How Do You Know When You've Created Value?

One of my favorite projects was my time with AutoZone.

I jumped into work the data team was already doing to support loss prevention. The raw data was all there, but it needed to be modeled and transformed in a genuinely complex way. A few attempts had been made before I arrived. They didn't quite hit all the requirements, but they weren't wasted either: most of a foundation had been built. I just had to finish it.

The approach was boring on purpose

My assessment was simple. I didn't need a grand redesign. I needed to identify each issue, solve them one at a time, and loop back to the team to make sure I'd actually done the right thing. That's it; no heroics.

And it worked. Sometimes it took many iterations to get a single requirement right. But slowly, together, we dialed each one in until the pieces stopped being a pile of half-solutions and became a cohesive data product.

Here's the part that mattered most: I knew I'd added value because I gained the team's trust. They needed a solution. I jumped in. I helped them. That's the whole story.

A side benefit showed up along the way - I picked up real institutional knowledge. The kind you can't get from documentation. And because of that, the team kept coming back to me afterward. The stress that used to surround the project was just... gone. What replaced it was friendliness and trust.

I've seen the same thing outside of data

This reminds me of a manufacturing executive I know. He'd just taken a new role as manufacturing COO. The shop floor had problems that needed solving, and he was the new guy with no built-in credibility.

So what did he do? He went straight to the people doing the work and started writing the problems down. One by one. Then he prioritized them and started solving them.

That's it. Same playbook. He gained industry knowledge and his coworkers' trust at the same time, because the two come from the same act: showing up, listening, and fixing real things.

So how do you know when you've created value?

When you've built a product that earns people's trust.

That's the answer. Not when the pipeline runs, not when the requirement is technically checked off - but when you help people solve their problems, and they know they can count on you to do it again.

And the way you get there is rarely glamorous. You earn that trust by delivering a solution or product through the ability to break it into smaller pieces - identifying each issue, solving them one at a time, and looping back to make sure you got it right. That's what turns a half-built foundation into something a team relies on. That's what turns the new COO into someone the shop floor goes to.

You don't get there by being the smartest person in the room. You get there by writing the problems down, solving them one at a time, and earning trust along the way. It's not glamorous advice. But trust is the only real proof that you added value.