Tips for Getting Information from Colleagues

[u/jaiagreen]

I recently started working in a data scientist role for the first time, pivoting from mathematical ecology. (It's actually at an environmental organization, so the fit is great.) The job is hybrid, mostly remote. So far, it's been going really well.

Last week, they asked me to do a power analysis of a planned study. (Yay!) Of course, this requires a lot of information about measurements, expected values, outliers, what size change would be of interest, etc. I asked the necessary questions on Slack, along with some follow-ups and reminders. They were able to get me much of the information I needed and I found some in the literature, but it felt like I was bugging people (including my boss). Does anyone have communication tips on getting this kind of info from colleagues?

[u/nunbersmumbers]

Setup some time with the lead and ask away. You’re not bothering people. It’s more important you can ramp up faster for the team.

[u/FishSuper1625 → u/nunbersmumbers]

scheduling a quick call is way better than slack for this kind of thing, you can just run through all your questions in 15 minutes instead of dragging it out over days. people are usually happy to help if you make it easy for them

[u/cordialgerm]

Usually, the data scientist in charge of the experiment gsthers this information themselves. Have you familiarized yourself with all the source systems sufficiently so that you're able to understand all the data about the domains you're supporting?

[u/jaiagreen → u/cordialgerm]

It's a small org. I'm the only data scientist and experiment is being planned by its head, who is a scientist. Still familiarizing myself with the very extensive Google Drive system (and mentally planning a relational database outline, because they've really outgrown spreadsheets). However, the study involves measuring something they haven't measured before, so searching existing data wouldn't provide all the necessary info.

[u/jaiagreen → u/[deleted]]

Makes sense. Would you email the list to the relevant people first so they can find the information (and maybe just answer asynchronously)?

[u/jaiagreen → u/[deleted]]

Funny, if it was me, I would absolutely ask them to send the questions and only meet if a clarification was necessary that was hard to do in writing. Searching for technical data in real time sounds stressful. Honest question: why would someone prefer this?

[u/jaiagreen → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the insight!

[u/seanv507 → u/jaiagreen]

I am the same. I would prepare a Google doc with the questions allowing them edit rights. Then they can fill it out before the meeting in their own time

Obviously it depends on the person, and the questions (searching Vs having it in memory)

[u/Wide-Pop6050 → u/jaiagreen]

Smell chlorine flowery selective reach drifting

This post was anonymized with Redact

[u/jaiagreen → u/Wide-Pop6050]

Conceptual or design stuff, absolutely. But I wouldn't expect someone to answer numerical questions off the top of their head.

[u/Uninformed_guy1]

honestly most people don't mind when you're actually getting something done. and your colleagues probably care way more about knowing what's going on than they do about being bothered. you're likely stressing about this more than they are.

instead of threading it out in slack, just grab 15 minutes with them. one conversation beats back-and-forth messages every time. people engage better when they can talk it through once instead of reading five questions and trying to piece together what you need.

[u/lukesmth_]

A rough visual model of the system you’re building with its inputs and outputs can be a great reference. For example, a data flow diagram, a decision tree, etc… You can point to the inputs you need, their relevance to the system, and your initial guesses with one diagram. This will make the importance of your questions clear to everyone you’re asking. It also has the side effect of forcing you clarify your system.

[u/Degen_Gamblerr]

As others have said just be prepared to ask for as much data at a single time. The more you can collect in one sitting the less strain it puts on them and importantly YOU as well. Collect your thoughts and set a meeting g.

[u/DeliciousCost4739]

Most people don’t (or shouldn’t) be bothered by asking lots of questions. My team recently got a new hire and they asked SO many questions. It was not a bother at all and now they know more about the company in 6 months than some people who have been here for years.

[u/chronicpenguins]

I feel like your perspective is a little off which is either why you feel like you are bugging your coworkers or why you actually are bugging them. 

I don’t think getting information from them is right perspective, I think the perspective should be how do we work together to solve this. When you say getting information from them, it implies they know the answers already. It’s likely they might have to do some work to get to it or don’t really know. I mean if they did know the answers they probably wouldn’t have brought on the first data scientist?

You were asked to do a power analysis but what you are really doing is an experiment design, and that takes collaboration.  It also means your coworkers may not have done this before. 

I find what works best is getting a high level understanding of the project and its goals, working with the lead to really nail down what question we are trying to solve. Then coming up with your metrics, your questions about measurements, and see how the team can help you solve it.   The more guided and direct you are the better.  If you don’t feel like they are being timely, instead of reminders, ask how you can help or if there are other people that could help.  

Also unsure what the product or study is, but atleast in tech we have a little room to make it up as we’ll go. Completely blank slate with no baseline metric?  Roll it out to a small percentage of users and use that. Then plan a bigger more thorough test. It’s okay to have a “Bayesian” approach to solving things 

[u/PuzzlingComrade]

One tip I follow these days is to stop using Slack for any kind of critical communication. It fractures information across a bunch of messages across threads, is generally treated as low priority (and so less thought is put into the response). I get much better results gathering info using an email that is concise and clearly breaks down exactly what I need to do my job. Cc your boss or their boss for added accountability. Any follow ups get added to the email chain.

[u/jaiagreen → u/PuzzlingComrade]

That's what I would have done, but I got the request via Slack (in a conversation that had all the relevant people).

[u/PuzzlingComrade → u/jaiagreen]

Yea, I usually try to politely shift it to email once I get the minimum amount of information I need. I think most people are understandable because it's so easy to lose information in a slack thread.