Abstract: 

The list of failed big data projects is long. They leave end-users, data analysts and data scientists frustrated with long lead times for changes. This presentation will illustrate how to make changes to big data, models, and visualizations quickly, with high quality, using the tools analytic teams love. We synthesize DevOps, Demming, and direct experience into the DataOps Manifesto.

To paraphrase an old saying: “It takes a village to get insights from data.” Data analysts, data scientists, and data engineers are already working in teams delivering insight and analysis, but how do you get the team to support experimentation and insight delivery without ending up failing? Christopher Bergh presents the seven shocking steps to get these groups of people working together. These seven steps contain practical, doable steps that can help you achieve data agility.

After looking at trends in analytics and a brief review of Agile, Christopher outlines the steps to apply DevOps techniques from software development to create an Agile analytics operations environment, including how to add tests, modularize and containerize, do branching and merging, use multiple environments, parameterize your process, use simple storage, and use multiple workflows deploy to production with W. Edwards Deming efficiency. They also explain why “don’t be a hero” should be the motto of analytic teams—emphasizing that while being a hero can feel good, it is not the path to success for individuals in analytic teams.
Christopher’s goal is to teach analytic teams how to deliver business value quickly and with high quality. They illustrate how to apply Agile processes to your department. However, a process is not enough. Walking through the seven shocking steps will demonstrate how to create a technical environment that truly enables speed and quality by supporting DataOps.

Bio: 

Eric Estabrooks is a Founder and VP of Cloud and Data Services at DataKitchen where he is focusing on client delivery and AWS cloud operations. Prior to DataKitchen, Eric was the VP of Cloud and Data Services at LeapFrogRx, acquired in 2013 by Model N (MODN), where be built a high performing data services team that had quality and process improvement baked into its DNA. LeapFrogRx provided a SaaS for analyzing sales & marketing data for its Pharma customers. Before coming to Boston, Eric was a lead developer and software architect at Premisys Corporation, acquired by J.D. Edwards, where he helped develop a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) platform for manufacturers of highly customizable products in a variety of industries.
Eric holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State University. He was bit by the software bug, early in his career, while working on Finite Element Analysis and implementing algorithms to model material deformation at high temperature. He is looking forward to start bagging those 4k peaks with his newly arrived son.