DECEMBER 2018CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM9The data science practice is very much an exercise in continuous research, experimentation, and discoveryProcess ­ An Underrated and Often Overlooked Necessity The data science practice is very much an exercise in continuous research, experimentation, and discovery. There are multiple data-science lifecycle frameworks to aid collaboration between business units and data science teams. These frameworks include the commonly used Microsoft Team Data Science Process (TDSP), the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) and the Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD). Some companies have gone further to develop their own customised blueprint by adopting just snippets of these frameworks. The key takeaway is that these frameworks adopt an agile methodology where close collaboration and iteration is required between the business units and the data science team. For example, the task of setting objectives is traditionally led by business units. However, data science teams that take it upon themselves to build an intimate understanding of the business' challenges, regulatory policies, andthe dynamics among upstream and downstream business partners, will have an advantage when working with the business unit. In the same vein, developing models is a scope that is often heavily centred on data science teams. A strong collaborative synergy between business units and data science teams at this stage can set the premise for a robust model with sound business justifications. For example, feature engineering involves finding the most informative data variables, which requires a combination of domain expertise from the business units and technical analysis from the data scientists. While project management structures and frameworks are not new, it is often an overlooked factor that is critical to running a sustainable data science operation and managing different stakeholders in the organisation. It does not only ensure consistency and business continuity, but helps companies advance much faster and more efficiently in their data-driven endeavour. People ­ Getting the Right Expertise and Building the Right ExpertiseJob functions in data science are not homogenous. On the contrary, these job functions span a variety of roles, which include data analysts, data engineers, data architects, data scientists, and more recently machine learning engineers.Different roles contribute different segments of the data pipeline and require a specific set of expertise. Getting the right composition of data professionals and talents is critical for delivering a full scale data product.For instance, companies at the onset of building their data-driven foundation will require more data engineers, who implement and manage big data platforms and setting up repositories. As companies advance along their roadmap, more data scientists and machine learning engineers will be required to build production grade data analytics and predictive algorithms. Finally, to enable business users to leverage on data analytics capabilities for business decisions, software engineers are necessary for developing front-end dashboards and data visualisation tools. It is important to note these skillsets are typically not cross-functional. This means that a data engineer would not necessarily have the relevant skillsets to perform the role of a data scientist or data architect. As such, HR practitioners supporting data science talent acquisition must be cognizant of how the different roles and expertise contribute to the end-to-end data pipeline. This will help organisations match individuals to the right job functions and build strong data science teams. Summary The professional field of data science has cemented its relevance across industries with many companies embarking on their own data-driven strategies. While the data science field will continue to evolve, we are beginning to crystalize the lessons learnt on tackling the operational challenges of managing technology, processes and people, so that we can help more companies move ahead in their data-driven development in a more efficient manner.
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