Key insights

• Personal Preferences and Reflections

  • 📺 Speaker enjoys rewatching TV series like The West Wing and Alias
  • 🌞 Recommends Korean sunscreens, particularly the beauty of joson brand
  • 💤 Shares a life motto about problem-solving through sleep
  • ♀️ Influenced by strong women in male-dominated industries and parents who pursued new careers later in life
  • 📈 Reflects on the moments when they realized DoorDash would succeed
  • 📝 Writing a series of blog posts on LinkedIn about their experience at DoorDash and encourages feedback
  • 🔍 Encourages truth-seeking and recommends using DoorDash

• Diverse Data Teams and Personal Insights

  • 🔍 Consideration of missing data in analysis
  • 🌐 Managing global data teams and the challenges of different countries
  • 🤖 Using AI to empower non-technical users and improve team productivity
  • 🌈 Building a diverse data team with complementary skills and diverse backgrounds
  • 📚 Support for local public libraries and the Libby app
  • 📖 Speaker's preference for historical fiction books and the limited TV/movie watching habits

• Business Growth and Consumer Experience

  • 🔄 Analyzing trade-off decisions between supply, demand, and growth factors in a multi-sided marketplace
  • 🎯 Simplifying complex composite metrics and prioritizing key goals for business growth
  • ❌ Focusing on fail states, such as disaster deliveries, to improve consumer experience and reduce churn
  • 🎯 Setting concrete goals to eliminate fail states and investing time in addressing edge cases and terrible order experiences
  • 🏆 Recognizing the importance of addressing rare but impactful issues for the overall consumer experience and brand equity

• Cultural Expectations and Metrics Selection

  • 🌎 Cultural expectation of extreme ownership within the company
  • 📈 Importance of finding the right metrics and aligning incentives
  • 📉 Learning from mistakes in metric selection and keeping metrics simple
  • 📊 Quantifying business levers in common terms to facilitate decision-making
  • 💵 Translating team metrics into key business outcomes such as gross order value and volume

• Non-Traditional Background and Company Culture

  • 🚀 Non-traditional background in data science and problem-solving skills
  • 🌟 Early culture and team dedication at DoorDash
  • 🚚 The 'We Dash' program and its significance in building empathy and catching bugs in the product

• Prioritization and Hiring for Data Teams

  • 🏛️ Establish culture and leadership rules for prioritization
  • 💬 Encourage open communication and tradeoff discussions
  • 🔍 Prioritize curiosity and self-motivation in hiring
  • ✅ Test soft skills in interviews through case studies and hypothetical scenarios
  • 🔑 Problem-solving and decision-making skills are essential in interviews
  • 🌐 Non-traditional backgrounds can lead to successful careers in data science

• Embedded Data and Analytics Teams

  • 📚 Embedding data and analytics teams within cross-functional groups leads to consistent talent bar, growth opportunities, and stronger team culture
  • 💡 Deep dives and exploratory work are crucial for finding big opportunities and tackling complex problems
  • 🎯 Creating intentional mechanisms for holding teams accountable to the goal of finding new insights and opportunities
  • 🔬 An example of a deep dive leading to insights about consumer acquisition through referrals, including the discovery of fraudulent behavior and subsequent recommendations for improvements

• Importance of Centralized Model for Data Teams

  • 📊 Analytics as a business impact-driving function, not just a service function
  • 📈 Importance of defining metrics that drive long-term outcomes
  • 🔍 Centralized model for data teams is superior to an embedded model
  • 🤝 The centralized model aligns incentives and preserves cross-functional collaboration

Q&A

• What does the lightning round at the end of the video cover?

  In the lightning round, the speaker talks about their love for rewatching TV series, recommends Korean sunscreens, shares a life motto, discusses influential figures in their career, reflects on the success of DoorDash, and mentions writing blog posts on LinkedIn and encouraging truth-seeking.

• How does the speaker emphasize the value of diverse data teams?

  The speaker encourages building diverse data teams with complementary skills and diverse backgrounds, highlighting the importance of considering missing data, managing global teams, and using AI to improve team productivity.

• Why is it important to focus on fail states in a multi-sided marketplace?

  Focusing on fail states, such as disaster deliveries, is vital to improve the consumer experience, reduce churn, and prioritize key goals for business growth.

• What is the significance of the 'We Dash' program at DoorDash?

  The 'We Dash' program holds significance in building empathy and catching bugs in the product, reflecting the early culture and team dedication at DoorDash.

• How does the speaker suggest prioritizing and communicating priorities within a data team?

  The speaker suggests establishing culture and leadership rules for prioritization, encouraging open communication on tradeoff discussions, as well as prioritizing curiosity, self-motivation, and problem-solving skills in hiring.

• What are the benefits of embedding data and analytics teams within cross-functional groups?

  Embedding teams within cross-functional groups leads to maintaining a consistent talent bar, providing growth opportunities, fostering a stronger team culture, and creating intentional mechanisms for discovering new insights and opportunities.

• Why does the speaker advocate for a centralized model for data teams?

  The centralized model aligns incentives, preserves cross-functional collaboration, and enables the benefits of a central organization to be fully realized, making it superior to an embedded model.

• What is the importance of analytics in driving business impact?

  Analytics is crucial for driving business impact, going beyond being just a service function. It helps in defining metrics that drive long-term outcomes and making strategic decisions.

• 00:00 Jessica LAX, Vice President of analytics and data science at DoorDash, shares insights on building and scaling data teams. She emphasizes the importance of analytics as a business impact-driving function and advocates for a centralized model for data teams. The centralized model aligns incentives and preserves the benefits of a central organization while enabling cross-functional collaboration.
• 10:17 Embedding data and analytics teams within cross-functional groups can lead to consistent talent bar, growth opportunities, and a stronger team culture. Carving out time for exploratory work and deep dives is crucial for finding big opportunities and tackling complex problems.
• 20:39 Prioritize and communicate your priorities, align on tradeoffs, prioritize curiosity and self-motivation when hiring, test soft skills in interviews, problem-solving in interviews is crucial, non-traditional backgrounds can lead to successful careers.
• 29:58 The interviewee discusses his non-traditional background in data science and how his problem-solving skills helped him succeed at DoorDash. The early culture of DoorDash is highlighted, including stories of team members going the extra mile for the company and the unique 'We Dash' program.
• 39:48 A discussion on extreme ownership, defining metrics, and aligning incentives at a company, focusing on cultural expectations, metrics selection, and translating decisions into key business outcomes.
• 49:48 Analyzing metrics and identifying key factors for business growth are crucial in a multi-sided marketplace. Simplifying complex composite metrics and prioritizing key goals are essential. Focusing on fail states, such as disaster deliveries, is vital to improve consumer experience and reduce churn.
• 59:38 The speaker discusses the importance of considering missing data, managing global data teams, using AI to improve team productivity, and building diverse data teams. They also emphasize the value of diverse skills and backgrounds in the team. The lightning round reveals the speaker's preference for historical fiction books and their support for local public libraries.
• 01:09:53 The speaker discusses their love for rewatching TV series, recommends Korean sunscreens, shares a life motto about problem-solving, talks about influential figures in their career, and reflects on the moments they realized DoorDash would succeed. They also mention their writings on LinkedIn and encourage truth-seeking.