WIT April 2025 Newsletter

Happy April, Women in Tech! Is it just us, or does this year seem to be flying by?

What have we been up to?

We had a great session with Akshata Revankar on April 8th. Akshata showed us how CI/CD and source control worked with PowerBI reports. This was a great presentation, and we loved having questions from attendees. The best question, of course, is where I can rewatch the session or catch what I missed? The answer is on our YouTube channel. Here’s the link to Akshata’s session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2gNevEmS-c.

What’s up next?

We’re excited for our May meetup on Tuesday, the 13th, at noon Eastern US time. Adedamola Onabanjo will present “Empowering Financial Inclusion with BI: Kuda’s Data-Driven Strategies for Growth.” We’re really looking forward to this topic, and we hope you are too. Please be sure to sign up for this meeting here.

What have we been thinking about?

Earlier this month, I was able to attend the WIT Luncheon at FabCon, and a question came from the audience about “how do you create boundaries to prevent burnout in a fast-paced work environment?” This question tugs at my heart as a problem women face in everything they do, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out that the ability to create boundaries is a thing of privilege (a story for another day). Priya Sathy, a Partner Director at Microsoft, was given the question, and her answer really made me think.

First, she listed the things, in priority order, that are important to her: health, family, and work. The list and priority order are non-negotiable; your list may be different, but the point was that communication of hard boundaries is key. If your babysitter leaves at 5:30 PM, then communicate to your team that you are unavailable at that time. I’m neurospicy, so I have to block off time for specific things on my calendar or I will forget to do them. Occasionally, I’m asked for that time slot, and I simply reply with “I’m not available at that time”. If someone pushes, then I say, “I have an unmovable appointment.”

Communication is important when it can affect others (i.e., your availability), but remember you only have to communicate as much as you feel comfortable. People often feel the need to explain, and that can put you in a negotiation position on things you feel are non-negotiable. (Surprisingly, your male manager may not WANT to know that your appointment is a mammogram.) If you are worried that it may hurt you at work, then you can always offer other open spots on your calendar, or even open up some “outside of normal hours’ time” as an exception (but I’d make sure to point out that this is an exception).

The second follow-up to Priya’s formula was that every day, she creates a list of the three most important things that HAVE to be worked on. Those three things may change throughout the day (as any woman knows) or may continue for many days/weeks/months, but to communicate those priorities to others (to your team, managers, etc) and have your first focus on those three things. Now, what you do with the invariable other things that pop up is up to you. Can you delegate (I know – this one is painful for some of us)? Can you pick 30-60 minutes a day specifically for quick tasks that need to be done? Can you just say “no”? The reality is that some days you will just have extra things, but the key takeaway is to communicate the priorities to others. I often find that when I do this and something pops up, “can you do this other thing really quick”, I can go back and say, “if I do, then that puts this other thing at risk.” More often than not, the new ask will find another home, be put on a backlog, or be determined that the importance was not that great after all.

What are your burnout prevention and productivity tips? Add them to your favorite social media account and tag it with #DATAWIT to share with others.

– Kristy

To Wrap Up:

Last month, we asked that you let us know what we can do to make sure that we support this community. That offer is open-ended, and we want to make sure you know that you can reach out to us at any time. We believe in this community and to us, that includes ensuring you feel a part of it. Reach out if there’s something we can do.

We’ll see you at the May meetup!