them a follow on Twiiter and Instagram. Do not forget to leave us a review and/or a rating because we really want to know what you think and what you want to hear. Hope you guys enjoy this episode. New content every Monday on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

A just revealed $1.5 billion dollar shortfall in waste infrastructure, cheap oil prices, and stresses caused by Covid-19 are being blamed for an increase in our waste going to the landfill. The black hole's got industry leaders pushing for new recycling plants to be chosen as part of the government's shovel ready funding wave. WasteMINZ chief executive Janine Brinsdon , Todd McLeay, CEO of Smart Environmental, New Zealand's largest privately owned waste company and David Stephenson, Waste Management Team Leader at Tasman District Council discuss what's needed to ensure our sustainability goals don't go backwards.

David Stephenson, Ph.D., is the author of Big Data Demystified, a guide for executives that explores the transformative nature of big data and data analytics. He’s also a data strategy consultant and professor at the University of Amsterdam. In a previous life, David worked in various data science roles at companies like Adidas, Coolblue, and eBay. Join David and I as we discuss what makes data science projects succeed and explore: The non-technical issues that lead to ineffective data science and analytics projects The specific type of communication that is critical to the success of data science and analytics initiatives (and how working in isolation from your stakeholder or business sponsor creates risk)) The power of showing value early, starting small/lean, and one way David applies agile to data science projects The problems that emerge when data scientists only want to do “interesting data science” How design thinking can help data scientists and analytics practitioners make their work resonate with stakeholders who are not “data people” How David now relies on design thinking heavily, and what it taught him about making “cool” prototypes nobody cared about What it’s like to work on a project without understanding who’s sponsoring it Resources and Links DSI Analytics Website Connect with David on LinkedIn David's book: Big Data Demystified On Twitter: @Stephenson_Data Quotes from Today's Episode “You see a lot of solutions being developed very well, which were not designed to meet the actual challenge that the industry is facing.” — David “You just have that whole wasted effort because there wasn't enough communication at inception.” — David “I think that companies are really embracing agile, especially in the last few years. They're really recognizing the value of it from a software perspective. But it's really challenging from the analytics perspective—partly because the data science and analytics. They don't fit into the scrum model very well for a variety of reasons.” — David “That for me was a real learning point—to understand the hardest thing is not necessarily the most important thing.” — David “If you're working with marketing people, an 80% solution is fine. If you're working with finance, they really need exact numbers. You have to understand what your target audience needs in terms of precision.” — David “I feel sometimes that when we talk about “the business" people don't understand that the business is a collection of people—just like a government is a collection of real humans doing jobs and they have goals and needs and selfish interests. So there's really a collection of end customers and the person that's paying for the solution.” — Brian “I think it's always important—whether you're a consultant or you're internal—to really understand who's going to be evaluating the value creation.”— Brian “You’ve got to keep those lines of communication open and make sure they're seeing the work you're doing and evaluating and giving feedback on it. Throw this over the wall is a very high ris

David Stephenson, Ph.D., is the author of Big Data Demystified, a guide for executives that explores the transformative nature of big data and data analytics. He’s also a data strategy consultant and professor at the University of Amsterdam. In a previous life, David worked in various data science roles at companies like Adidas, Coolblue, and eBay. Join David and I as we discuss what makes data science projects succeed and explore: The non-technical issues that lead to ineffective data science and analytics projects The specific type of communication that is critical to the success of data science and analytics initiatives (and how working in isolation from your stakeholder or business sponsor creates risk)) The power of showing value early,  starting small/lean, and one way David applies agile to data science projects The problems that emerge when data scientists only want to do “interesting data science” How design thinking can help data scientists and analytics practitioners make their work resonate with stakeholders who are not “data people” How David now relies on design thinking heavily, and what it taught him about making “cool” prototypes nobody cared about What it’s like to work on a project without understanding who’s sponsoring it Resources and Links DSI Analytics Website Connect with David on LinkedIn David’s book: Big Data Demystified  On Twitter: @Stephenson_Data Quotes from Today’s Episode “You see a lot of solutions being developed very well, which were not designed to meet the actual challenge that the industry is facing.” — David “You just have that whole wasted effort because there wasn’t enough communication at inception.” — David “I think that companies are really embracing agile, especially in the last few years. They’re really recognizing the value of it from a software perspective. But it’s really challenging from the analytics perspective—partly because the data science and analytics. They don’t fit into the scrum model very well for a variety of reasons.” — David “That for me was a real learning point—to understand the hardest thing is not necessarily the most important thing.” — David “If you’re working with marketing people, an 80% solution is fine. If you’re working with finance, they really need exact numbers. You have to understand what your target audience needs in terms of precision.” — David “I feel sometimes that when we talk about “the business” people don’t understand that the business is a collection of people—just like a government is a collection of real humans doing jobs and they have goals and needs and selfish interests. So there’s really a collection of end customers and the person that’s  paying for the solution.” — Brian “I think it’s always important—whether you’re a consultant or you’re internal—to really understand who’s going to be evaluating the value creation.”— Brian “You’ve got to keep those lines of communication open and make sure they’re seeing the work you’re doing and evaluating and giving feedback on it. Throw this over the wall is a very high risk model.” — Brian Transcript Brian: David Stephenson is the author of Big Data Demystified, and he’s a consulting data strategist primarily working out of Europe. I’m excited to have my chat with David on the show here today because I think David has a really good way of connecting a highly technical background with the business and kind of act like a bridge between these two departments. Brian:    All right. David, are you on the line? David:  Yes, I’m here. Brian:    I’m super excited to talk to you. So we have David Stephenson, the consultant and author of Big Data Demystified. we met through, somehow we met, I think it was on LinkedIn originally. And you also run Predictive Analytics World Conference, in the UK edition, correct? David:  Yeah, that’s right. Brian:    Awesome. Tell people a little bit… I gave you an intro there, but it’s always better from the horse’s mouth. So tell, tell us a little bit about what you’re what you’re up to. David:  Yeah, sure. Um so I used to run global uh business analytics for the eBay classifieds group and then uh started off on my own a couple of years ago and have been doing consulting uh mostly around Europe in uh data strategy, data science program developments. And then recently uh published a book also on the topic uh with Financial Times Press called Big Data Demystified. I was just doing a lot of work between speaking and teaching and training and consulting with companies, really focused on uh developing how they use data and analytics and helping them reach the next steps in that. So it’s been keeping me, keeping me quite busy recently. Really enjoy it. Brian:    Nice. And how did you get involved with the… I don’t know if, do you guys say PA or predictive analytics? David:  Yeah, yeah. Predictive analytics world. Yep. Brian:    How did you get uh involved in that? David:  Yeah, I’d been speaking at quite a number of conferences and the um the PA conferences were some that I was speaking at. And I’d spoken with the organizing company, Rising Media. I’d spoken on three of their conferences and at some point they contacted me and said, “You know, we’ve enjoyed having you speak with us all this time and we’re looking for a new conference chair for the London uh predictive analytics world. Are you interested?” And uh after you know so many years of going to conferences and thinking, what would I do better? What would I do better? I thought this is finally my chance to, to do everything that I’ve wanted to do to make conferences better. Uh yeah, so I said yes. So I’ve been doing it now, I’m going on my second year. Brian:    Nice. And like could, even though we’re probably not going to go way deep into PA, but what did you want to make better or what have you made better? Like what was wrong and that you wanted to change? David:  I was frustrated with the combination of the choice of who would be on stage. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So there’s a lot of emphasis on just let’s get you know a well-known company or someone who just has the name recognition without really focusing on quality contents. For me as a practitioner, I really wanted to make sure, look we’re going to have two days to select speakers. Let’s get speakers up there who are really going to give valuable content. Because I was frustrated in going, I’d go to so many conferences where out of you know out of 15 talks there’d be one or two that I thought were valuable. And I thought, okay, I’m going to get a conference going where almost all the talks are really high valuable talks. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So that was for me the big opportunity. Brian:    Make it the conference you want to go to kind of thing. David:  Exactly, yeah, exactly. Brian:    Be the change you want to see in the world as they say. David:  Yeah, no it was a good opportunity. It’s been a ton of work, but um yeah I’ve enjoyed it. Brian:    Excellent. Excellent. Cool. So jumping in, I have a ton of questions for you. I hope we can we can fit them all in. Uh you came recommended to me um from a previous guest and friends and I was excited to talk to you. So I also notice you know in your work you practice design thinking. So I want to jump into that in a little bit. The first thing I wanted to ask you though is, um there’s so there’s a lot of technical knowledge required to do you know data science and analytics effectively. Can you talk to us a little bit about the nontechnical knowledge that’s required to make solutions that are obvious, they’re usable, useful value is created, that kind of thing. What’s missing here? There there’s a high failure rate in this industry for projects. Talk to us about these nontechnical skills that are also required. David:  Yeah, I know that’s a great question and I think that’s where we’re having a lot of trouble when we look at the industry, right? The stakeholder management is really difficult because, you know as you’re a technical expert, you’re really focused on how to do these you know very technical, whether it’s an analytic model or some type of software design or software implementation. But so much of what we do in a business environment, in an enterprise environment is understanding the stakeholders, understanding what the real challenge is, and then also communicating with them throughout the process. Especially at the beginning with this design element where you’re really understanding what’s happening and your starting to produce the right solution. And you see a lot of solutions being developed very well, which were not designed to meet the actual challenge that the industry’s facing. So yeah, that’s a that’s a huge thing. Brian:    You don’t have to state any names or anything, but can you give an example of a… You said something was being designed well, which I assume means technically it was being designed properly, but it wasn’t communicating its value. Its value wasn’t inherent, uh inherently obvious to the consumer. Have you had a situation where you’ve come in and it’s like, whoa. And then like what would that before and after kind of look like? David:  Yeah, no, there’s quite a bit quite a bit of that. Um like for example, you’ve got, I had one situation where the customer said, “Look, we need a certain solution to advise on how to change a product. You know we have limited resources for enhancing a product in different areas. Can you advise-” Brian:    A digital product? David:  No. No, actually um a physical product. Brian:    Okay. David:  Um and so they said, “Look, we’ve got limited resources for enhancing these.” And then you know you’d start to work on this or you know third parties would start to work on this challenge and then they’d deliver it maybe two months later and say, “Here’s our recommendation of what to deliver.” And then you’d speak with the person who would actually implement that solution and they’d say, “Oh, I didn’t mention to you that you know here’s an additional limitation on which products we actually physically can improve.” And you just have that whole wasted effort because there wasn’t enough communication at inception. Brian:    Throwing it over the wall kind of model. David:  Yeah, yeah. Brian:    Like let us know when it’s done. David:  Right, right. Brian:    Yeah. David:  And then they end up delivering something which wasn’t practically usable. Brian:    Got it. So how, how do you approach this with… You know you hear this repeated problem, which is a lot of places want to jump into using advanced techniques you know or the business stakeholder might request machine learning or request AI. And so, and then maybe there is an opportunity to actually use that tool for a good reason. But then it’s like, “Oh wait, we don’t have the data infrastructure in place to do any of that.” So like level one is like now we have to create the pipelines and all this kind of technical stuff that needs to be built out. How do you approach, because you’re talk… I know design, so this is preloaded with the fact that you know something about design thinking and and that you probably know about moving in small increments. So how do you how do you show value soon and maybe work in a small increment where progress can be seen when there is maybe a large technical requirement that needs to be there before any of the quote useful cool stuff can be delivered. How do you do that? David:  Yeah, no that’s great. And that’s super important to show value soon. Um and again, I mentioned this also like in one of the chapters in my book and there’s a couple of reasons for that. You know one is because um the more often you cycle back to your stakeholder, the more closely aligned you are with their needs. But also if they haven’t communicated clearly to you and you start to give them intermediate results, that gives them a chance to refine what they want and to clarify that and to kind of keep thinking with you, right? Uh so you really want to get back to them as quickly as possible with small results, right? And there’s different ways to do that. Typically what you do is you take a small sample of the data or a small subsection of the challenge. David:  Uh for example, instead of covering you know the whole world for a company, you know all the different markets. You say, “Okay, I’ll take this one small market, um you know this one European country in this one product. You know two weeks from now I’ll give you an estimate of what your solution would look like in this one limited area.” And then you do that and then you get some iterations and then, then you say, “Okay, we’ll do a pilot stage from the proof of concept.” And go to a pilot stage, where you’ll say, “Okay, I’ll give you the full solution just for this market, but it’s the full solution.” And then you iterate into kind of finally production for the full range and such. But this iteration going from proof of concept to pilot to full deployment to automation uh is a way to kind of step through that process. Brian:    Yeah. This kind of reminds me of, I think it’s the thirties Jason Freed quote, like build half a product, not a half assed product. David:  Yeah. Brian:    And also this concept of agile, right? Which you know I saw this really well illustrated one time and it was like, it was a picture of a car from an agile perspective and like stage one of the car was like the Flintstones car, right? David:  Mmhmm. Brian:    And then stage two was the automobile we picture in our head. The non-agile way of being a car with no front wheels. Like it’s David:  Many axles no front wheels. Brian:    Wheels… But it’s all polished. It looks like a modern automobile, but it’s not, it’s not a working, there’s no value there, right? You can’t actually drive and you can’t transport yourself somewhere with that. So that’s not, you know anyhow. So that kind of reminds me of what you’re saying there. Showing showing some value on a small scale. Um you know- David:  No and I think that companies are really embracing agile, especially in the last few years, right? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  They’re really recognizing the value of it from a software perspective. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  But it’s really challenging from the analytics perspective Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  For a couple of reasons. Partly because the data science and analytics, they don’t fit into the scrum model very well for a variety of reasons. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And the other thing is, uh people who really love this field, they want to do the cool work, you know they want to do deep learning, they want to do advanced models. Brian:    Right. David:  And when you tell them like, “Hey, just give me you know a really super simple data driven model that you know meets 60% of the solution.” Um a lot of these guys who are just focused on machine learning, that’s not what they want to do. They want to jump straight to the cool stuff. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So I find in the projects that I do at the beginning, a lot of it is just kind of talking people down and saying, “Look, let’s start simple. Let’s not boil the ocean at once. Let’s not start with the most advanced models.” For some people that takes a bit of convincing. Brian:    Is that cultural at all? Is it tied to the amount of academic background they have? Like do you see a pattern that goes with that or is it just a seniority thing? I hear that tends to be more at a more junior level people that are closer to being out of school. Do you see a pattern or trend there? David:  Yeah, no that’s a good question too. There’s two things. Um sadly, part of it is simply that uh a number of people I’ve talked to would say, “I only want to do interesting work.” Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  You know their goal is not to first and foremost bring business value, Brian:    Right. David:  But they want to do work that’s interesting for them. And for some people that’s simply it, and as a manager, as a leader, you have to get people in place who are aligned with your business needs. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Because not everyone with the skills is. You know? And some of them will be very forthright about it. They’ll say, “Look, I’m not interested in that work because it’s not interesting.” And the other thing is the seniority. I think the longer people are around, the more value they recognize. Two things. One is from the basic models. You know just there’s so much work that’s, so much so many projects that’ll work fairly well with just a simple regression or Bayesian model. And the other thing is just taking the time to say, “Hey, I’m you know I’m going to do the simple iteration uh and not spend three months developing something before I deliver it.” Brian:    Yeah, I can understand that. So I’m curious, do you feel the solution when that kind of problem happens uh is to train and assist those technical people in learning how to broaden their skill sets so they realize you know value was not entirely driven by the technology portion? Or is it like you really just need to bring in a different role entirely, like or meet in the middle somewhere? Like how do you address that? David:  I think at a leadership level you have to find the leaders who already understand that. Um and then the people who are more junior, those are the people who need to learn it. I mean, I’ll just give you a basic example. I mean in years past I worked in quantitative finance, right? So we would um we would value these financial products like interest rate swaps and you know foreign exchange swaps and such. David:  And I remember valuing some of these and there would be two parts of it. One was the foreign exchange and one was the interest rate for uh cross currency swap. And the one part was super hard to do and the other part was really easy to do. And I’d get stuck on the really hard part. You know I’d be focusing all my time on that. And at some point my manager who was an MBA and not super technical you know came to me and said, “Look David, you know this, the simple part that’s 98% of the risk, you know and the complex part you’re focusing on, that’s only 2% of the risk. So you know it doesn’t matter if there’s a huge error with that part, just get the simple part right and we’ll essentially get most of the risks um quantified.” Brian:    Right. David:  So that for me was a real learning point. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  To say, okay, understand what’s the hardest thing is not necessarily what’s the most important thing. Brian:    Right. Not to mention most places are happy with a 98% test score. David:  Exactly. In this area, right, right. Brian:    We’ll take 75 actually. David:  No, and that’s the thing, and that’s important to know you’re uh you’re stake owner too because you know if you’re working with marketing people, you know an 80% solution is fine. Um if you’re working with finance, you know these are the guys who really need exact numbers. Um so really you have to understand what you know what your target audience needs in terms of precision. Brian:    Yeah. Yeah. Tell us a little bit then about, uh so I brought this up earlier, the concept of design thinking and how it can apply to you know data science and analytics work. How are you applying that in your in your consulting work? David:  Yeah, no this is something really I’m focusing more and more on now because you’ll see this… Gartner has a nice visualization where they show design thinking, uh iterating into um uh the prototype phase and then iterating into the production phase. And the idea is that um you know we all sort of know, have proof of concept is important the prototype before we go into production. So we’ve all recognized that. But what we’re really missing a lot is, is that initial stage, where you’re this design stage where you’re saying, “Look, what is my real business challenge um and what’s the solution that’s really going to address that?” And taking time to get the right people in the room to get the right processes in place so that you’re starting down the right path even before you start to build a prototype. Because just from experience, I’ve seen this where, you know I was all proud of myself a few years back because I made this awesome prototype Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  You know of something very quickly, very powerfully. David:  And I thought, “Oh, this is great. I’ve done such a great job with this.” And then by the time we went to deploy it, a few months later, they shut it down because it wasn’t meeting the need of the company. And I thought to myself, you know if I’d really taken the time um rather than just going with what the company asked me to do, because you know the CTO had said, “Let’s build this.” And so I was like sure, let’s build it. It looks cool. If I’d instead stopped at that point and said, “Look, let’s first go through the design process,” and figure out what we really should be building before jumping straight into the prototype. We would have saved a lot of time and effort. Brian:    Yeah. One thing I fully agree with this, this process. Have you ever tried using, um you know for example if you’re building a predictive model for something, is prototyping something out that doesn’t even use data like and I’m particularly thinking about solutions where there’s going to be some type of visible user interface here, but actually using mock ups of the of the design in order to tease out whether or not the intended end user might use this. How are they going to react if they see a number that they don’t expect or it’s unbelievable information so that you can figure out how might we need to present this in a way that they will actually believe it if the real data actually ends up generating these kinds of results so that you can plan for that kind of contingency ahead and you don’t end up you know with the head scratch or the unbelievable reaction. Is have you worked that approach before? David:  So that I haven’t done in terms of you know testing the end user’s response. Brian:    Uh huh. David:  There’s definitely this method, you know the smoke testing where you put a feature out that doesn’t really work just to Brian:    Right. David:  To see what kind of leverage it generates and such. And we’ve done other work where instead of using a model, we used user responses to gather information Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  In various ways. There’s several ways we’ve done that. Um but just what you’re describing now, I don’t think I can’t think of a case where I’ve done that particular application. Brian:    So when you talk about needs and you know empathizing with the customer, can you talk about like the end customer versus the business sponsor? I feel sometimes that when we talk about, “The business,” sometimes people don’t understand that the business is a collection of people. Just like a government David:  Mmhmm. Brian:    Is a collection of real humans doing jobs and work and they have goals and needs and selfish interests and all these kinds of things. So there’s really a collection of end customers and the person that’s you know paying for the project. Brian:    Do you integrate that in your work and how do you how do you think about that when you’re when we think about empathy, you know which is early upstream in the design thinking process. David:  Yeah, no that’s a good question alright. Um and as a consultant, it’s always a bit tricky. I once did a project where I misunderstood who my actual budget sponsor was. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And I found that out a little bit too late. So, you know I spent all my time kind of tailoring to the needs of one person when you know and then several weeks or months later another person informed me like I’m actually you know your budget sponsor here. Um yeah. Brian:    And did they have different needs? It was like they had different needs. David:  Well but also it’s… Yes, slightly different needs, but also it’s very important that you maintain close communication lines. Brian:    Sure. David:  Right? Um so I find for myself, typically when I’m on a project I’ll have uh I’ll have projects who have different stakeholders than necessarily the budget holder. Uh and that’s typically, you know I’ll work with a budget holder to clarify expectations. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  You know where should my priorities be. Um but the stakeholder for a specific project is typically the person who I’m aiming to make sure I satisfy you know their requirements and such. Because what we normally establish is that look, if this stakeholder is happy with the results then the budget holder will also be happy. David:  Uh the difficulty happens when there’s a conflict of interest there. Brian:    Right. David:  You know and one person is clear about wanting one thing and the other person has a different view on it. That doesn’t happen so often, but from time to time it does. Brian:    I’ve been in that situation before. And you know engineering’s paying, you’re paying for your nut and you’re working with product management or you know some other department and because of those lines. But I think it’s always you know important whether you’re a consultant or you’re internal to really understand kind of who’s who’s going to be evaluating the value creation here and understanding what they’re looking for is definitely important. David:  Absolutely. Brian:    Or else your chance of failure is is high. David:  Yeah absolutely. Brian:    And it shouldn’t be silent, be be uh suspicious of silence. And when there’s not a lot of communication that’s… It’s always a risk for me. I just literally checked in with a client today because I’m not working with you know the stakeholder the main stakeholder, I’m working with her team and everything was fine. But it’s you know when you’re not hearing questions and stuff that’s, it’s you got to keep those lines of communication open and making sure they’re seeing the work you’re doing and evaluating and giving feedback on it. Uh this throw over the wall thing is a very high risk model. David:  No, it’s totally true. And I do, one of the things I do is I train uh junior data scientists. I do that on a regular basis. And one of the things I tell all the classes is, “You know make sure you put in a recurring appointment with um you know the project owner, Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  The sponsor um and if it gets canceled, you know reschedule it,” Brian:    Yeah. David:  Because you can’t you can’t afford to lose contact like regular contact with a sponsor. Brian:    Mmhmm, Mmhmm. We talked a little bit about this when we originally got on the phone about you know what’s going on in the industry with selling products and platforms versus you know focusing on outcomes and results. Uh the industry helps us build things. Um things don’t always turn into value. So do you have some advice on how to approach this? And I’m not saying that all products are bad and platforms. I mean without some of these this new technology, none of this would be possible. At the same time, you know in the conference halls and you know a lot of people that I’ve talked to feel like, you know basically that the large platform providers are making out like bandits and yet every year at Gartner is like, “Oh, 86% of projects will fail this year.” And it’s like, “Hmm, someone’s making out really well here. What is going on here?” Like- David:  Yeah. I think part of the issue is that you know it’s this thing where you can delegate um authority but not responsibility. You know and people, it’s really tempting just to say, “Okay, I’m going to pass off this challenge to a product. You know um I don’t really understand how to address this product or to address this challenge. So I’m going to buy a product which says it’s going to meet the needs.” And then later… And you don’t even know how to evaluate it because you didn’t know how to do the problem in the first place. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So I think that’s definitely dangerous. Um and you see different tools. I don’t want to name any tools, but there’s definitely tools out there that sell sort of the AI solutions. David:  Um and when you back test them, you’re like, well, what is this really providing me? You know it’s perhaps it’s a terrible model. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Um and maybe the vendor even knows it’s not a good model, but it’s their model, they’re selling it and we’re buying it. Um that being said, I mean if you understand the challenge and you know what you’re buying, then it is a way to move very quickly. Brian:    Right. David:  You know, it’s a way there’s certain tools which will let you automate repetitive work um and that’s you know that’s a big payoff, right? If you know what you’re getting. But there’s definitely a lot of snake oil being sold now in the market and I see that come up also. Brian:    So let’s jump over to um skill gaps. You were talking a little bit about some of the training that you offer so what if you’re offering training, it generally implies that there’s something missing there. What’s missing that needs to be filled in? David:  Yeah. There’s a couple of things. One is that there’s a tremendous number of people, at least over in Europe who um haven’t been really trained solidly in analytic skills, Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  But they sort of go through bootcamp and then crossover into this analytics slash data science space, right? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So these guys are missing a lot of fundamental skills in terms of mathematics, statistics and computer programming, right? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So that’s the basics. I don’t do a lot of training in that myself Brian:    Uh huh. David:  Just because there’s so many people who can do that. Uh what I focus on more is the business skills of you know once these guys are coming out of a highly technical program or bootcamp um or straight out of university, how can they place themselves within an organization and be effective? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And there’s several aspects of that. One of which is understanding that the larger enterprise around them, understanding how different people think, how the nontechnical people operate, what’s important to them. So that that sort of empathy and understanding your place in the company. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And then the other thing is communicating. You know and these guys, they tend to have a lot of challenges communicating around them, both in terms of orally but also visually. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And part of that is because they’re used to functioning within an analytic ecosphere. You know, communicating with other people like them Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  You know in their programs and such. Um and a part of my training is really to help them understand, look, when you’re doing emails, when you’re doing presentations, PowerPoints, or charts and graphs to people in outside departments, um what is a way to communicate very effectively? Brian:    Are there any particular like repeated things that come to mind in terms of guidance that you give? You know the five bullets or something that you kind of see as a repeating theme around the communication, particularly the visual, but also the you know written? David:  Yeah, no there’s just a lot of different stuff I cover uh to be honest. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  I mean a lot of it just boils down to understanding the perspective of the people around you. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  But that encompasses a tremendous amount of of different training materials that I have. Brian:    Right, right. When you have team members that are coming from that background, how do you and the solution that you’re working on has a software component, particularly you know some type of visual component, what is their role and how do you get them up to speed or how do you work with them if they’re going to be involved in that solution that’s going to go out? Is it just take a guess and try? Like if you’re starting out from a pure data science or stats math background, how do you get to that point where you can deliver a solution that may require a software interface? What’s involved in that process? David:  Yeah, so it depends on sort of how it’s being deployed. Um if you’re looking at something that’s going to be deployed as part of a production stack, Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  That’s a long road to travel if you don’t have the software backgrounds, right? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Because then you have to know all this stuff about you know the testing, the unit testing, um Brian:    Right. David:  Regression testing, um sort of everything that a developer knows in order to create robust code. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Um even then further monitoring and such. Uh and if you come out of a math program or something and you don’t have that software development experience, um that’s quite a bit of training. And that’s actually a big stumbling block Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  For these guys because they know the machine learning techniques and they want to deploy something. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  uh and they’ll start hacking stuff together with whatever code and then they’ll go to the development team or the IT and they’ll say, “Hey, I built this cool model. Can you deploy it?” David:  Um and there’s no way that’s going to get deployed because it doesn’t meet the rigorous standards that are necessary. Brian:    Right. David:  So on the flip side though, when you have the software developers who already know you know how to make things um robust and such, and these guys say, “Hey, you know I want to try building a regression, building a vision network or something,” um there’s almost a better chance for them to be able to build something that’s deployable Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Because they at least had that foundation. Brian:    Mmhmm. The um, how does this tie into… Uh so so another kind of topic that’s just been in the ether I guess around me right now is this topic of model trust. Um if you’re coming at it from that technical standpoint uh and if you think or believe that uh model trust is an issue. So this is do my stakeholders believe what I’m showing them. How does that play into your process? Um how do you how do you get to the point where you don’t wait until you have a great model David:  Mmhmm. Brian:    But then you find out someone won’t use it? Um David:  No, that’s a great question. That’s a great question. Um in the past uh I worked with a forecasting project at a client and I had a third party working on something and they went to you know they developed some cool model and they went to the stakeholders and they said, “Look, here’s our forecasting model.” And the stakeholder looked at it and said, “Yeah, okay, that’s kind of interesting. I’m never going to use it.” Right? And then later on when I was supervising a forecasting uh project myself, what I did is I you know I told my team, I said, “Look, the first delivery we give to the stakeholders, make sure it’s something super basic and super obvious you know so that they know exactly what we did, why we did it, and they look at it and say, yeah, that makes complete sense. That’s what I would have done.” David:  You know give them just a basic regression or basic Arma one one model or something, not no bells or whistles. And from there, the next iteration make it a little more complex Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  And then a little more complex because you have to get them on board and they have to be nodding their heads, um either asking like one question at each iteration, like, “That doesn’t make sense.” Or nodding their heads and saying, “Yeah, that makes, makes complete sense.” But if you jump into, if you go all the way to an advanced model, like you said, and try and throw that at them, if it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t agree with what they already saw, then you’ve completely lost them. Brian:    Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get in touch early. David:  Yeah. Brian:    Stay in touch. You know that’s kind of the kicker there. Do you think this overall trend of success or lack there of, in the industry of, you know, formerly it was big data projects, now it’s AI. Is this trending in the right direction? Like the success rate? I mean it’s been consistently low for a long time. Where’s it going? David:  Yeah, I mean there’s two things to that. One is that there’s always a natural sort of failure rate even with well intentioned and well designed projects. Brian:    Uh huh. David:  But then the second thing is we’re having this difficulty, having a difficulty because we used to be a bottom up push for data science projects where you know, the developers would say, “Hey, I’d love to do this, I’d love to do this.” And the management said, “Stop bothering us and just do your job.” Uh recently what’s happened is it’s been a top down, right? Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  So from board level they’d say, “Hey, we need to start doing something with AI, you know um with machine learning, with big data.” And they’ll start throwing budgets at it. But what happens then is that you’ve got a you know couple hundred thousand or a couple of million from board level coming down to start hiring a team and buying technology. David:  So, these budgets that are made up you know at an annual level, after one or two years of you know building a team of 20 people or 30 people, then the budget’s being renewed and people are going to start asking questions, “What value did we get?” Well, even at the inception, Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  A lot of these teams, there wasn’t a clear mandate for them. There was a top down hope that we could leverage and buzzword, right? Brian:    Right. David:  But two, three years down the line, we spent the millions and we’ve bought the systems and everything. We weren’t really sure from the start why. Um so, of course there’s not tangible value after two or three years and there’s still no tangible direction. And then you start to see these things burnout. You know and you’ve seen, I’ve seen some programs already where after a year or two it’s sort of like where are we going with this? What’s happening? But of course those that really understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, of course for these there’s a very real chance of seeing value and you’re seeing a lot of the large companies really capitalizing on these efforts when they initiated the efforts with a clear vision and a clear purpose. Brian:    Following onto that then, do you do you think there’s a place for, sometimes, I call it laboratory mode, right? Which is maybe the business stakeholder understands that you know we’re also a data company. You know everybody says that now. I know we need to be doing something with this, but I don’t understand the technology. I want to know that we’re flexing this muscle, we’re rehearsing, we’re playing scrimmage games. David:  Mmhmm. Brian:    Even if we don’t create value. Is there something there to be to having a laboratory kind of model, which is maybe you do let some of your top talent go try to build a you know a deep learning network or something like that, back out a project from something, not exclusively in their work, but this is like the only 20% time kind of concept. Is there some value in that or do you think it’s unnecessary to be totally playground uh with no no dirt? David:  No, no, absolutely right, absolutely. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  But this goes back to your design thinking, right? So you want to have that initial impetus. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Like why are we doing this? You know where might it go? Brian:    Okay. Cool. David:  Yeah. Brian:    Awesome. This has been like super good talk. Do you have any like closing advice for for listeners? You know we’ve got an analytics data science, technical product managers, some designers. Like I know that’s a wide group of you know listeners, but if you had some closing advice for them. David:  Yeah, I would say just as much as possible to, you know for people who are in the field and looking to bring value in the companies, as much as possible talk to people around you, you know talk to people outside of your team. Brian:    Mmhmm. David:  Outside of your department. Um understand what they’re doing, why they’re doing why they’re doing it, and how you can help or how the tools that you have could potentially help. Because there’s a lot of opportunities you know within companies. It’s just, there’s not that communication between departments. So yeah, I would just really encourage people to keep that communication open. Brian:    Nice, nice. And by the way, how’s the mandolin going? David:  The mandolin, I’m not getting a whole lot of time with it, but I was thinking about it today. So uh more focused on the guitar these days. Brian:    Oh okay. David:  But um yeah, yeah, it’s a really a real source of potential that I’m not tapping into. Brian:    Excellent. Well, keep practicing. David:  Yeah. Brian:    Tell us, obviously I’m going to put a link to your book in the show notes, but where do you publish uh social media, LinkedIn, any of that stuff? Where can people find you? David:  Yeah. I used to be a little bit better at publishing blogs on LinkedIn and on my website. Brian:    Okay. David:  To be honest, I’m really behind on that now. I’ve been so busy with other things, uh but hopefully at some point I’ll start uh blogging some more. Brian:    Nice. Excellent. And you’re, if I recall, it’s DSI analytics, right? David:  That’s it. Yeah. DSI analytics. Brian:    Awesome. So I’ll, yeah, I’ll put a link to that and your LinkedIn profile as well. And thank you so much for coming on the show. This has been a really good conversation. David:  Yeah, no, thanks for inviting me. I’m glad to be here and look forward to uh seeing you in London soon. Brian:    Awesome. Yeah, I’m looking forward to speaking there. So take care.

In episode ten I was joined by David Stephenson PhD. David is a published author (UK Bestseller - "Big Data Demystified,")and also MD of strategic analytics Consultancy, DSI Analytics. David has a unique insight into what it takes to build successful Analytics and Data Science teams and continues to consult with household names and smaller firms alike, in this capacity. He is also the Program Chair for Predictive Analytics World in London.

Peggy and David Stephenson, author, The Future Is Smart, talk about his new book. He explains the primary audience of the book is not the thought leaders and doers, but the skeptical mainstream businesses that have maybe heard a little bit of the IoT, but they are intrigued about the economic payoffs. He talks about the concept of collective blindness, saying for the longest time when we manufactured something, we did not have real-time feedback. Approximations led to a lot of errors and inefficiencies. Companies don't realize how beneficial it can really be, hence collective blindness. Everyone who needs real-time information can share that information instantly, and that changes everything.

Peggy and David Stephenson, author, The Future Is Smart, talk about his new book. He explains the primary audience of the book is not the thought leaders and doers, but the skeptical mainstream businesses that have maybe heard a little bit of the IoT, but they are intrigued about the economic payoffs. He talks about the concept of collective blindness, saying for the longest time when we manufactured something, we did not have real-time feedback. Approximations led to a lot of errors and inefficiencies. Companies don't realize how beneficial it can really be, hence collective blindness. Everyone who needs real-time information can share that information instantly, and that changes everything.

2017 Getaway - Part 4 - Rev. David Stephenson by NewCity Church Sermons

2017 Getaway - Part 3 - Rev. David Stephenson by NewCity Church Sermons

2017 Getaway - Part 2 - Rev. David Stephenson by NewCity Church Sermons

2017 Getaway - Part 1 - Rev. David Stephenson by NewCity Church Sermons

Romans - Part 8 - Rev. David Stephenson by NewCity Church Sermons

Dr David is an Oral Health Practitioner and is passionate about preventive care. He would rather prevent problems, and help you maintain healthy teeth and gums.   Dr David Stephenson has been told by his patients, that he is not allowed to move, retire or die. Therefore, he has made a long term commitment to being the Dentist in Albany Creek. When you don't want to go to the dentist, Dr David Stephenson is the Dentist to go and see.   Dr David Stephenson has a background in oral health and dentistry, but also treatment of head and neck and TMJ dysfunction, occlusal health, band of tension headaches, migraines, trigger point therapy, atlas and pelvic alignment, breathing dysfunction, mouth-breathing, facial growth, home based sleep studies, sleep disordered breathing, snoring, sleep apnoea, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, scoliolisis and kyphosis postural dysfunction, and basic nutritional support.   He is a general practitioner, which means that he needs to know enough about everything to help you gain a diagnosis, and a treatment plan. He has built a collaboration of practitioners of medical, dental and para medical, and therapeutic modalities. His expertise incorporates the whole person whole health model.   He is Australia’s only ATLANTOtec Atlas Alignment therapist.   https://www.facebook.com/dentistalbanycreek

The buzz: Your #1 business wish this year. If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2016 holds for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 2, 9, and 16, we'll bring you predictions from more than 40 thought leaders on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2016 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us for Game-Changers Radio 2016 Predictions – Part 1 live! Featured guests: Otto Schell, GM; Mike Wittenstein, Storyminers; Jennifer Engelhardt, IBM; Larry Stolle, SAP; Ingmar Christiaens, EY; Elizabeth Duffy, SAP; Hilary Carter, InTune Communications; Dan Berthiaume, Chain Store Age; Daniel Falvey, SAP; Katie Donovan, Equal Pay Negotiations; Josh Greenbaum, EAC; Corrine Vitolo, SmartKage; David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Sandi Webster, Consultants2Go; Patrick Heffernan, TBRI; Sana Salam, Sodales Solutions. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

The buzz: Your #1 business wish this year. If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2016 holds for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 2, 9, and 16, we'll bring you predictions from more than 40 thought leaders on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2016 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us for Game-Changers Radio 2016 Predictions – Part 1 live! Featured guests: Otto Schell, GM; Mike Wittenstein, Storyminers; Jennifer Engelhardt, IBM; Larry Stolle, SAP; Ingmar Christiaens, EY; Elizabeth Duffy, SAP; Hilary Carter, InTune Communications; Dan Berthiaume, Chain Store Age; Daniel Falvey, SAP; Katie Donovan, Equal Pay Negotiations; Josh Greenbaum, EAC; Corrine Vitolo, SmartKage; David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Sandi Webster, Consultants2Go; Patrick Heffernan, TBRI; Sana Salam, Sodales Solutions. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

The buzz: Your #1 business wish this year. If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2016 holds for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 2, 9, and 16, we'll bring you predictions from more than 40 thought leaders on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2016 and beyond. br Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us for Game-Changers Radio 2016 Predictions – Part 1 live! br Featured guests: Otto Schell, GM; Mike Wittenstein, Storyminers; Jennifer Engelhardt, IBM; Larry Stolle, SAP; Ingmar Christiaens, EY; Elizabeth Duffy, SAP; Hilary Carter, InTune Communications; Dan Berthiaume, Chain Store Age; Daniel Falvey, SAP; Katie Donovan, Equal Pay Negotiations; Josh Greenbaum, EAC; Corrine Vitolo, SmartKage; David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Sandi Webster, Consultants2Go; Patrick Heffernan, TBRI; Sana Salam, Sodales Solutions. br Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

The buzz: Your #1 business wish this year. If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2016 holds for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 2, 9, and 16, we'll bring you predictions from more than 40 thought leaders on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2016 and beyond. br Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us for Game-Changers Radio 2016 Predictions – Part 1 live! br Featured guests: Otto Schell, GM; Mike Wittenstein, Storyminers; Jennifer Engelhardt, IBM; Larry Stolle, SAP; Ingmar Christiaens, EY; Elizabeth Duffy, SAP; Hilary Carter, InTune Communications; Dan Berthiaume, Chain Store Age; Daniel Falvey, SAP; Katie Donovan, Equal Pay Negotiations; Josh Greenbaum, EAC; Corrine Vitolo, SmartKage; David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Sandi Webster, Consultants2Go; Patrick Heffernan, TBRI; Sana Salam, Sodales Solutions. br Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

What's at the top of your business wish list this holiday season? If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2015 may bring for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 10, Dec. 17, and Jan. 7, you'll hear a total of more than 40 thought leaders' predictions on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2015 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us on Dec. 10 for SAP Game-Changers Radio 2015 Predictions – Part 1 live! Panelists: Sherryanne Meyer, Air Products and Chemicals; Sven Denecken, SAP; W. David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors; Tim Barker, Datasift; Brent Leary, CRM Essentials; Justin Locke, Author; David Fowler, SAP Services; Dr. Ashok Ranchhod, Gamification Researcher; Hansen Lieu, SAP; Gopal Rajguru, Innovate+Grow Group; Jayson Mayden, MarkOne; Jeremy Epstein, Sprinklr; Ingrid Bernaudin, SAP. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

What's at the top of your business wish list this holiday season? If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2015 may bring for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 10, Dec. 17, and Jan. 7, you'll hear a total of more than 40 thought leaders' predictions on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2015 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us on Dec. 10 for SAP Game-Changers Radio 2015 Predictions – Part 1 live! Panelists: Sherryanne Meyer, Air Products and Chemicals; Sven Denecken, SAP; W. David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors; Tim Barker, Datasift; Brent Leary, CRM Essentials; Justin Locke, Author; David Fowler, SAP Services; Dr. Ashok Ranchhod, Gamification Researcher; Hansen Lieu, SAP; Gopal Rajguru, Innovate+Grow Group; Jayson Mayden, MarkOne; Jeremy Epstein, Sprinklr; Ingrid Bernaudin, SAP. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

What's at the top of your business wish list this holiday season? If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2015 may bring for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 10, Dec. 17, and Jan. 7, you'll hear a total of more than 40 thought leaders' predictions on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2015 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us on Dec. 10 for SAP Game-Changers Radio 2015 Predictions – Part 1 live! Panelists: Sherryanne Meyer, Air Products and Chemicals; Sven Denecken, SAP; W. David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors; Tim Barker, Datasift; Brent Leary, CRM Essentials; Justin Locke, Author; David Fowler, SAP Services; Dr. Ashok Ranchhod, Gamification Researcher; Hansen Lieu, SAP; Gopal Rajguru, Innovate+Grow Group; Jayson Mayden, MarkOne; Jeremy Epstein, Sprinklr; Ingrid Bernaudin, SAP. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!

What's at the top of your business wish list this holiday season? If you're hoping for a crystal ball to see what 2015 may bring for your company, industry and the world, we've got the next best thing. On Dec. 10, Dec. 17, and Jan. 7, you'll hear a total of more than 40 thought leaders' predictions on the technologies, strategies, and trends that can help you grow and compete better in 2015 and beyond. Pour a cup of Joe, Earl, or Dom, and join us on Dec. 10 for SAP Game-Changers Radio 2015 Predictions – Part 1 live! Panelists: Sherryanne Meyer, Air Products and Chemicals; Sven Denecken, SAP; W. David Stephenson, Stephenson Strategies; Dr. Steven Hunt, SuccessFactors; Tim Barker, Datasift; Brent Leary, CRM Essentials; Justin Locke, Author; David Fowler, SAP Services; Dr. Ashok Ranchhod, Gamification Researcher; Hansen Lieu, SAP; Gopal Rajguru, Innovate+Grow Group; Jayson Mayden, MarkOne; Jeremy Epstein, Sprinklr; Ingrid Bernaudin, SAP. Happy holidays from SAP Game-Changers Radio!