Showing the difference you’re making

We were joined by Tegan Bunsu Ashby, Senior Software Developer, Brooklyn Nets. Tegan works at the intersection of data and design, building applications and visualizations to empower front office decision making and help win basketball games.

Towards the end of the hangout, there was a great question from Trevor: How do you show that you are making a difference?

🏀 One of the joys and terrors of being in a data intensive role for a team is that you can’t point to oh, we did X or we recommended Y and now we have an NBA championship.

🏀 It has to be – does analytics and investment in data at a league level indicate that you’re going to have sustained success? The investment in analytics departments and the success of teams that have been able to do so is indicative of how teams are evaluating the value of that data.

🏀 It’s really nice to say, but we also need to hold ourselves accountable. When you’re using all this time and resources – you have to sit back and think, does this contribute to winning? Does it help us make better decisions?

🏀 At certain pressure points, did we create an environment where it was easier to negotiate a trade or pull the trigger on drafting a certain player over another? Were we able to support that in a way that was actionable, returnable and implemented? You have to communicate that.

Resources shared:

⬢ Tegan mentioned The MVP Machine book: https://lnkd.in/e5FAkxsm

⬢ Women in Sports Data Symposium + Data Hackathon: https://lnkd.in/eG8M54gH