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Shovelling snow in a blizzard…

Many teams operate informal and ad hoc intake processes. Work can be submitted and requested of the team by business stakeholders in any number of ways, including:

• Email

• Slack

• Teams IM

• WhatsApp

• Verbally in meetings

• Whispered upon a gentle breeze

These kinds of requests are usually prefixed by, comments like “It’ll just take a min”, or “I need it by sundown”, or “You data guys really are rockstars”.

In many organisations, data teams struggle to handle high volumes of requests effectively. Whether it’s urgent queries, project support, or strategic analysis, stakeholders often expect immediate responses, leaving data teams stretched thin and reactive.

This challenge becomes even more pronounced when requests come through informal channels like the ones listed above.

Without a structured process, data teams face constant interruptions, making it very difficult to prioritise high-value, strategic work. They risk losing track of requests, providing inconsistent service, and missing opportunities to deliver strategic value to the organisation - No bueno.

Unfortunately, when data teams don’t operate with a formalised intake system, several negative impacts arise, which we’ll explore below 👇🏻

(Remember to check out the results from the last poll - results down below👇🏻)

😬 The bad part

📉 Impact #1: Reduced productivity
Handling requests informally often means data teams must stop what they are doing to gather clarifications in real time. This disrupts focus, leads to inefficiencies, and leaves little time for proactive or strategic work.

📋 Impact #2: Poor prioritisation
Ad hoc requests make it challenging to assess and prioritise tasks based on business value. As a result, urgent but low-impact work can overshadow projects with significant strategic potential.

🤷🏽‍♀️ Impact #3: Inconsistent stakeholder experiences
Without a standardised approach, stakeholders receive varying levels of service depending on who they interact with and how. This inconsistency can erode trust in the data team and result in stakeholders leaning on certain team members in particular.

🧩 Impact #4: Lack of visibility and data
Informal processes make it difficult to track request volumes, completion rates, and types of work. This lack of data hinders efforts to measure team efficiency and identify trends in stakeholder needs. It’s also makes it more challenging to create businesses cases for increasing team resources such as head count and L&D budgets.

🤬 Impact #5: Stakeholder frustration
When expectations are not managed effectively, stakeholders can grow frustrated with delays, unclear timelines, or perceived inaction. This undermines the relationship between data teams and the wider organisation.

The good news is that these challenges can be overcome with a systemised intake process for data requests. This approach benefits both data teams and stakeholders by bringing clarity, efficiency, and strategic focus to how work is requested and delivered.

Let’s take a look at that below 👇🏻

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🛠️ The fix-it part

The key to resolving these problems in my view is to implement a formalised intake system that standardises how requests are submitted, tracked, and prioritised. This allows data teams to take control of their workload, ensuring that they deliver the most valuable outcomes for the business.

(Important note: it doesn’t matter what system you use so long as you can collect, catalogue and report data consistently)

To get started:

1. ✍🏻 Define a clear intake process
   Create a system where all requests are submitted through a single platform, such as a ticketing tool or a custom-built form. At a minimum, the system should capture essential information like the requestor’s details, the purpose of the request, and the desired outcome. This ensures that all requests provide sufficient context upfront, reducing the need for back-and-forth clarifications.

2. 🙋🏼‍♂️ Standardise stakeholder questions
   Develop a set of standardised questions that stakeholders must answer when submitting requests. For example: “What business problem are you trying to solve?” or “How will this analysis support your goals?” This step helps stakeholders refine their asks, ensures alignment with strategic objectives, and establishes a solid foundation for meaningful collaboration. It also brings the data team close to business challenges and puts them in a position to spot peripheral opportunities.

3. 📋 Introduce prioritisation criteria
   Define clear criteria for evaluating and prioritising requests. For example, consider factors like expected business impact, alignment with organisational strategic goals, and level of effort required. This approach enables the data team to focus on high-value work and communicate their priorities transparently.

4. 🤝 Set expectations with stakeholders
   Establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that outlines response times and other expectations. For instance, you might commit to triaging all requests within 72 hours (or less, calm down). This doesn’t guarantee immediate delivery but signals that the team has a structured process and respects stakeholder needs.

5. 🧭 Monitor and refine the process
   Continuously collect data on request volumes, completion times, and stakeholder satisfaction. Use these insights to identify bottlenecks, improve workflows, and ensure that the process evolves to meet organisational needs.

💪🏻 An unexpected benefit

The real beauty of a consistent and formalised system is the data collection component. We are data people after all, so being able to collect and analyse data on the types, urgency and volume of requests we receive should be a top priority for leaders.

Say for example you’ve had a system in place now for a full quarter. You’ll now be in a position to report back to the business on how the team has performed over the 3 months while the system has been in place.

You’ll know what kinds of requests you’re getting, what your completion rate looks like, who the main areas of the business that rely on your team are etc. You’ll be in an excellent position to know whether or not the currently team structure and size is sufficiently supporting the business, or if changes such as more investment are needed.

If you’re sceptical about implementing a systemised process, give it a go for a few months with some of these benefits in mind and I’m sure you’ll see the light. ✨

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⚡️ Previous poll results

Last time, we talked about the difference between strategies and tactics. If you missed it you’re new around here, you can find it here!

In last week’s quiz I asked you how do you rate your own level of strategic literacy, and this is how you responded 👇🏻

Looks like quite the mix bag!

Tristan Burns

Find me on LinkedIn or Book a 1:1 call