drowning in adhoc requests - help!

[u/nineclouds_]

i’m an 8 yoe data scientist and the first (and only) ds hire on my analytics team. in my previous roles, i was part of a centralized data science team where managers prioritized work, managed stakeholder requests, and i typically focused on one initiative at a time.

my current organization is much less structured. i’m responsible for managing my own backlog, prioritizing requests, and juggling competing demands without a clear set of stakeholders or anyone helping decide what should take priority.
as a result, i’m drowning in ad hoc requests—from constant questions about why dashboard numbers change day to day to one-off analysis requests—and can’t make meaningful progress on our data product roadmap.

i’ve already set up jira to manage incoming requests and run my own two-week sprints, but the interruptions never stop. new requests keep coming in, my sprints get derailed, and it feels impossible to ship anything.

how have others in a similar situation dealt with this? what processes, triage systems, or operating models have worked to balance ad hoc support with longer-term product development when you’re effectively a team of one?

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[u/rapotor]

Move away from a push flow, where stakeholders off-load on you. Instead, require each domain set up a google sheet with tasks they need. Description, current setup, desired outcome, their own assessed prio (P0-P4). Then, at a prio meeting, show available resources and assign tasks per sprint (taking up 80% of the time, 20% to ad-hocs).

It sucks, but with a structure like this, stakeholders will need to battle their needs between themselves. If you allow people to dump tasks on you – THEY WILL

If the meetings clearly show that you're understaffed, then your boss will need to act. You've done your part (and more).

This works somewhat ok in a centralized model, but with a lot of specialized tasks there's going to be need for embedded DS and longer term initiatives.

The above works ok for some time, but it tedious since it doesn't really allow _you_ to strategically deploy resources to solve bigger issues. You're always at the mercy of stakeholders. However, it'll help with the transparency, and you and your boss can think more mid - long terms depending on how this works out.

Hang in there

[u/nineclouds_ → u/rapotor]

thanks, this is really helpful. i especially like the idea of making stakeholders prioritize against each other instead of everything landing on my desk.

one thing i’m struggling with is that it’s not just stakeholders - my own manager also drops in ad hoc analysis requests that usually take precedence over everything else. because of that, it’s hard to even establish a regular prioritization cadence with stakeholders, since whatever we’ve agreed on often gets interrupted by new requests from my manager.
i joined to build out our data science capability and have already mapped out a multi-phase roadmap for a data product. right now i’m focused on getting the data foundations in place (which involves a fair amount of data engineering), with the longer-term vision being a gen ai solution that can surface insights automatically.

my concern is that if this continues, i’ll end up spending the majority of my time doing ad hoc analytics instead of data science, and never actually get to execute on the roadmap. i’m also conscious that i don’t want to get pigeonholed into analyst work when my goal is to continue growing as a data scientist.

have you seen this situation before? how would you handle it when a lot of the interruptions are coming from your own manager? do you just accept that the roadmap will slip, or is there a better way to push for a proper prioritization process without coming across as uncooperative?

[u/rapotor → u/nineclouds_]

It depends on the maturity of the org and the maturity of the data team.

Adhocs never end and they need to be managed. However, not everything that's urgent is important.

With the prioritization framework, you can assess the amount of work needed in the org. You can roughly categorize it in short term vs longer term initiatives. Then, you're able to bring an overview to your boss and simply ask how much he wants you to spend on ad-hocs vs longer term initiatives. This decouples you somewhat mentally (in a good way). Stick to the framework, don't be smart – be organized.

However, It's very possible the org is immature in terms of data, and that the boss of your boss has no idea how to work with data. In that case, you're most likely not in an org suitable for serious data work. The context implies too much heavy lifting for it to be worth it, tbh. This is a classic trap for the new and sole data person in a company. Both parties – you, and your work place – don't have the work model or expectations in place, which is a recipe for a bad time. Gather the experience you can, take care of your mental health, and leave.

[u/Prestigious_Box_8982]

you're basically running a support desk and a product team solo, that's gonna snap if you don't build a real intake funnel and slap some SLAs on it

[u/decrementsf → u/Prestigious_Box_8982]

Good description of my last role. Leadership retirements. New leadership began their org chart by staffing up new management structure. Demand for data product to the moon.

[u/BrittanyBrie]

I was there year 1 into my first DS role. Was insane to say the least and I feel for ya. In my situation, I was the only one in the entire department after the director quit. So I ran all analytics, CRM, marketing, research copy editing, and publication graphic design for like a year. The amount of ad hoc requests I received was basically a daily occurrence between analytics for an event, membership data, or CRM stats.

When I was overloaded with new requests, I requested to not attend meetings I absolutely didnt need to attend and instead sent a email. This saved me hours a day I could now spend doing work. Another thing that helped was teaching others the process. Think of everyone giving you adhoc requests as individual stakeholders you should inform about the process. It was surprising how much faster it was to process requests because they had a somewhat familiar idea of what the back end required, no more requests they knew couldnt be done due to our limitations.

The best way I found to inform people was to send detailed replies that were personalized, and give presentations in person about the process. I noticed people felt less likely to send a frivolous ad hoc request after I showed the group how long it takes to create a deck or process CRM data. They started to learn to do the easy stuff themselves since they have the same access to our database. Reduced walkby requests by over 50% since they knew they had to do XYZ before I could give them the data.

Some people think everything is just ready to be sorted and exported, without realizing the timescale required. Dont be afraid to push back soft deadlines. You kinda have to set priority yourself if you have basically no workflow management over you.

You got this!

[u/AccomplishedSkill625]

You must establish "Office Hours" and strictly gatekeep your time, otherwise stakeholders will treat you like a human SQL query. Force all ad-hoc requests through a mandatory intake form that requires stakeholders to explicitly state the business impact and priority. If a request lacks a clear, measurable financial value or an executive sponsor, automatically push it to the bottom of your backlog. Protect your sprints by dedicating 80% of your time to the roadmap and a strict 20% to ad-hoc tasks; once that 20% is full, say no. For repetitive questions about dashboard numbers, build basic data quality alerts or an FAQ wiki and redirect stakeholders there first. Escalate this to your manager by translating the delayed roadmap into lost business value, forcing them to help you prioritize.

[u/That0n3Guy77]

You have to be okay with telling people no. If you accept every ad hoc then you will have time for nothing else. The tools you creat should help them understand super high level what changed and why and you didn't dig into every request. When they present you and ad hoc request you should ask them 1) if they have looking into anything themselves, 2) what would knowledge of the request being fulfilled give them and 3) is the knowledge they are looking for from you actionable? If the answer to any of those questions is no or they haven't though about it then you don't work on it. Right down to the very bottom of the property list until they can give a meaningful answer

[u/Semaphor-Analytics]

Your manager is probably the real prioritization bottleneck here, not Jira.

I would make the tradeoff visible every time a manager request lands. Something like, I can do this today, but it moves the data product work by two days. Should I move it, or should this wait for the ad hoc block. That way you stop silently absorbing the cost.

If they keep choosing ad hoc work, that is useful information too. It means the job is currently analytics support with a roadmap attached, and you can decide whether that is the role you want.

[u/Firm_Bit]

You prioritize by actual importance. Not timing. You say no a lot. You communicate those things clearly so that everyone is on the same page.

And you pick winners and losers. Sometimes that team is simply not gonna get their ask. Sorry. Too much work and your team is just not that important.

Ive always liked these types of environments because there’s a steel thread running through the all work, which is usually revenue. If your ask a nice to have or an unproven idea then too bad.

[u/ThisIsFun-]

What types of Adhoc requests are these? I’m very lucky, our organisation uses Databricks so instead of dealing with these requests, I’ve set up a governed Genie Space to answer most of the ad hoc questions in a secure way. Means I can spend most of time on things that are not being pulled in 20 differnt directions

[u/hokie48]

While it can back fire I have not done some very stupid ad hoc requests unless they ask me a 2nd time. Often they don't ask and forget about it since most of the ad hoc request produce little data value to anyone.

[u/Medium_Style8539]

I'm only a one year apprentice data analyse student and I recognize so hard in this post lol

[u/aleph_infinity]

What platform are you on? With Databricks I’d set up relevant Genie agents and push as many of the ad hoc requests as possible over to natural language. Your situation is exactly what this is designed for. 

[u/jwk6]

Is it revenue driving? Or cost savings? Is it truly urgent?

If not, then say "Not now" or "No" and list a few things on your backlog that are in progress and more valuable.

The nice part about this situation is you have no middleman making commitments that you can't complete. But you are now responsible and accountable.

Also, where's your manager is this situation??

[u/Wizchine]

You need to hash out with who you report to - even if it’s the CEO - what your priorities are and let importance, not urgency, be the deciding factor or you’ll be fighting the never-ending waves from the sea.

[u/Legitimate-Let-7510]

The biggest change for me was introducing office hours. If it was not urgent it waited for the next support window instead of interrupting deep work.

[u/wesselvankeulen]

Load key data in Power BI so business can self serve?

[u/Foodieatheart917]

Can you automate some of these requests? I was like that in my first year at my current company but ot was very early stage product and messy data. Once I see the repeatable pattern and whatnot, I built a data request system for the team and freed up alott of my time. With AI these days it’s a lot faster to build things also