Thought 006 · Comic · 2 min · July 26, 2026

Taught to fish.

The point is not fewer questions. It’s better ones.

A field note from a program that trained departmental experts to do their own analytics.

Many companies try to solve self-service by bringing in a tool, or by modeling their data, or both.

We went a different way. We built foundational analytical skills in the departmental experts themselves — training them to write Python and SQL so they could work in Hex and deliver in-depth analytics for their own areas.

The goals were simple. Increase self-service. And, even when they still needed our help, greater analytical literacy would lead to better questions and push us toward more impactful solutions.

The second one is the one that gets underrated. It means the program pays out even when it doesn’t fully land — because the request that comes back is better than the one that would have come otherwise.

Two panels. In the first, four people queue at an analytics counter; the one at the front asks ‘can you pull me a report?’ In the second, one person stands at the counter saying ‘I found duplicate invoices. Rebills, or are we paying twice?’ and the analyst leans in over the desk. Captions read: a question / a better question, with an answer.
A question, and a better question.

When we first advertised this a few years back, here’s what I said made a great candidate.

First, they need to know their area. We can’t train an auditor to audit. Domain expertise takes time and attention, while our focus tends to be breadth, because we serve a variety of areas.

We knew we could train the right people on the technical skills. Success depended on finding candidates who already had the harder-to-teach qualities. These are the soft skills to look for, ideally a match on all:

  • Great listener and thoughtful question asker; extremely curious
  • Open-minded, with a real interest in learning SQL, Python, or other languages
  • Finds problems — and is even better at envisioning and articulating solutions
  • Communicates complex topics across roles: part technology, part business, with a slightly different message for each
  • Likes puzzles and keeps going when they hit a wall
  • Has an urge to use data and automation for good
  • Entrepreneurial mindset — they see an opportunity and start building
  • Able to balance multiple projects and competing priorities

What you get is bigger than self-service. You get a champion for their area — curating, translating, and building. You get a partner, and both teams are better for it.

What would you add to the list, or take off?

How this was made

Written from the notes I used when the role was first posted, a few years back. The two-panel comic is drawn as SVG — no photography or image generation — and set in the site’s palette and type. Assembled and built into the site with Claude Cowork (Claude Opus 5), July 2026. The list, the framing, and the judgment are mine.

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