Are You Solving the Right Problem In Coffee? (Oscar Montoya) | EP1697 Part 2 of 5 | Map It Forward
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Episode Description
This is part 2 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar.
Our guest on the podcast for this series is Oscar Montoya, a data scientist, software developer, coffee producer in Colombia, founder of Cafe Chicao in Canada, and the developer (from Dark Mode) who helped Map It Forward build CoffeeListings.com.
In this episode, Lee and Oscar explore how businesses figure out what data actually matters when trying to solve a problem.
Oscar explains that what people initially describe as a problem is often only a symptom. The real work begins by asking better questions, digging beneath the surface, and identifying what is actually causing the pain.
Using approaches such as the Five Whys, Oscar explains why the starting point should always be the problem you are trying to solve and what the ideal outcome would look like. From there, businesses can work backwards to determine what data they already have, what data is missing, and what information needs to be collected.
Lee applies this thinking to common business challenges, including toxic workplace cultures, stalled growth, financial pressure, and understanding why a business may not be making enough money.
The conversation also explores data integrity, unconscious bias, and the danger of cherry-picking information to support a preferred narrative.
Oscar explains why good data science often means trying to disprove your own assumptions rather than searching for evidence that confirms them, and why every model of reality is incomplete but can still be useful when its limitations are understood.
Connect with Oscar Montoya here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscar-montoyah/