Data Portability First
Somewhat paradoxically, these days I almost immediately ask myself how I can get back the value I provided to a platform, rather than what benefits it can give me. Specifically, I want to know:
- Can I export my data fully?
- Is the granularity at the maximum possible level?
- Are all relationships between the data preserved?
For example, I use a CRM called Clay and was dismayed to discover that their data export doesn’t include social media accounts of contacts that I’ve added to the platform. I even wrote to them, but they ignored my remark. This kind of incident makes me want to use the application much less than I otherwise would.
On the other end of this spectrum is Google. What used to be the effort of a lone engineer is now a standard practice across the entire company. Google Takeout allows you to select from dozens of Google products and export your data. Most of the time, it comes in ways and formats that you can immediately leverage. Kudos to them.
Semantic Search Required
I’ve also become extremely impatient with search that isn’t sufficiently semantic. Keyword searches belong to the past century. For example, in my email client, I don’t want to have to combine a complicated series of terms. If it has an attachment, if it includes a bunch of words and doesn’t include others (what is the date range, does it have attachments, etc.), I want to be able to express myself in natural language: “find the messages with pitch decks from the previous two weeks that haven’t been analyzed fully yet.”
Taking Control Through Personalized Solutions
I’m actively improving my productivity and peace of mind by:
- Leveraging modern coding platforms like Windsurf to create custom workflows
- Consolidating data across different platforms
- Developing personalized local views
- Utilizing natural language queries
These tools are empowering me to not only increase my productivity but also to truly own and control my data. While I’m still at the beginning of this journey, I can already see the potential for it to evolve into a powerful system that gives me both efficiency and data sovereignty.