Looking Back on 2024, what’s the biggest change you’ve seen in D&A this year?
An increasing focus on people solutions to data problems, rather than a tech-first approach to driving value from data. I see this through the proliferation of data roles & responsibilities in culture, learning, translators, knowledge management, transformation and communication. Long may it last!
What’s a D&A practice or trend you’re excited to explore further in your job?
Quantifying the value of data has long been an ambition and bugbear of the D&A community. I’m working with a newly hired Head of Data Value to create a methodology for estimating the potential and realised financial value of our data & analytics capabilities, assets and initiatives. We have big plans for how we can improve our data maturity and ensure that the FT is maximising the return from data.
How do you like to unwind and recharge over the holidays?
I’m still learning how to “unwind” – I am happiest when I am doing things and spending time with people I love. But one of the gifts I give myself over a holiday is the right to fully check out of work. I don’t think about it. I don’t talk about it (unless in the most fleeting way). And I don’t feel guilty about it. It is my time. And disconnecting is super important for being able to clear the cobwebs and come back to work refreshed. Without fail, I always have better focus, better ideas and an unburdening of small but pernicious concerns that reveal themselves to be unimportant after having allowed myself to check out fully for two weeks. Win and win.
What’s a festive tradition you look forward to every year?
Nver since I was a kid, we watched Scrooge (1951) which is a fantastic telling of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Over the years, my family and I have evolved screenings to be interactive – certain scenes are accompanied by voice overs and various people saying lines in step with the actors on screen. We always have a big old laugh and it really helps connect us back to years gone by whilst being grateful for being together in the present.
