Re-Air: From PDFs to BI and Beyond: The Future of the Data Frontend with Ryan Dolley of GoodData

Nov 5, 2025

Ryan Dolley, VP of product strategy at GoodData and former playwriter, shares his unique journey into the world of business intelligence. He discusses the evolution of BI, emphasizing how storytelling connects data to real-world impact. The conversation dives into AI's transformative role in analytics and how it redefines data professional skills. Ryan suggests BI experts must adapt and learn coding to stay relevant, while addressing concerns about automation anxiety. He also highlights the significance of embedded analytics and capturing user intent through chat interfaces.

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ANECDOTE

From Playwriting To BI

Ryan Dolley moved from playwriting to BI after night school and a data entry job pushed him to gain technical skills.
He chose BI because it felt closest to storytelling and communicating data-driven messages to influence business actions.

ANECDOTE

Early BI Focused On PDFs

In 2010 Ryan worked on a multi-year enterprise data warehouse where BI output was mainly PDFs and tables.
Dashboards were rare and centralized teams produced all reports, not individual department users.

ANECDOTE

Blog Led To Consulting And Product Roles

Ryan left a utility company after seeing slow upgrade schedules and started a blog that led to consulting work.
That consulting path eventually moved him into startups and vendor product roles like GoodData.

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This episode is a re-air of one of our most popular conversations from this year, featuring insights worth revisiting. Thank you for being part of the Data Stack community. Stay up to date with the latest episodes at datastackshow.com. This week on The Data Stack Show, Ryan Dolley joins Eric and John to discuss his unique journey from playwriting to leading product strategy in the data industry. The conversation explores the evolution of business intelligence (BI), the growing influence of AI on analytics, and the shifting skill sets required for data professionals. Key topics include the challenges of adapting to rapid technological change, the importance of embracing engineering practices in BI, and the need for continuous learning. Listeners will gain insights into how AI is transforming data roles, why storytelling remains central to analytics, practical advice for thriving in a fast-changing industry, and so much more.

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

Ryan’s Journey: From Playwriting to Data (1:05)
Making a Living as a Playwright (3:02)
Transitioning to BI: Night School and First Data Jobs (4:12)
Storytelling and Data: The Art of BI (6:22)
Early BI Work: Data Warehouses and PDF Reports (8:33)
Moving from Utilities to Consulting (13:03)
Building vs. Implementing: Product Strategy Lessons (16:37)
The AI Shift in BI and Analytics (18:41)
Automation Anxiety: The Human Side of Data Change (22:16)
The Evolving Role of BI Experts (25:18)
Adapting to Change: Learning Code and Experimentation (29:34)
AI and the Future of Embedded Analytics (33:38)
Capturing Intent: The Value of Modern BI Interfaces (37:03)
Bridging the Data and Software Engineering Gap (39:13)
The Historical Divide: Data vs. Software Engineering (43:06)
Organizational Challenges: Where Does BI Belong? (46:05)
Reflections on Self-Service BI and Value (48:46)
If Not Data: Ryan’s Alternate Career Paths (49:04)
Final Thoughts and Takeaways (50:17)

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