How to Talk to Leaders About What You’re Working On
Because data work is notoriously hard to explain
Priorities evolve, leaders move on. The only constant is change, as the saying goes. If you’re facing turbulent times, here’s a quick way to make sure that your work doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Say it’s a new year, or you’ve just gotten yourself a new manager, or perhaps both. That’s the perfect opportunity to assert your work priorities with people above you in the leadership chain. It may even be a critical necessity.
A while back, a data scientist told me that she couldn’t prioritize building a new model because she had “a bunch of other stuff going on.” Even if that’s true, how can anyone react to it unless they know what her other priorities actually are? We’re not mind-readers. You can’t expect leaders or colleagues to know what you’re working on unless you tell them.
The challenge, especially in data, is that our work doesn’t always speak for itself. It can get buried in a bottomless pit of minutiae: “I was validating data across two systems and the results didn’t match, so now I’m doing some troubleshooting, and [...]” You can see why the person on the receiving end of that discussion might check out. Leaders don’t need your laundry list. They need your headline.
There’s also the matter of our less-visible work. Maintenance, glue, OpEx, KTLO, BAU, whatever you want to call it. Hidden pockets of time-suckers. Every data professional has some, but we rarely take the time to quantify it. If you can’t describe how much effort you put into those activities, you won’t get credit for them. Instead, it will always look like you have more capacity than you actually do.
That’s why I built what I call the “priority grid.” It may seem obvious, but we don’t often take the time to do it. I first made it when I was feeling overwhelmed, like there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Writing down everything I was working on, how it connected to goals, and roughly how much time each thing took helped me see my work more clearly. It also helped me explain it better to others.
The Priority Grid
Each row represents an initiative or workstream. Each column adds context on the things you’d otherwise have to explain verbally. Use whatever time granularity makes sense, either months or quarters will do.
The grid should reflect roughly 100% of your available time. It doesn’t need to be precise, just directionally accurate. When you make all your commitments visible, including recurring “keep the lights on” (KTLO) work, leaders can see where your time actually goes and understand what it would take to add something new.
How to Use It
Spend an hour (tops!) to fill in the grid for yourself. Then bring it to your manager during a regular 1:1 or a goal-setting conversation. Ask, “Does this match your view of my priorities?” Let the discussion flow from there. Of course (sadly) I realize that not every manager will want to engage. Even so, the act of making your work visible can protect your time and clarify your own thinking.
You don’t need to do this too often, maybe a couple of times a year. It can help rebuild shared understanding when things change. For individual contributors, especially senior or principal-level ICs, it’s a way to demonstrate ownership of your workload. For managers, it can be a way to show how your team’s time connects to higher-level business goals.
To have a handle on your own work portfolio? Good. To get the person sitting across from you to say, “I finally understand what you do!” Priceless.
I’ll leave you with this: a challenge to lead through transparency. Don’t wait for your manager to define your priorities. When you make your work visible, you turn uncertainty into understanding.
See Also
Articles about goal-setting:
Articles about reactivity: