Data Project Manager - Key Areas to be aware of

Becoming a proficient data project manager requires a broad understanding of various aspects related to data management, analysis, and interpretation. Here's an elaboration on some crucial areas a data project manager should be aware of:

Data Governance: Data governance involves the overall management of the availability, usability, integrity, and security of the data used in an enterprise or organization. As a data project manager, you need to ensure that proper policies, procedures, and controls are in place to manage data assets effectively.

Data Quality Management: Ensuring data quality is crucial for reliable analysis and decision-making. Data project managers should be familiar with techniques and tools for assessing, monitoring, and improving data quality. This involves identifying and resolving issues related to accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness of data.

Data Integration and ETL Processes: Understanding how data flows through different systems and processes is essential. Data project managers should have knowledge of Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) processes and data integration techniques to facilitate seamless data movement across various platforms and applications.

Data Warehousing and Data Lakes: Data project managers should be familiar with data warehousing concepts and technologies, which involve storing and managing large volumes of structured data for reporting and analysis purposes. Additionally, knowledge of data lakes, which store vast amounts of raw, unstructured data, can be valuable for certain projects.

Data Analysis and Visualization: While data analysts and scientists typically handle the technical aspects of data analysis, data project managers should have a basic understanding of statistical methods, data modeling techniques, and data visualization tools. This knowledge helps in effectively communicating insights derived from data to stakeholders.

Data Security and Privacy: Protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access, breaches, and misuse is paramount. Data project managers should understand data security best practices, compliance regulations (such as GDPR or HIPAA), and how to implement measures to safeguard data privacy and confidentiality.

Data Lineage and Metadata Management: Data lineage refers to the life cycle of data, from its origin to its current state and how it moves across systems. Metadata provides descriptive information about data, such as its structure, format, and context. Data project managers should understand the importance of data lineage and metadata management for tracking data provenance, ensuring data traceability, and facilitating data discovery.

Data Storage and Scalability: Knowledge of different storage technologies (e.g., relational databases, NoSQL databases, cloud storage) and their scalability features is essential for managing data effectively. Understanding the trade-offs between performance, cost, and scalability helps in selecting the right storage solutions for specific project requirements.

Data Access and Permissions: Controlling access to data and defining permissions based on user roles and responsibilities is critical for maintaining data security and integrity. Data project managers should be familiar with access control mechanisms, authentication methods, and authorization policies to ensure that data is accessed and used appropriately.

Data Ethics and Bias: Awareness of ethical considerations and potential biases in data collection, analysis, and interpretation is important. Data project managers should promote ethical practices and be mindful of biases that may arise from the data or the algorithms used in data-driven decision-making processes.

Salesforce Introduction - Coursera / University of California

Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform // Customer Success Platform that provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help business manage their: 

• Customer relationship
• Sales
• Marketing
• Other businesses

Essentially, you can sell, service, market, analyze, and connect with your customers.

It is: 

• Cloud based: are hosted on remote servers of Salesforce company. Users access it via Internet.
• SaaS model: Companies subsribe to service on a per-use / per-service basis. 

Variety of modules

Sales Cloud:

Function: Automates sales processes.
Features: Contact and account management, opportunity tracking, lead management, sales forecasting, and performance analytics.

Service Cloud:

Function: Enhances customer support and service operations.
Features: Case management, service automation, a knowledge base, customer portals, and multi-channel support (phone, email, chat, social media).

Marketing Cloud:

Function: Manages digital marketing efforts.
Features: Email marketing, social media marketing, advertising, customer journey management, and analytics.

Commerce Cloud:

Function: Supports e-commerce operations.
Features: Online store management, mobile commerce, order management, product recommendations, and personalization.

Community Cloud:

Function: Builds online communities for customers, partners, and employees.
Features: Discussion forums, user groups, knowledge sharing, and customer service communities.

Analytics Cloud (Einstein Analytics):

Function: Provides advanced data analysis and business intelligence.
Features: Data visualization, dashboards, predictive analytics, and AI-driven insights.

App Cloud:

Function: Enables custom application development.
Features: Development platforms like Force.com, Heroku, and Lightning for building custom apps that integrate with Salesforce.

Einstein AI:

Function: Adds artificial intelligence capabilities across Salesforce.
Features: Predictive analytics, natural language processing, automated data entry, and intelligent recommendations.

Integration Cloud:

Function: Ensures seamless integration with other enterprise systems.
Features: Tools for data synchronization, API management, and integration with third-party applications.

Full capabilities of ChatGPT 4 O (O for Omni) - From Openai.com

• Omni, O, has multimodal capabitlies, which means it can take text, voice or video as an input and serve audio/text/image output (there's no video output). 
• It can respond to audio inputs in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which is similar to human response time(opens in a new window) in a conversation. 
• It is faster and cheaper.
• Has multilingual capabilities.

Use Cases

• Comics / visual narration / : Sally the mailwoman
• You can create an image, upload that image with a name given to character (as an attachment), and then go on to storyboard the work. 

• Movie poster creation

• Character Design

• Poetic typography

• Coin design

• Photo to caricature

• Font design

• 3D object synthesis

• Brand placement

• Meeting notes

• Lecture summarizing

Product Management - Product Trio

The Product Trio is a team structure that plays a critical role in creating successful digital products. It consists of three core roles: Product Manager, Designer, and Software Engineer. These three roles collaborate closely throughout the product development lifecycle, fostering specialization, accountability, and creativity. Here’s why the Product Trio matters and how it’s shaping the landscape at top product companies:

Product Manager: product manager crafts the overarching strategy, vision, and trajectory for the product. This involves gathering insights from diverse sources such as customer feedback, stakeholder input, and market analysis to discern user needs and potential market niches. The product manager steers the product's course, prioritizes feature development, and ensures that all efforts align with overarching business objectives. Close collaboration with the engineering lead and UX designer is extremely important, as they work together to translate requirements into actionable tasks and steer the development process effectively.

Engineering Lead/Sr. Engineer: The engineering lead, also known as the technical lead or development lead, oversees the technical facets of product advancement. Their responsibilities include providing technical guidance, leading the engineering team, and ensuring that the product is constructed efficiently, securely, and to the highest standards. Working closely with the product manager and UX designer, the engineering lead comprehensively understands project requirements, estimates project timelines, and identifies and mitigates any technical hurdles or constraints.

UX Designer: The UX designer focuses on crafting an intuitive and seamless user experience for the product. This involves conducting thorough user research, gathering feedback, and implementing design principles to create user-centric interfaces and interactions. Collaborating closely with the product manager and engineering lead, the UX designer ensures alignment between user needs, product features, and technical feasibility. They produce wireframes, prototypes, and design specifications to guide the development process effectively and ensure a cohesive user experience.

The Product Trio: A Structured Approach

The Product Trio is jointly responsible for a shared outcome. Rather than working in silos, they collaborate to:

• Interview customers together.
• Map out the opportunity space collectively.
• Choose a target opportunity as a team.
• Generate solutions collaboratively.
• Iteratively test and develop those solutions1.

Why the Product Trio Matters

Specialization and Expertise:

• Each role brings specialized expertise to the table.
• The Product Manager understands market needs and business goals.
• The Designer focuses on user experience and aesthetics.
• The Software Engineer translates designs into functional code.

Clear Responsibilities and Accountability:

• When the trio collaborates, responsibilities are clear.
• Accountability ensures that decisions align with the overall product vision.

Effective Collaboration:

• Cohesive strategies emerge from effective collaboration.
• The trio’s shared understanding leads to better product outcomes.

Resource Optimization:

• Structured teams optimize resource allocation.
• Budgets and manpower are used efficiently.

Adaptability and Scalability:

• Structured teams adapt to industry changes and customer preferences.
• Scalability becomes feasible as companies grow.

Google:

Google has embraced cross-functional collaboration, emphasizing the importance of product management, design, and engineering.

While not every team follows the exact Product Trio model, Google encourages close collaboration among these roles.

Their focus remains on creating user-centric products across various domains1.

Apple:

Apple’s approach aligns with the Product Trio philosophy, although they may not explicitly label it as such.

Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers work closely to deliver seamless experiences across hardware, software, and services.

The balance of concerns—desirability, feasibility, and viability—remains a core principle.

Amazon:

Amazon’s customer-obsessed culture drives their product development.

While they don’t strictly adhere to the Product Trio terminology, their teams collaborate across these roles.

The focus is on delivering value to customers through a combination of business acumen, design excellence, and technical prowess.

Facebook (Meta):

Meta (formerly Facebook) emphasizes cross-functional collaboration.

Product Managers, Designers, and Engineers work together to shape products like Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus.

Their shared goal is to create compelling user experiences.

TDD @ IAG

• Java-based test automation framework.
• For each new feature expected to write an automation piece of code to validate the functionality. 
• Expected to carry out TDD. Write a failed test case, and then write the TC to check functionality.
• Not the same example as below, but this sort of gives an idea of what I did there.

1. Add test [You don't write test for the code you are writing, rather you write the test code for the functionatliy you want to achieve] for the new functionality to be implemented. The tests serves as an [executable] specification. 
2. That is you write one test, then implement enough code to pass that test, then refactor the existing code and test(s) if necessary, and then maybe commit or integrate before you get too much divergence from the main branch.
3. Run the tests and confirm that the newly added tests fail.
4. Implement the new functionality.
5. Run all tests to confirm that they all pass.
6. Optional: refactor the code to tidy things up now you know more.

// FactorialTest.java

import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;

import org.junit.Test;

public class FactorialTest {

    @Test

    public void testFactorial() {

        // Test case for factorial of 5

        assertEquals(120, Factorial.factorial(5));

    }

}

// Factorial.java

public class Factorial {

    public static int factorial(int n) {

        if (n < 0)

            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Factorial is not defined for negative numbers");

        else if (n == 0)

            return 1; // Base case: 0! = 1

        else

            return n * factorial(n - 1); // Recursive call for n!

    }

}

> assertEquals tests that factorial of 5 is equal to 120. It will fail when Factorial.java is not written.