Decisions Decisions

Part two in my “Wot I did next” series of blogs about management/ leadership in data science, and the usual caveats apply- I claim no expertise in any of the subjects therein. I’m doing and learning stuff at the moment, and throughout most of my career I’ve written them down on the internet for my own reference and in case they help others.

This one is, like the last one, about something that made me more uncomfortable the further I got into it. I think it’s fair to say that most analysts in the NHS feel like they are not being heard, and they often feel like they don’t have autonomy over what they learn and do. I’ve been lucky to have been supported by line managers who’ve given me the freedom to explore and do new things, but I know many are not. Despite the support I have received from my managers in the past (and present) I still think it’s fair to say that analysts are not the most influential of NHS staff and are indeed sometimes marginalised and ignored.

The general feeling for an analyst as they come up the ranks, I would say, is feeling like you have some knowledge to contribute but not feeling like that knowledge is welcomed and accepted from those around. I now find myself in the exact opposite situation and am now being listened to not only when I talk about stuff I know about (my slowly ageing knowledge of data science) but also things I don’t have or claim any expertise in at all. Early on I found this to be baffling and worrying in equal measure, and was sometimes put off making comments out of fear of them not being received with the appropriate level of scepticism, but I think I’ve pretty much got used to it now. According to my reckoning, when I’m being asked my opinion or being listened to it’s usually one of three things. There is a fourth, which is sometimes people ask your opinion when they don’t care what you think at all but want you to feel involved for political reasons, but I’m ignoring that. This is people who will actually take note of or action what you say.

The first reason people ask me stuff is because I know what I’m talking about in my little bit of data science. I’m happy with this one, clearly. I’ve already recruited such a good team that I think already it is true that any question about data science would be better answered by at least one of the team, and that’s entirely what I want, but I do obviously know some stuff and I can answer questions and talk about it. I’m going to put in this category stuff that I should answer better than the team too, which would be strategic questions about data science. This is less familiar ground to me but I have never had a technical person as a manager and never will now so I’m reasonably comfortable plotting a course, although clearly sometimes I will be right and sometimes wrong.

The second reason people ask me stuff is because I’m the human shield if it all goes wrong. For example, thorny issues of prioritisation come up sometimes. We have tough choices to make about what to do and what not to do, the order to do it in, how well to do it, and so on. Making these decisions is clearly a team sport- between the customers, and me, and the team. If we get it wrong someone suffers- the customers don’t get what they want, the team work too hard or on something they don’t believe in. But owning the decisions is my job. I want the customer to feel assured that we are going to get the calls right, and I want the team to know that if it all goes wrong it’s my job to explain why, and it’s my decision making process that got us there. I’m accountable, not them. As I said in the previous post on this blog that’s what the extra money is for. Not for having all the answers, but for owning the solutions, trying to find a path through any problems, and always being in front of your team if it all goes wrong.

So far so good. I’m on those two now, and it feels natural to me to give good advice where it’s needed, help make the best decisions we can, and to own those decisions. And now we come to the last reason, which I’m still not great with. The third reason people ask me stuff is just out of sheer it’s my job to decide stuff. Sometimes there are just no correct answers or no data to answer the questions with, sometimes there is deadlock between two parties. Sometimes people who would be better at answering the questions don’t want to own the decisions for whatever reason (sometimes it involves money, that’s a common one). So I will advise or make decisions because someone has to, and the most obvious person in the room to do that is me. A classic thing I’ve always noticed before I was given any decision making power is a group of managers all sitting round deciding on the visual design of something. They’re all completely ignorant of visual design, it would be far better to get somebody that understands visual design to decide, but it just feels natural for the managers to sit around and argue about it and pick something. Honestly I feel like some people are way too good at this, they jump straight in with their opinions without any apparent regard for their complete ignorance, but maybe I’m being unfair. Maybe they’re perfectly well aware that they don’t know what they’re talking about, but they’ve been at this game longer than me and they know that their role in that moment is to make or contribute to a decision.

If I were to sum up everything I’ve learned about giving opinions and making decisions I would offer this:

• My ideal state is a team that can answer every technical question better than me (some may differ on this, especially perhaps outside data science)
• Thinking through decisions is collective but making them is personal. Don’t make others carry the can for your mistakes
• Sometimes you will make decisions out of just sheer that’s your job, get on with it. Try to carry your opinions lightly and don’t think just because people listen to you it means you know what you’re talking about