

The Effective Statistician - in association with PSI
Alexander Schacht and Benjamin Piske, biometricians, statisticians and leaders in the pharma industry
The podcast from statisticians for statisticians to have a bigger impact at work. This podcast is set up in association with PSI - Promoting Statistical Insight. This podcast helps you to grow your leadership skills, learn about ongoing discussions in the scientific community, build you knowledge about the health sector and be more efficient at work. This podcast helps statisticians at all levels with and without management experience. It is targeted towards the health, but lots of topics will be important for the wider data scientists community.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 12, 2018 • 54min
Getting access for patients to new medications in Germany
The biggest challenges in the HTA process and how to address them: Interview with Carsten Schwenke
Click here to visit the homepage of the episode!
Today, regulatory approval doesn't ensure anymore, that patients benefit from new therapies. As statisticians, we also need to ensure access and reimbursement for new treatments in the different markets around the world.
The process to gain this access and reimbursement in Germany comes with very specific challenges. Yet, due to the large impact of Germany on other countries via the complex reference pricing system and the size of the population of Germany, we must understand these topics.
Andreas Schwenke gathered experiences across therapeutic areas with many companies since the start of the new process in Germany. This makes him the most experienced and best connected statistician in the world for this topic.
By listening to this interview, you will
get an understanding of the importance of the HTA process in Germany,
learn about key processes and stakeholders to reach successful reimbursement,
get an overview about common challenges, and
learn when and how to address these issues.

Nov 5, 2018 • 35min
How to make the right portfolio decisions
Interview with Andreas Sashegyi
Click here to get to the homepage of the episode.
We're all making decisions to optimize our studies. Optimizing project plans across different studies presents further challenges. But how to increase the overall portfolio of a company given its limitations leads yet another set of challenges. Knowing how decisions are taken at this top level helps to understand the bigger picture and why this sometimes implies sub-optimal decisions on a study or compound level.
Another big learning from these complex interactions are the influencing skills needed to work with senior and diverse teams.
Only a few statisticians in the industry work in these areas and Andreas Sashegyi is of these.

Oct 29, 2018 • 23min
British Airways, CROs, Programmers – why you should start with Why
How Simon Sinek can help statisticians
Click here to get to the homepage of the episode!
You have probably heard about Simon Sinek and his golden circle. If not, have a look at his great TED talk.
In this episode we explain via a nice story with BA, what the impact of starting with why can be. We also cover how you can more effectively work together with CROs and Programmers as well as new team members.

Oct 22, 2018 • 50min
Being a supervisor – things you would love to have known before you became one … or that you should know if you want to
Interview with Simon Cleall
Click here to get to the homepage of this episode!
Becoming a supervisor changes things dramatically at work for you. It did for me and Simon helped me by openly providing deep insights into his years of a supervisor - especially his failures and dramtic moments.
In this episode, Simon shares his ups and downs for you to learn from. Leading statisticians of course have many commonalties with any other administrative leadership position. However, it also includes some specific problems.

Oct 15, 2018 • 45min
Getting things done, when timelines are tight
learnings from a self-experiment in deep work
Find the episode homepage here!
Everybody knows such situations: tight timelines, high expectations and many things to do!
But how can we work effectively in such situations. Many different productivity experts have written about this topic.
In this episode, I’m speaking about how to implement these approaches and also my personal learnings and challenges during a time, where I needed them.
I’m applying and discussing the following topics:
PrioritizationDelegationManaging expectations and communication channelsMusic as a productivity boosterMake productive breaksSetting up a effective systemsMethods against procrastinateManaging disturbancesSetting up your body for productivityMulti-taskingThe pomodoro methodMorning routineSilenceAffirmationVisualizationExercise“Reading”“Scribing”Habits to get into the deep work modeDeep Work by Cal NewportWorking from home
Some resources for productivity:
Beyond the to-do list podcastThis is your life podcast by Michael Hyatt In German: Einfach produktiv podcast with Ivan Blatter

Oct 8, 2018 • 44min
Why and how to invest in your leadership skills
Interview with of Gemma Hodgson and Margaret Jones
Find the episode homepage here!
Leadership skills for statisticians represents a common theme across many episodes of this podcast. As leadership consists of many different aspects, it is important to learn from other statisticians, that exhibit these skills.
In this episode, we talk with Gemma and Margaret, who have run successful leadership courses within PSI. We cover the following topics:
What are the core leadership skills that statistician need to be fluent in?
What are common mindset issues, that block statisticians from being more influential?
How can statisticians overcome these blocks?
Why it’s beneficial for statisticians to have a tailored course for them?
What courses are available from PSI?

Oct 1, 2018 • 31min
Tables are not the key deliverables!
Find the episode homepage here!
Are you still counting tables? Do you worry about having to many of them? Do you wonder how to get an overview across all the results?
In this episode, we will talk about this thoughts and we will explore, how tables fit into the bigger picture.
We will also discuss alternative ways to deal with results, which will:
save you time
decrease the costs
speed up the process
and increase the quality.
If you think, this sounds like magic, listen to this podcast episode.

Sep 24, 2018 • 52min
Why and how to present at the next PSI conference
Interview with Paul Terrill
Click here to find the homepage of the episode!
Do you think, you have nothing to add to a statistical conference? Are you afraid of sharing your achievements? Do you wonder, why you should put in the effort on top of your day-to-day job?
All these thoughts and questions will be addressed in this episode with Paul Terrill, the chair of the scientific committee of PSI.
Beyond the questions above, we will also talk about the logistics and practical tips on how to submit your abstract and to become a speaker at next years conference.

Sep 22, 2018 • 40min
How to sell your achievements
actionable advise
Find the homepage of the episode here!
Have you ever felt bad about talking about your achievements? Did you ever thought, that you're just doing your job, when you accomplished something? Did you ever feel, that others didn't understand, how significant your contribution was?
If your answer to any of these questions is yes, this episode is for you!

Sep 10, 2018 • 47min
Multiplicity - practical tips with Alex Dmitrienko
Understand multiplicity challenges in everyday situations
Find the homepage for the episode here!
Understand and master multiplicity in practical situations - Interview with Alex Dmitrienko
Alex Dmitrienko has researched and published so much, that without a doubt, he can be called one of the world class experts in the field of multiplicity. E.g. his book Multiple Testing Problems in Pharmaceutical Statistics contains a wealth of practical information on this topic.
His career has brought him from pharma over CROs to his own company Mediana. Via his company, he provides also online courses on his favourite topic.
As a listener, you will get the following benefits from this episode:
Understand multiplicity challenges in practical situations
Learn how to actually implement it
Learn where to get further information
We cover the following topics during the interview:
What is multiplicity and why does it matter?
Should we always test as many objectives as possible or is it better to restrict the list of objectives?
How do we communicate best those objectives, that are non-significant on the multiple testing adjusted case but are significant on the local level?
Non-regulatory stakeholders like payers and physicians may have completely different views on the priority or importance of variables. How should we manage this?
There are many different ways how setting up systems for multiplicity adjustments. What are the best steps to come to an agreement with a cross-functional team on this?
How do we deal with multiplicity, if the study has different components?
How do we deal with multiplicity, if we have 2 or more studies and analyse them combined as well as individually?
What are good resources to learn about multiplicity for beginners?