The Data Stack Show Newsletter Edition 026

Practical data topics for practitioners, The Cynical Data Guy, and, of course, some AI stuff to top it off

🤠Howdy, 

As much as the social datasphere—including Eric and John—likes to opine on the visions emerging from their respective industry crystal balls, we like to step back once in a while and dig into topics that align more with the day-to-day work of practitioners. 

Talking about the future of technology is great, and the industry is changing fast, but the reality for many data professionals is that they don’t have the latest and greatest in their toolkit. The quest to build trustworthy BI reports sounds like a tired data topic, but remains a big challenge at many companies, and directly impacts the work of thousands of data engineers and analysts everyday. 

Last month’s lineup tackled a few practical topics like supply chain analytics, churn prediction, and tips for optimizing your Snowflake bill. We also took practicality to the extreme by introducing The Cynical Data guy, a new (old) monthly guest, fully jaded by decades in corporate data, who shares his perspective on the latest LinkedIn hot takes. 

Dig into the details of what we covered in June and get a taste of what we have coming up this month. 

🌯 The June Wrap

Here’s what you missed (if you missed it) on The Data Stack Show last month:

Supply Chain Data Stacks and Snowflake Optimization Pro Tips with Jeff Skoldberg of Green Mountain Data Solutions

Why you should listen – This is one of the best detailed deep-dives on day-to-day enterprise analytics work we’ve had on the show. Not only does Jeff explain how he did some pretty cool stuff with SAP HANA and Tableau at enterprise scale, but he also gives us top tips for corralling your Snowflake costs. 

🎧  Listen

Building Retail Churn Prediction on DuckDB with Clint Dunn of Wilde

Why you should listen – This episode is a great explainer on breaking down a common ML problem—churn prediction—into its component parts, including the minimum number of inputs you need to ship a good model. As a bonus, Clint talks about building a production app on DuckDB, which is fascinating. 

🎧  Listen 

Introducing the Cynical Data Guy: Is Data-Driven a Myth?

Why you should listen –  It’s hilarious. In three lightning rounds, Matt Kelliher-Gibson, who was a previous guest on the show, says what every pragmatic data professional is thinking, but doesn’t want to say in ‘that meeting’ about AI, being data driven, and no-code data tools. 

🎧  Listen 

Business Logic As Code: A New LLM-Powered Operating System for Business Automation with Binny Gill of Kognitos

Why you should listen – Because Binny shares one of the best perspectives we’ve heard on AI and, really, technology in general. Also, his origin story, about writing computer programs in a notebook, is legendary. 

🎧  Listen 

🎥 The March Preview

Get ready to hear from these brilliant minds this month:

• Barry McCardle – Co-founder and CEO of Hex (and multi-time guest)

• The Cynical Data Guy – Jaded musings from corporate data land

• Jesse Clark – Co-founder and CTO of Marqo.ai

• David Wynn – Solutions Architect at Edge Delta

🔗 Saved to Pocket

• OpenAI acquired Rockset – This was big news. Real-time infrastructure at scale makes a ton of sense for OpenAI, and we’re incredibly happy for Dhruba, who joined us last year for Episode 136. 

• Databricks launches LakeFlow – Besides confirmation that they are all in on lake-themed product names, Databricks made some noise by moving further left in the data stack with dedicated ingestion pipelines. 

• How RudderStack reduced CS response times by 50% with RudderStack, Kapa.ai, and Thena – A detailed, practical guide to using data pipelines, dedicated LLMs, and modern CS ticketing software to provide better customer support. 

Thanks for reading! If it was worth your time, please share the newsletter with your friends, and subscribe if you haven’t yet. Oh, and we’d love to hear from you. Comment below if you have any feedback for us or just want to connect. ✌ See ya next month.

- Eric & The Data Stack Show Team