Building a Personal Data Toolbox

Engineering Leadership in the Data-Driven Era

Created with the help of MidJourney

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Companies rely on a mix of systems to manage their processes, each generating valuable data with the potential to unlock smarter decisions. However, accessing and interpreting this data is often a complex and labour-intensive process. The sheer variety and volume of information can make it difficult to extract meaningful insights. Despite these challenges, the potential benefits of uncovering actionable insights make the effort undeniably worthwhile.

I’ve always prioritised making decisions based on facts and insights rather than intuition alone. However, achieving this is easier said than done. Data comes in various formats — structured, unstructured, and everything in between — and must be collected, organised, and analysed effectively. While spreadsheets are a commonly used tool, they could be pretty time-consuming and offer limited possibilities for advanced analytics.

Realising there had to be a better way, I set out to automate much of the data collection and analysis process. This effort led to the creation of what I now call my “data toolbox” — a set of scripts that pull and process data from various corporate systems, transforming it and making its analysis way easier. This toolbox has…