Sometimes, you need to say: screw it

Or: The return of the hipster data stack

====

When you ask me, what kind of book can you recommend?

My answer in 95% of all situations:

“Obviously Awesome” by April Dunford.

As you can see, it’s not a data book. So why this book? Because it covers the one topic that is pretty hard to achieve but compelling when done right: Positioning.

Positioning can be applied to different things: obviously, your products, but also for yourself (in a team, a community,..) or for your data team.

I spent plenty of time in the last months doing this - figuring out how I position myself in the data space and how to position Deepksydata as a learning platform.

I defined what topics I should cover, in which way, and how it connects the dots between LinkedIn, Youtube, this substack, and then over to Deepskydata. To create this magic machine where all effort is putting maximum energy into a flywheel.

So did it work?

Initial parts, yes. I got a better idea about my strength, and for example, I want Deepskydata to be primarily a free platform giving access to data learning for a broad audience (worldwide).

But as it happened to me repeatedly, I overdid it.

I was so keen that all the things I was doing served a clear purpose and worked together hand in hand:

- LinkedIn posts should convert people to Youtube, Deepskydata, or Substack

- I only cover reasonable data setups - the ones I would do in a consulting situation

- I try to cover new emerging topics like data products or impact strategies for data teams

In the end, I had no fun anymore to create any content. Take this Substack - I have already changed the title and position four times.

It finally became apparent when I talked to a friend who also produced content and told me he had lost motivation to write about the topic most people know him for. He just needed something new. So he did, and his energy came back.

After that, I realized I had to do the same.

I’m just returning to the things I love - even when they don’t fit together.

This means for me:

- writing on LinkedIn about the things I learn along the way. And the random thoughts I get when I am driving in the car: no more segways and just promotion for stuff on other platforms. I will mention what I do in a comment, but it is more like a footer to my posts.

- use this Substack to write about things I really love - even when they are highly unreasonable.

The return of the hipster stack

When I talk with consulting clients about future setups, I have a clear message:

- Data is always: People > Process > Tools

- Start simple, master the simple setup and then upgrade

- a tool is never a solution

But here is a secret about myself:

I am my worst customer. A data setup is only fun when I can play around with new tools and approaches.

The best example is Deepskydata - no, we don’t have a simple data stack:

- we use a custom proxy instead of server-side GTM

- we use Tinybird as a real-time data pipeline (and also for the upcoming personalization of the platform)

- we do all dashboards in real-time

- I have to hold myself back to stick with a simple database concept and not try new ones (Firebolt, Clickhouse,…) - if PuffinDB would be preprod and not a concept - I would go for that.

So what should I do with that?

I keep my reasonable approach when I work with clients. It would be unacceptable to propose any experimental or overfitted setups when I am out of the game after some weeks.

For myself.

I embrace the Hipster data stack. This comfortable approach to use and try out new approaches. Jump into friendly rabbit holes.

When I appear again - I will write about it.

So, don’t forget to subscribe. Ah, I mean - do whatever you like!