Struggling with data trust issues, dashboard drama, or constant pipeline firefighting? In this deep‑dive interview, Lior Barak shows you how to shift from a reactive “fix‑it” culture to a mindful, impact‑driven practice rooted in Zen/Wabi‑Sabi principles.
You’ll learn:
Why 97 % of CEOs say they use data, but only 24 % call themselves data‑driven
The traffic‑light dashboard pattern (green / yellow / red) that instantly tells execs whether numbers are safe to use
A practical rule for balancing maintenance, rollout, and innovation—and avoiding team burnout
How to quantify ROI on data products, kill failing legacy systems, and handle ad‑hoc exec requests without derailing roadmaps
Turning “imperfect” data into business value with mindful communication, root‑cause logs, and automated incident review loops
🕒 TIMECODES
00:00 Community and mindful data strategy
04:06 Career journey and product management insights
08:03 Wabi-sabi data and the trust crisis
11:47 AI, data imperfection, and trust challenges
20:05 Trust crisis examples and root cause analysis
25:06 Regaining trust through mindful data management
30:47 Traffic light system and effective communication
37:41 Communication gaps and team workload balance
39:58 Maintenance stress and embracing Zen mindset
49:29 Accepting imperfection and measuring impact
56:19 Legacy systems and managing executive requests
01:00:23 Role guidance and closing reflections
🔗 Connect with Lior
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liorbarak
Website - https://cookingdata.substack.com/
Cooking Data newsletter: https://cookingdata.substack.com/
Product product lifecycle manager: https://app--data-product-lifecycle-manager-c81b10bb.base44.app/
🔗 Connect with DataTalks.Club
Join the community - https://datatalks.club/slack.html
Subscribe to our Google calendar to have all our events in your calendar - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r?cid=ZjhxaWRqbnEwamhzY3A4ODA5azFlZ2hzNjBAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ
Check other upcoming events - https://lu.ma/dtc-events
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Website - https://datatalks.club/
🔗 Connect with Alexey
Twitter - https://x.com/Al_Grigor
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agrigorev/
