Data, Analytics & AI Executive · VP, Data & Analytics at Derivita
Cody Bakken
An executive who still ships — close enough to the code to know what's real.
I build the data & AI systems most executives only sponsor.
Twenty years building data, analytics, and AI functions from zero — twice — and running them on a lean, AI-augmented model that ships production analytics at a fraction of typical headcount and cost. I write about leading data & AI at the exec level: operating models, measurement that survives scrutiny, and the frontier — agentic analytics and LLM evaluation.
What I write about
01 Data & AI leadership
Building the function from zero — teams, operating models, and earning a seat in exec decisions.
02 AI strategy & agentic analytics
Separating real AI capability from vendor hype — LLM evaluation, agents that do real work, and knowing when the answer is wrong.
03 Analytics & data platforms
BI, self-service, and the warehouse underneath: modeling, cost, and making data trustworthy.
04 Measurement & impact
Predictive analytics, experimentation, and proving business impact with evidence that holds up.
Recent writing
All writing →-
The Work That Makes AI Coding Agents Pay Off
A study of 700+ software companies found AI coding agents produced more code without more finished software. Our move from an embedded BI tool to an in-product open-source stack went the other way: pages under a second, 3–4x the daily page views, and a lower cost to run. The difference was the work done before an agent wrote a line.
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A Data Team Without a Roadmap Is a Ticket Queue
Data teams drift into reactive request-taking without one — and most data roadmaps are a stale slide nobody believes. A lightweight, horizon-based roadmap, kept honest by a weekly reconciliation between planned and actual work, is what turns scattered effort into a strategy leadership can see and trust.
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Nobody Asked for a Chatbot
Teams are building their own AI analysts, and the data modeling underneath is still the hard part. But in my experience, adoption depends on how findings reach people. Most users want answers waiting for them, power users want analyst-grade access, and almost nobody has asked me for a chat box.