5 things I learned in 15 months at Microsoft

After 15 months as Comms Analytics Lead at Microsoft I have now taken some time to reflect. And since I had the privilege of learning from so many people in the past, I thought it might be nice to pay it forward.

1. Recognize success: The right goals guide focus

A huge learning for me was to start the analytics process at the very end – at the answer, the insight, the learning – rather than the raw data. I start by setting goals before getting to work.

When working with data, one can easily be tempted to look at all of it and pick the most interesting insight. And while this works well in certain scenarios, it’s incredibly inefficient in other cases since it’s not clear what data should be looked at specifically and what questions can be answered with it.

The same is true, more generally, in work. I found that not only for myself but also for my colleagues, work becomes easier and more efficient when working towards specific goals. In order to find potential for improvement in performance, it’s crucial to know what the desired outcome should be. 

What does success mean to us? Do the performance indicators reflect the key objectives? Does it make sense to focus on a quantitative target or could a qualitative measure describe progress in a better way? 

Another benefit: Great achievements become visible. Setting goals and tracking them diligently is a great way to recognize the team’s and individual’s work and contribution to the overall success.

2. Keep it simple: Focusing on what’s essential increases productivity 

I love a good structured system and order – whether it’s at work or any other part of my life really. So, naturally, I reorganized our data infrastructure (using Azure SQL Database), making it more efficient, more intuitive, and easier to access and work with.

Furthermore, I used the data visualization tool Power BI to create a dashboard that serves as a single source of truth, including all available data sources (such as Adobe Analytics, Twitter or planning data and many more), connecting and cross-referencing them and incorporating the most important KPIs of the team’s key objectives.

Having a single dashboard covering all the (and ONLY the) important KPIs and insights the team needs, makes it easier to connect the dots and check overarching goals and progress. It’s also easier to put the performance of the different business areas into context. 

Another handy side-effect of having only one dashboard is that it’s a lot easier for my colleagues to check their data independently and gain a sense of their own performance and progress.

3. Know your audience: Empathy is key in data storytelling

In the past, I mostly worked with people of similar backgrounds and understanding of analytics. At Microsoft, however, I am now surrounded by a very diverse group of stakeholders, coming from various backgrounds, having unique expectations and a different understanding of numbers and what they can do for them.

One of the first things I noticed is that it matters how you present insights and learnings, and that I needed to change my own approach a fair bit. 

Being more of a “numbers person” myself, I love working my way through huge data sets and the nitty gritty details. Surprisingly, though, not everyone loves looking at numbers all day (Ikr!) and for most people it’s easier to remember a story rather than a number. 

Wanting to make my reports as inclusive as possible, I decided to drastically reduce the amount of data shown in my reports and instead focus on insights, stories, and recommendations; the parts that matter most when looking at the goals we define beforehand.

In addition, I moved from complex numbers and graphs to simple and reduced illustrations that support the story.

The key is to not just understand my stakeholders’ needs, but to actively prioritize them and adapt my work accordingly.

4. Let your mind wander: Flexibility boosts creativity

Another huge learning for me was to understand how important flexibility is. Especially when it comes to stepping away from the known and creating an agile working environment.

While analytics requires a high level of focus and strict following of rules, flexibility is just as important; for instance when it comes to creating a dashboard, a report or any type of visualization that caters to the varying and changing needs of my stakeholders and in turn their stakeholders. Or the evolving goals that require constant questioning of the analytics approach more generally. 

Being able to decide when to work, where to work from and what to work on at what time of the day boosted my creative thinking: 

It’s important for the mind to wander off sometimes to rethink tasks and approaches, question the status quo or come up with new ideas entirely. And room for creativity means room for growth. 

5. Growth mindset: The beginning of my learning journey 

One thing that still strikes me most about working at Microsoft is the learning culture. Paired with the mentality of “simply trying new things“, this creates a vibrant environment that pushes every employee to strive for more.

Very early on, my manager Magdalena Rogl encouraged me to implement whatever ideas I had, even if they seemed almost too big for me at the time.

Being surrounded by people who have internalized this learning culture had a huge impact on me:

I realized how important it is for me to be able to constantly learn new things, step out of my comfort zone on a regular basis, explore new areas and think big while doing it. And it also made me realize that this is only the beginning of my learning journey – I’m ready for more.

This post was first published on LinkedIn.com