4 tips for team collaboration, inspired by data analytics

This week, I interviewed Roberto Coronel, an expert in data analytics and Director of Technology at Del Valle University, to gauge tips that anyone can use, in any industry.

What most irritates Coronel is when processes are inefficient, leading teams to create work for themselves. We all want to stop creating work for ourselves, right? So I picked his brain to give you 4 tips to apply data analytics and business intelligence theory to any project at work.

Before we start, what is data analytics?

A data analytics system consists of data gathering, data storage, knowledge management, and analysis. After all this, you can make an informed decision about problem-solving rather than relying on anecdotal advice or a hunch.

And that definition brings us to 1st tip:

1. Diagnose the problem with data collection.

If you’re trying to build a strategy to deal with a perceived team problem, don’t react to estimates, or one occasion of a problem.

Before reacting at all, or even taking the time to formulate a plan:

• Gather data
• Write it down
• And ask yourself: Is this really a pattern?

This works when you’re managing up and horizontally too.

If you want to go to a team lead to ask for help, the first thing they’ll ask is when and how. You’ll need examples.

I'd like to exemplify this with a story from Coronel's old team: One team member wasn’t doing a great job. Let's call him Joey. Coronel thought this might be a problem after an incident in which Joey couldn’t explain one of his projects back to the team lead. So, how could Coronel know his own leadership wasn’t at fault?

He gathered data:

• Joey had asked for this responsibility.
• Joey had been involved in the definition of the project, verbally.
• Joey had been introduced to the right stakeholders.
• Joey had also been involved in other projects that used the same technical skills.

Joey was also an internal hire to his team, which meant he had a former boss that Coronel could talk to. Having spoken to the former boss, Coronel lead worked out that Joey had been trained in a paternalistic structure, mostly following detailed instructions such that even “project management” implied very little initiative in Joey’s book.

Coronel spoke to Joey about why he hadn’t met any of his deadlines. The answer was, to paraphrase, “I was waiting for instruction from you.”

Want to read what happened to Joey, and 3 more tips? Read on at: 4 tips for team collaboration, inspired by data analytics