Data Club is it’s own thing now, but deep down, it just wants to be OneTeamGov breakfast.

Why? Aside from breakfast being the best meal, and the only one I’d happily eat for every meal, it’s the spirit of coming together to both listen and help. That was the thing I most loved about OTG breakfasts when I was able to attend.

I’d often bring up a data related problem, and gosh darn it if the digital and non-digital folks didn’t listen attentively, and give my silly little problems their time, sympathy and energy.

But sometimes you need specialists.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can ask the “Data Clubbers”?

Just to be clear, this isn’t seal clubbing for data - in case you were worried.

How does it work?

As Data Club tends to be a smaller group, the reality is we just have a nice chat. But we always start with one simple question: “Does anyone have a problem that they’d like some help with?”

That really is the essence of Data Club, getting folks’ data problems front and centre of a group of likeminded brains who have likely experienced the same problems, and in some cases, even solved them.

I always envisioned that we would copy OTGB and vote on subjects to talk about, but we nearly always just start with that question and it rolls along from there.

What sort of stuff gets talked about?

Off the top of my head, here are some subjects that have come up in recent data clubs:

  • There was a cracking discussion about data collected about footballers and their legal case where we really got into some deep stuff about what data is, and if someone performs an action in public, and someone observes and records that action, who owns the data?
  • If DDaT is a “job family”, are Data jobs the unloved step-child?
  • Practical ways to manage your reference data
  • What skills and roles do you need to build an effective data team
  • Pretty much every view on what data literacy is, could be, or should be

What’s you favourite thing about Data Club?

Honestly, the pauses.

Some pretty difficult and meaty questions get asked at Data Club sometimes, and there’s often a considerable pause while people are thinking. Many folks might try and fill that space with a clarifying question, but data clubbers are expert at just giving themselves a second to chew things over - it’s how I know that people take other folks’ questions seriously and genuinely want to do their best to help them. Warms the cockles of my heart it does.

What’s you least favourite thing about data club?

Google calendar and it’s absolutely baffling user experience.

That seems to be sorted now, so the only other thing is that you’re not there. Yeah, you. You’re great and we’d love to be able to help you - or watch you take flight and lift others up like a super-pigeon or something.

When is it and how do I come along?

It’s always on the second Wednesday of the month, from 1700 - 1800. There’s a calendar embedded below where you should be able to see the recurring invite and add it to your own calendar. (Thanks to Leigh for helping me sort that one out).

Don’t worry if you can’t see the meeting invite yet, I pop that in there five minutes before we start. I do this after that one time we were ambushed by rogue continental teenagers.

Calendar