In just 4 weeks, learn to increase the user adoption and business value of your ML and analytics applications via data product management and UX design. Plus, free lifetime access to the forthcoming DPLC community.

Next Session Starts October 16, 2023
Public registration begins October 5, 2023.
Want to register before everyone else and be entitled to special subscriber-only discounts?
Are you tired of building data solutions that don't get used or are undervalued?
Is low user engagement preventing your data initiatives from generating their full potential business value?
~85% of AI, data, and analytics projects fail to deliver value or make it into production. Your company or team can contribute to that, or you can join the 15% who are creating useful, usable solutions that customers need.
Are you sick of hearing customers say, “So what? What do I do with this data?” when they see your solutions?
Are you afraid your budget or team might be facing cuts because your solutions are having little impact?
Is it frustrating when all of your technical work ends up never getting into production, perhaps due to model trust?
Do you frequently get inflated requests to "use AI" or "ML" because the project sponsor doesn't understand what's possible with data?
Wouldn't it be amazing if users felt your data products were “game changers?”
Imagine knowing what is going to get adopted by users before you start building the solution
Imagine hearing, “This is amazing! Can we start using it now?” when users see your data product
Imagine management doubling your budget because your solutions are delivering enormous value.
Imagine having lifetime access to a community of like-minded data product leaders. (New in Feb 2023)
"Technically right, effectively wrong" data products aren't good for you, your users, or your stakeholders. My seminar will give you the non-technical skills to make your solutions indispensable.
Whether you're leading a commercial software data product (i.e. SAAS/cloud decision support, market intelligence, IOT analytics) or you oversee an internal BI team or AI/ML initiative where simplicity, user engagement, and successful operationalization are critical to value creation, you're in the right place.
If your data product relies on humans to engage with it, then success boils down to the UX you deliver in the last mile. Doing this requires more than technical or business skills. Design is the glue that connects the stats, analytics, AI, ML, and engineering work with the value and outcomes the business and customers seek. In short, users don't want data; they want clear answers and actionable decision support.
My training seminar will teach you or your team to:
- Uncover what users actually want and need using empathy
- Avoid building the wrong solutions that incur technical debt and cost
- Ensure stakeholders understand the value your data product will bring
- Identify the unspoken needs, desires, and whys in your customers' minds
- Turn vague “AI” requests into clear problems you can address
- Get everyone to agree on what to build before you build it
- Develop a "product" mindset to delivering decision support solutions
- Find out if customers will use your solution before you invest too much in it
- Navigate the organizational obstacles that might keep your solution from getting incorporated into production
- Lead a cross-department design jams (ideation sessions) to generate solution ideas
- Learn to rapidly sketch evaluate, and revise a prototype/design/idea
- Create better designs, not just how to do “design thinking”
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Before the seminar ended, I had already seen direct results. It's totally worth the price.
“I remember the moment stopping dead in my tracks while on a run. I was listening to episode 49 of Brian’s podcast, Experiencing Data, and it suddenly clicked: THIS is what my data team had been missing. I knew data science and design needed to be integrated in order for us to build better data products for our customers, and this seminar helps you do just that. Before the seminar ended, I had already seen direct results: several of our clients commented on how they’d noticed a change in how our team engages them and that they really felt heard. Having your data teams incorporate a design mindset, and a general embrace of UX, is totally worth the price of Brian’s seminar. In fact, I’ve already set aside budget to enroll another person on my data team to a future cohort”
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Switching my mindset from outputs to outcomes was a total game changer for me.
“Brian's more practical, targeted approach in this seminar has been very beneficial as it was focused specifically on designing data products with UX in mind. It’s not every time you can meet someone, ask questions and get useful responses, and I was able to do that in Brian’s seminar. In addition to realizing some of the common mistakes I had been making, I also had a big aha moment: understanding outcomes versus outputs. This is more valuable than some of the tactical things because you shift your frame of mind and it’s a total game changer. The way you interact with your users and develop and deliver a solution completely changes. That’s the power of that wisdom. I’ll be referring back to the content and videos from the seminar now and again, and I’d definitely recommend this seminar to other technical product managers.”
Who is this seminar for?
It's for current and aspiring data product leaders and data product managers.
It's for people who know that it takes more than technology, engineering, modeling and data to produce value when humans are in the loop...but they don't have a set of recipes and the support to begin making the change.
If you're leading the creation of a data product—commercial or otherwise—and you have responsibility to ensure the solution is useful, usable, and valuable to your customers, this seminar can help.
Past participants have included BI/AI teams at pharma companies, AI/ML product managers at tech companies, managing directors and principals at AI/ML/analytics consulting firms, and VP/directors of applied data science teams. Private team cohorts can vary in their mix from ICs to upper management, but I recommend the key stakeholders and management participate in the first cohort to help understand if their ICs and leads are a good fit for future training.
You may be a:
- VP/Director/Manager of a BI, analytics, data science, or engineering team looking to understand "what skills are my team missing to get people to use our solutions?" Managers sometimes take the Seminar so they are up to date with the changes that may be required in their organization to enable their team to be successful with the curriculum.
- Lead data scientists, analytics/BI consultants, translators, and informatics leaders
- Data product managers (AI/ML, IOT, SAAS intelligence services, decision support solutions, or technical tools)
- Consultant/service firm leader providing data science, analytics, or digital services
- Data/AI/ML startup founders
- UX designers/researchers focused on data products
If you're good at the technical parts—data science, analytics, or engineering—but find it hard to turn your outputs into indispensable outcomes, you probably are a good fit.
Who is this seminar NOT for?
You likely will not find this training useful if:
- You're primarily doing execution oriented work or want to focus mostly on heads-down technical implementation
- You're more interested in getting a grade or certificate than applying the training to your work
- You're not ready to make changes to how you currently design or build data products
- You plan to just "observe" silently
- You were assigned to take the training as part of a private cohort, but don't have more than a passing curiosity about it
- You're not ready or interested in being a leader, or evangelizing the ideas in the seminar so they can begin to spread (hint: design is a team sport that begins with individuals)
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I would recommend this seminar. Brian gives really clear feedback and understands what we [as data scientists] deal with when trying to design effective data products.
“I would recommend this seminar. You clearly pinpointed us to specific things around keeping the actual needs of a specific user in mind. We also very much appreciated your input, which was really clear and would make us ask, ‘does this bring value to the user? What is the actual value?’ It's also good to have more than one person [in the seminar] if you're working as a team as it helps to do some sparring and to collect questions to bring back into the Seminar. Finally, I just really liked how you led through it and were able to jump between topics or send us some links afterwards for further study. I think you're pretty capable of putting yourself into the positions of others and have an understanding of what we are dealing with.”

Curriculum: (8) Core Modules
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A very solid framework to get started on design for data solutions
It's a quick and accessible snapshot of how to think about user design for data solutions products. You can go deep in UX design, you can talk about data solutions, but how do you combine the two in a very digestible way? I think it’s a very solid framework to get started. I would definitely recommend the seminar.
My curriculum is a mix of UX design, product management, consulting and other applicable skills from domains as far away as FBI hostage negotiation—but always focused on skills you can put into practice immediately. There are no grades or certificates. Most modules also include a section on "Key Considerations for AI," which explain the special design considerations for machine-learning applications that may differ from traditional (descriptive) analytics applications.
The modules are:
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Brian's process was holistic and internally consistent
"I never had fully appreciated the level of integration and the number of different disciplines required to arrive at a thoughtful piece of analysis that properly communicates the evidentiary support for my argument…What I like about Brian's seven step process is that it is holistic and internally consistent. Each piece builds off of the previous pieces…and Brian presents it as a repeatable process…There are a lot of things about designing UI things I just never would have thought of. I think the people who will probably get the most benefit out of Brian's seminar will be people who are more senior level people. Junior people are just not being asked to deal with the entire lifecycle, which is what the seminar is about."
Ready to join us?
Next Public Session Starts October 16, 2023
Join the Early-Access List
Registration begins in September, however people who join my early-access list will be entitled to special discounts and registration before everyone else.
Private Training for Teams
If you don't want your team to take the seminar with people outside your organization, we can run the seminar privately with your team.
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Totally worth the investment. I would recommend Brian’s seminar if your team is looking for a solid structure to design better data products.
"Before Brian’s seminar, we had a very unstructured way of designing analytics tools for our internal stakeholders. We were just fulfilling as fast as possible, but weren’t developing the relationships with our stakeholders that we wanted. We needed a structure and playbook to design better user experiences for our analytics tools, and that’s what we got out of this. It forced me to think about the design of the deliverables instead of just delivering. I liked how our team got to discuss actual projects and got Brian’s outside, cross-industry perspective. I thought we had a lot of really great conversations. I would recommend Brian’s seminar if you’re looking for a solid structure for designing better data products."
100% Money-Back Guarantee
For individuals in public sessions: If you have read and watched all of the first 2 modules of curriculum, attended the first week of calls, and actively contributed on these calls, and you are still not happy for any reason after that, I'll refund your money in full, no questions asked.
Format, Group Size, and Community Access (New in 2023)
- 100% online format via Slack, Google Docs, Vimeo, and Zoom featuring weekly lesson videos, practice activities, design reviews, and group Q/A discussion with the instructor. We use Slack for chat (no email!), Vimeo for module videos, and Zoom for live video calls. The text supplements that go with the videos are in a 74-pg. PDF e-book. Any practice exercises will be explained in shared Google Docs / Sheets.
- No boring lectures: there are (8) modules in the curriculum, plus special templates and cheat-sheets you can use on your real projects. Each module has a video and some reading, which you can consume at your own pace outside of our live calls. I will drop (2) modules of curriculum each week inside our private Slack channel, but you'll have access to all (8) modules immediately if you want to move faster.
- 5–8 Live, Interactive Zoom Calls: Get your questions answered, share wins, collaborate on challenges, and to do practice exercises (as time permits). Priority is given to answering the group's questions and learning from other's experiences. There will be at least 5 calls, and as many as 8 calls in a single cohort; see the Dates & Schedule section. You can request a call be recorded, but they will only be available for download for 24 hours.
- Maximum of (25) participants in public cohorts: you will also have full access to the other people in the seminar within Slack whether signing up as an individual or team. Learning with and from your peers is encouraged.
- (New Bonus in Feb 2023!) Get Lifetime Access to the DPLC Community: after the formal training ends, you'll be granted lifetime access to my upcoming Data Product Leadership Community. Keep in touch with your learning cohort, plus get help from invited past seminar and course participants, as well as future participants in the DPLC (once it launches as a standalone community). Note: the Feb 2023 cohort will be the inaugural "seed" group for this community, along with past seminar and course participants who will be invited in Feb. 2023.
Duration and Time Commitment
- Total Duration: The total duration is spread over 4 calendar weeks. The seminar is intended to be applied to your real work so there is really no "homework." You will get the most out of this seminar by practicing doing design against real projects and data products. There will be some practice exercises during our live calls when time permits. Plan to spend at least ~3-4 hours/week between the following (not including your actual "work" where you're applying what you're learning):
- Video and Reading Time: Each module of the curriculum has a video that is ~5-25 minutes long, and a text supplement that's ~8-10 pages long.
- Live Call Durations: up to 2 hours.
Dates & Schedule for Live Portions
- October 16, 2023 is the start of the next public cohort. (Private team cohorts can start on a mutually-agreeable date.) The October 16, 2023 cohort will run as follows:
Week 1 Weeks 2, 3, and 4 - Monday 12-2pm ET (Kickoff Call)
- Thursday 12-2pm ET (Regular Call)
- Thursdays 12-2pm ET (Regular Calls)*
- *Ran out of time and I didn't get to your question on a given Thursday? You can request we hold an overflow session on the immediately following Monday at 12pm ET (going no later than 2pm). Just let me know by the end of our Thursday call that you need to meet on Monday. You must be present at the Thursday call to request overflow time. Live Zoom Call Schedule:
Can't make it this time? Get on the early-access notification list to get notified about future cohorts.
- Curriculum Videos and Reading: this happens on your own time although I will recommend you go at the pace of 2 modules/week . See Format section above.
- Private Slack Channel 24-7 Access for 4 Weeks: Between our Zoom calls, I will be monitoring the Slack conversations during the week to comment or respond as questions arise, or to give follow up instruction/clarity. Participants are also encouraged to trade ideas and chat with other participants taking the Seminar. After the Seminar, you'll be invited to join the separate DPLC Slack Community. (New for 2023.)
- With regard to Time Zones & Holidays:
- Be aware that the 12pm ET start time for live calls may result in a scheduling "shift" for you if we change to/from daylight savings time during the seminar.
- If a call is scheduled on a US National Holidays (e.g. Thanksgiving), we will not meet, however a rescheduled date will be announced during the seminar.
- Private training comes with scheduling flexibilty; we will find a cadence that works for you.
Payment Options
- Individuals registering for public sessions can register and pay online with a credit card (US/international) or ACH bank transfer (US only).
- For private sessions, teams, and complete payment details, see the last item in the FAQ.
Price for Public and Private Training
For Individuals in Public Cohorts:
Tuition is $2,495/person, paid due up front (online checkout).
Private Training For Teams
Contact me for pricing. See Private Training below.
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The seminar was absolutely worth the price.
“When we were looking for analytics product design training, we saw lot of really good keywords on Brian’s seminar page, and that actually kind of tipped the scales for us, but we were a little worried that maybe it was just going to be a bunch of buzzwords. In the end, I told my boss that I think the seminar was absolutely worth the price. I have worked with a lot of people that just build something and say, 'let's just see if it works.' Hearing that we should talk to users first—and learning how exactly to do that—was really good confirmation of my suspicions about how to do things correctly. This seminar was really helpful for me to get out of the Tableau headspace, and to think much more broadly about good approaches to building tool agnostic, digital products that humans will use.”
Private Team Training
Are you an executive or manager of a team who needs to develop better user-centered design skills in their data products? The format of my private seminars are essentially identical to the public cohorts except that they include additional benefits as follows:
- Flexible scheduling - work with me on your schedule. Study year-round, with your live calls taking place on a schedule that works for everyone.
- Candid, frank advice—proivided in your business context: Expect radical candor from me during our live sessions! I'll challenge your team to lead with empathy, creativity, and to adopt a learning mindset when things don't go right.
- Pre-Seminar Assessments & Keynote Kickoff: Private training usually starts with an inspirational keynote talk to set the stage, followed by a private team discussion and reverse Q/A—so we can begin discussing the blockers to creating useful, usable data products in your org. We then assess your team, their work, and interview your key partners so we have a baseline from which to measure improvement—and I can get into your world.
- Measure Impact: quantifying design, creativity, and innovation can be difficult in the short term, but the Exit Survey allows us to measure the impact of the training on your team. See a sample of this data via the form on this page.
- Skill Retention & Product Audits: if you're concerned about the training sticking for the long term, and you want to see if your staff's data products are actually improving as a result of the training, ask about my Retention Package.
Contact Me About Private Training:
Have questions? Email me or schedule a free 30 minute discovery call:
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I would absolutely highly recommend Brian's seminar. Without a doubt.
“I hadn’t heard of Brian before, but I had been enjoying his podcast and way of thinking, and on a leap of faith, I decided to bring him in to train my data science and analytics managers and leads. And after completing our first training, I can safely say there is no risk associated with this seminar. One of my goals was to change my team’s mindset about putting users at the center of our work, and I am already starting to see a positive change, though a long journey ahead of us. You get some tangible, real-world tools that are practical and applicable, so it’s not just “theoretical.” My head of data science also now sees UX and design as a must-have in his team’s advanced analytics projects, not a nice-to-have. I would absolutely highly recommend the seminar without a doubt, and plan to have more of my team take the seminar in the future”
FAQ
Why Should You Study with Brian?
My name is Brian T. O'Neill, and I help data product leaders increase adoption of ML and analytics solutions using design. I have worked with companies including DellEMC, Tripadvisor, Fidelity, JP Morgan Chase, ETrade and numerous SAAS startups so my perspective working in business, product, and UX design spans multiple industries and everything from tech companies to banks.
In addition to hosting the Experiencing Data podcast and consulting, I also frequently give talks at conferences including O'Reilly Strata, Enterprise Data World, the International Institute for Analytics Symposium, and Predictive Analytics World. After these talks, attendees started asking me if I had a training offering, and I said no. Until now.
Prefer to learn on your own?
My seminar is also offered as a self-directed video course for people who don't need an instructor, live Q/A video calls, or a cohort of other participants to work with.
Questions?
Just email me at brian@designingforanalytics.com.
Note: Pricing and other details in this seminar are subject to change without notice, however my early-access subscribers are first to know about changes, additions, and special offers.