Why Can’t the Business Get Behind Streaming?! With Becky Gandillon | Current 2022 Technologists understand that Kafka is reliable and durable; fast and fault-tolerant. It handles use cases both large and small. So why isn't it being used everywhere by everyone? Because the technology itself isn't the answer. As an engineer-turned-data-guru, it took me way too long to figure that out. No technology will make a difference in any business without the proper buy-in from stakeholders (including non-technical stakeholders), enablement support, and carefully crafted adoption frameworks. During this session, you'll learn about how to communicate the value of technology decisions to non-technical co-workers or stakeholders. And we'll talk about some very specific buy-in, enablement, and adoption activities and suggestions for supporting streaming implementations.

1. Why Can’t the Business
Get Behind Streaming?
Bridging the gap between technology and business

2. Mom of two young kids
Crazy blogger type
(Over 100 posts in a year!)
Explainer of Disney things on YouTube
(20+-video series* with over 150k views)
Specialize in communicating technical topics to
non-technical audiences
Who I Am Who I Am
Practice Lead, Data & Analytics, Centric
Consulting – Saint Louis
Background and Education in Biomedical
Engineering
Almost a decade of working at the
Department of Veterans Affairs
Specialize in Data Strategy + Roadmapping
01
02
03
04

3. How Can Streaming Help?
IoT Data Integration
Microservices Communication
Message Brokering
Data Pipelines
Event Streaming
Decouple Systems
Reuse Data

4. So, What’s the Problem?
BORED
“We can decouple our architecture!”

5. So, What’s the Problem?
BORED
“All of the data reuse!”

6. So, What’s the Solution?
Oh yes!
“Data streaming when events happen!”

7. So, What’s the Solution?
Oh yes!
“Everyone wants to use data!”

8. d o e s n ’ t s o l v e

9. u s e
t o s o l v e

10. It doesn’t matter …
How many millions of messages your cluster can process
How well your cluster is secured
How much you initially invested in implementation
How easy it is to write Kafka applications

11. It does matter …
That people understand why streaming is important to them

12. “Having the right answer is never
as important as making sure it is
the right answer for your audience.”
- Marty Sklar

13. Math Club President
See this kid? She was all about the right answers
Quiz Bowl Captain
15 AP Classes 4.63 GPA
Took SAT IIs ... for fun
Perfect ACT Score

14. Radiologist
Oncologist
Director Accountant
Technician
Facilities
Engineer

15. An Imagineering Example

16. An Imagineering Example

17. Who Are These Audiences?
Adoption Chasm!

18. You Are Here
Chances are, you are part of the early 16%
You love new technology!
You even attend conferences to learn about it!
You think about new technology
You consider how it can change things for the better

19. You Are Here

20. You Are Here
What matters to them?
What will provide value to them?
What story can we tell?

21. Introspection and Empathy
1. Understand your own ideas about streaming
2. Understand what other people currently think about streaming
3. Put yourself in their shoes and relate to what they’re thinking
4. Tailor your communication to relate your ideas to their
understanding and needs

22. Early Adopters Early Majority
Wow! Cool Technology!
All of the things!!
BORED

23. Early Adopters Early Majority
Wow! Cool Technology!
All of the things!!
A data subscription service!
Like Twitter for data!!

24. Share Success Stories
1. Take advantage of existing forums
2. Communicate consistently
3. Avoiding overwhelming with technical complexity
4. Blend in stories from your industry

25. Network and Nudge
1. Identify influencers (for and against)
2. Guide along those you appreciate new technology
3. Use the anti-change influencers to test arguments
4. Work up the hierarchy ladder

26. Show It Off
1. Find a way to visualize the value that streaming provides
2. Start by showing streams – not topics or partitions
3. Get creative internally, or find a tool that does it for you

27. Hatch a Chicken or Lay an Egg
1. Decrease barrier to entry – streaming should be easier than
AWS or Twitter
2. Simplify data consumption and production to increase the
number of data streams offered
3. Convince data producers to publish data as real-time events

28. Prepare for Uptake
1. Determine things like naming conventions early
2. Plan ahead for stream dependency solutions (topologies)
3. Prepare for schema stability challenges (owners)

29. BEA
Cultural
Context
Vision
& Strategy
Engagement
& Alignment
Data
Technology Process
People
Transparency
& Trust
• The true value of a solution can only be realized if the
people are enabled and empowered to embrace it.
• Apply a framework that guides the changes but
remains flexible to the unique culture of the
organization
• Highlight the Possibilities (free yourself of the traps
in your current norms) BUT balance them with the
Probabilities (what can realistically be achieved).
• Focus on the intersection of the key enablement
factors that are necessary to ensure holistic
adoption and value realization.
• Break down the barriers in your current ways of
working.
Buy-In, Enablement and
Adoption (BEA) Approach

30. Thank You!
IG: @raisingminniemes
Blog: blog.touringplans.com/author/bgandillon
LinkedIn: Becky Gandillon