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🔍 Analysts want control. Business teams want freedom. So how do you build a data culture where both sides win? In this episode, Vadym and Ruslan dive into the core tension between governance and self-service, revealing practical ways to move beyond chaos and towards clarity.
What you’ll learn:
🧠 Why the “control vs. collaboration” conflict is so common in analytics
📊 How semantic layers and data marts help scale decision-making
📉 What to do when ad hoc requests overwhelm your data team
🔧 Tools and workflows to build trust across technical and business users
📢 The 5 must-follow habits for aligned, accountable analytics teams
➡️ Bring clarity and collaboration to your analytics with OWOX BI
Vadym:
Hey everyone, welcome back to The Data Crunch Podcast! I’m your host, Vadym, and today we’re tackling a problem that haunts modern analytics teams:
How do you stay in control of data quality, definitions, and trust, while also empowering business teams to get the insights they need, when they need them?
It’s the classic data dilemma: control vs. collaboration.
Joining me today is the one and only Ruslan, Head of Product here at OWOX. Ruslan, glad to have you back!
Ruslan:
Thanks, Vadym! Always excited to be back – and wow, what a relatable problem. This balancing act causes more tension than people admit. Everyone wants access, but no one wants a mess.
Vadym:
Haha exactly. I appreciate you joining to help unpack this one.
And hey, if you're listening and want more stories and strategies like these, hit that subscribe button. We drop fresh episodes every week.
Alright, let’s start with why this matters. Why is this tension between control and collaboration such a big deal in analytics?
Ruslan:
Because it hits at the core of how companies operate. Analysts are the guardians of quality, but if you guard too tightly, you slow things down. If you open everything up, chaos creeps in.
Vadym:
It’s like trying to run a restaurant where everyone wants to cook their own meal. You get speed, but also burned pans and undercooked chicken.
Ruslan:
Haha, exactly. And there’s a quote I always come back to: “Give people freedom, but build guardrails.” That’s what we’re really talking about.
Vadym:
Let’s talk pain points. What’s happening in teams that haven’t figured this out?
Ruslan:
Oh, constant Slack pings. “Can you make me a dashboard?” “Can you tweak this metric?” Analysts become dashboard monkeys.
Vadym:
And then business teams clone dashboards, tweak filters, and suddenly no one trusts the numbers anymore.
Ruslan:
Yep – and the worst part? Everyone’s frustrated. Analysts feel like gatekeepers, and business teams feel blocked. It’s lose-lose.
Vadym:
Yeah, it also creates emotional tension, right? Analysts feel like babysitters, and stakeholders feel like they’re being treated like kids.
Ruslan:
Exactly. There’s a lot of unspoken resentment on both sides.
Vadym:
Let’s touch on some misconceptions here – because I think people often confuse control with restriction and collaboration with anarchy.
Ruslan:
Totally. Some people think giving business users access means giving them raw SQL and hoping for the best. That’s not collaboration – that’s abdication. Real collaboration means defining the rules of the game and letting people play within them.
And on the flip side, control doesn’t mean locking everything down. It means enabling reuse, clarity, and trust. Remember – structure doesn’t kill creativity. It supports it.
Vadym:
Totally agree. So, let’s talk about how to actually do this well. How can teams maintain control without slowing everyone down?
Ruslan:
Start with a semantic layer or data mart. Pre-define trusted logic, centralize your KPIs. That way, business users aren’t poking raw tables – they’re exploring curated views.
Vadym:
Yeah, It’s like giving people a smoothie bar instead of handing them a basket of raw fruit.
Ruslan:
Haha – perfect analogy. You get speed, consistency, and no banana peels on the floor.
Vadym:
Let’s take this further – how do we shift from being execution machines to data product owners?
Ruslan:
You redefine the role. Analysts aren’t there to build every chart. They’re there to build the system. The interface. The rules. That’s where the real impact is.
Vadym:
And when you get that right, the results speak for themselves. I’ve head about use cases when the company saw a 40% drop in ad hoc requests after introducing this systemized collaboration model.
Ruslan:
Exactly. Give people guardrails, and they stop crashing into walls.
Vadym:
Alright – let’s talk tools for people ready to try this.
Ruslan:
Sure. Here’s a few we’ve seen work:
Vadym:
Love it. And now, to bring it home – Ruslan, can you share some pro-level collaboration tips for analytics teams?
Ruslan:
Let’s do it:
✅ Define your KPIs centrally. No more “marketing’s ROAS” vs “finance’s ROAS.”
✅ Educate your users. A 10-min Loom video can save hours of rework.
✅ Set up permissions smartly. Not everyone needs edit access.
✅ Use consistent naming conventions. This one is so underrated.
✅ Encourage documentation. Even one-liners help a ton.
Vadym:
So, what’s the big takeaway here?
Ruslan:
You don’t have to pick between control and collaboration. With the right structure, you can have both trust and agility. Start small, focus on what matters, and build from there.
Vadym:
If you want to bring this balance to your team, check out OWOX BI. We make it simple to control access, scale collaboration, and build analytics workflows that people actually trust. 👉 Head to owox.com and start your journey toward better data teamwork today.
Ruslan:
Thanks for listening, guys. Remember – collaboration without structure is chaos. Structure without collaboration is a graveyard. Clarity is what creates confidence. Find your balance and build your analytics with both.
Vadym:
Once again, thanks Ruslan for today’s episode. Subscribe, leave us a comment, and share this episode with someone who's tired of being the data gatekeeper. We’ll see you next week on The Data Crunch Podcast. Bye for now!
