Catalog & Cocktails: The Honest, No-BS Data Podcast

Catalog and Cocktails is the honest, No-BS, non-sales-y podcast about data and analytics. This is your unfiltered chat about everything interesting in data and analytics. Join Juan Sequeda and Tim Gasper to explore emerging topics and hear from thought leaders, practitioners and executives across the data and analytics space.

Afleveringen

How data teams become trusted business partners with Nick Zervoudis

24 oktober 2026 · 51 min
Afspelen

Nick Zervoudis, data product manager, trainer, and consultant at Value from Data & AI, joins Juan and Time to talk about why many data teams end up working like a service desk and what to do about it. The answer is: DO DISCOVERY! In this conversation, we cover how a service desk model breaks down when a request can’t be described in a few words, why dashboards get opened once and then forgotten, and how product thinking differs from project management in data work. We also discuss how to start doing discovery without a full transformation, and what AI does and doesn’t change about that work. Lees meer

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TAKEAWAY How data teams become trusted business partners with Nick Zervoudis

24 oktober 2026 · 7 min
Afspelen

This is the takeaway episode with Nick Zervoudis, data product manager, trainer, and consultant at Value from Data & AI, joins Juan and Time to talk about why many data teams end up working like a service desk and what to do about it. The answer is: DO DISCOVERY! Lees meer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Game Changers: The Talent Imperative for the AI Era with Mohammed Aaser

16 oktober 2026 · 51 min
Afspelen

Mohammed Aaser, former chief data officer at McKinsey and former chief data strategy officer at Domo, recently visited Juan and shared his framework on talent in the AI era. It was incredibly insightful and we asked if he could come back to the podcast (after 5 years!) His argument is that the potential of AI will be unlocked by humans because humans understand the problems, and are driven/motivated to solve the problems. Lees meer

In this episode, Mohammed lays out a framework for talent in the AI era. Automation is already taking over the known, repeatable work. What remains is the unknown, and that takes people who keep learning and who take initiative. The framework plots people on two dimensions, learning and drive. You have Doers, Philosophers, Commanders, Hackers, Strategist, Innovators, Game changers and more. Topics discussed

Automation and the innovation engine

The known versus the unknown

Two dimensions of talent

The talent quadrants

The multiplier effect

Commanders and scaling

Environments that don’t build initiative

Rarity of high-potential people

Investing in human potential

The human mind as the limit

Critical thinking through discomfort

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TAKEAWAY Game Changers: The Talent Imperative for the AI Era with Mohammed Aaser

16 oktober 2026 · 5 min
Afspelen

This is the takeaway episode with Mohammed Aaser, former chief data officer at McKinsey and former chief data strategy officer at Domo. He recently visited Juan and shared his framework on talent in the AI era. It was incredibly insightful and we asked if he could come back to the podcast (after 5 years!) His argument is that the potential of AI will be unlocked by humans because humans understand the problems, and are driven/motivated to solve the problems. Lees meer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Preserve Executive Trust by Protecting Your Judgement with Dora Boussias

9 oktober 2026 · 43 min
Afspelen

How do leaders preserve executive trust and credibility? Dora Boussias, executive advisor and former data executive returns to the podcast to unpack this question. Her answer: protect your judgement. Lees meer

In this episode, Dora presents the trust equation that most leaders grew up with: expertise + track record + judgment. Dora’s point is that the equation still holds, but each part now means something different. Nobody will out-know AI, so expertise is less about what you know and more about asking the right questions and challenging assumptions. A track record is harder to read when you can’t tell whether a good result came from you or from the model. Judgment carries the most weight now, and it’s the part leaders are most likely to hand off without noticing. Topics discussed:

Trust equation under AI

Expertise is changing

Track record is harder to read

Judgment carries the most weight

Decision fog

Speed isn’t everything

Ford’s rehiring of experienced engineers

Business fundamentals matter more

Alignment and accountability are cross-functional

Real value is “so what”

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TAKEAWAY Preserve Executive Trust by Protecting Your Judgement with Dora Boussias

9 oktober 2026 · 7 min
Afspelen

This is the takeaway episode with Dora Boussias, executive advisor and former data executive. We unpack the question "How do leaders preserve executive trust and credibility?" Her answer: protect your judgement. In this episode, Dora presents the trust equation that most leaders grew up with: expertise + track record + judgment. Don't miss it! Lees meer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Agents are taking over data! So what comes next? with Tristan Handy

1 oktober 2026 · 52 min
Afspelen

Agents will build data infrastructure at every layer and become its primary consumers. Tristan Handy, President and Co-founder of Fivetran / dbt Labs joins Juan and Tim where we unpack the big shift that is happening: teams need to move from working in the process (picking up individual tickets) to working on the process (building the factories that handle those tickets). In this episode, we break down what this means for data roles, why open components matter more than vendor stacks, and the socio-political problem nobody's talking about, deciding what counts as truth so your agents (and humans) ask the right questions in the first place. Topics discussed: Lees meer

Agents as builders and consumers

Data roles are collapsing

From working IN to working ON

Loop building as the competitive advantage

Business understanding beats technical specs

From humans in the loop to humans out of the loop

Open components over vendor stacks

Defining truth is a political problem

Data observability becomes business observability

Real-time becomes necessary

Humans delegate outcomes, set goals, sit in control

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TAKEAWAY - Agents are taking over data! So what comes next? with Tristan Handy

1 oktober 2026 · 6 min
Afspelen

This is the takeaway episode with Tristan Handy, President and Co-founder of Fivetran / dbt Labs where he joins Juan and Tim to discuss how agents will build data infrastructure at every layer and become its primary consumers. We unpack the big shift that is happening: teams need to move from working in the process to working on the process, what this means for data roles, why open components matter more than vendor stacks, and the socio-political problem nobody's talking about, deciding what counts as truth so your agents (and humans) ask the right questions in the first place. Lees meer

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AI Inherits the Business Choices You Never Made with David Krauza

25 september 2026 · 50 min
Afspelen

AI doesn't create your problems. It inherits the business choices you never made and the results nobody owns. David Krauza, VP of Data Strategy and Governance at Comcast, joins Juan and Tim to make the case that most "data problems" aren't data problems at all. They are accountability problems, definition problems, assumption problems, and what-are-we-even-measuring problems. The fix isn't better tooling. Data teams are so focused on delivery that they never stop to ask what the business is actually trying to do. It's going to the C-suite, asking about the top three goals, and following the definitions until the cracks show up. Topics discussed: Lees meer

AI inherits your unmade decisions

The output trap

Definitions are the real foundation

Talk to the business

Data as a cost center vs. a value driver

Single source of data, multiple versions of the truth

Think like a product owner

The revenge of the liberal arts majors

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TAKEAWAY - AI Inherits the Business Choices You Never Made with David Krauza

25 september 2026 · 6 min
Afspelen

This is the takeaway episode with David Krauza, VP of Data Strategy and Governance at Comcast who makes the case that AI doesn't create your problems, it inherits the business choices you never made and the results nobody owns. David joins Juan and Tim and discuss the accountability problems, definition problems, assumption problems, and what-are-we-even-measuring problems. Lees meer

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.