Product Analytics/Working with Product Analytics

Each analyst is a point person for 1-2 teams, projects, or programs. Our goals are to:

• Ensure we tackle the highest priority and most impactful work across Product
• Maintain context and domain knowledge by making sure product teams have one main point of contact
• Allow for flexibility in analyst work assignments (analysts may help support other teams depending on needs and availability)

How does the point person model work?

• A team's point person will be the primary point of contact for the product team's data needs. The point person will generally be involved in:
  • Brainstorming
  • Consultation about measurement plans and decisions about whether to implement new tracking
  • Identifying success metrics
  • Bringing questions, use cases, and insights from the product team back to the Product Analytics team to inform standard processes, foundational work, and high-level/strategic analysis
• Specific analytics and research requests go to the Product Analytics team (as a whole). PMs and their point person should coordinate on filing tickets via Phabricator (PMs may also file tickets separately and subscribe their point person to the ticket). Unless a request is urgent, the Product Analytics team will prioritize requests during our weekly grooming session and report back to the requesting team. These requests can include:
  • Reviews of related research and data to inform product development
  • Schema specification if new tracking is needed
  • QA of new or existing data
  • Monitoring metrics for anomalies and early warning signs
  • Analysis of success metrics
• The point person might be the one executing the work, or it might go to another analyst as needed. In some cases, we will not have bandwidth to satisfy all requests, which the point person (with support from team manager, as needed) will then communicate to the product team.

• A team's point person is expected to meet with the PM and/or teams at least once every 2 weeks so they can stay aware of the team's data needs and the work being done. PMs should use the meeting to update the analyst on the team's major work areas, even if they don't require analytics, so that the analyst stays aware of the team's work.

FAQ

How does the point person model differ from the way that analysts have previously worked with teams?

In some cases, an analyst was embedded in one specific product team. The embedded analyst attended most/all product team meetings, including triage and standup meetings. The embedded analyst was often expected to be available for ad hoc questions, regular consultations, deployments, etc. Work done for other stakeholders (e.g. other product teams, executives, other departments) was limited. This led to some teams not getting the support they needed.

Moving forward, analysts are assigned as a point person to 2 product teams. In addition to product development-specific analysis, the Product Analytics team is establishing standard processes, undertaking foundational work to improve our data capabilities, and allocating time for high-level/strategic analysis. To accommodate analysts' work across teams as well as the responsibilities they have on the Product Analytics team, analysts generally won't attend grooming or standup meetings unless invited to discuss a specific project or consult on specific questions.

How can I get help with data questions?

Data and analysis requests: file a Phab ticket. Requests are reviewed by Product Analytics during our weekly board review meetings, and inform the direction and priorities of data projects. A team member will follow up about whether we'll be able to work on your request.

For quick questions or training requests, we offer weekly consultation hours. Appointments can be scheduled directly using Google Calendar appointments.

Not sure if a Phabricator ticket is needed? Reach out to your team's point person or email us at product-analytics@wikimedia.org and we'll help direct you!