Avoiding Data Disasters: Women in Data Panel

Data disasters don’t usually stem from bad tools — they come from avoidable human missteps, process gaps, and unclear priorities. If your team is grappling with manual reports, misaligned stakeholders, or confusion about how to move from data to action, you’re not alone.

In this panel conversation from the HIKE2 Lodge at Dreamforce 2025, three women leading the charge in legal operations, enterprise AI, and data strategy shared how they’ve navigated those very challenges — and came out stronger. You’ll walk away with insights on:

• How to create a culture where data mistakes aren’t hidden — they’re fixed and learned from
• What to prioritize when launching or maturing a data program
• How to shift from report production to business-value generation
• Why legal ops and analytics teams need to build trust as much as they build dashboards
• How to avoid “boiling the ocean” and instead deliver quick wins that scale

The discussion featured:

• Amanda Hashfield, Former Director, Legal Analytics & Metrics at Intel
• Vivienne Wei, COO, Unified Agentforce Platform at Salesforce
• Ariana Recidoro, Legal Operations Analyst at DocuSign
• Moderated by Amy Gradnik, Principal, Advisory Solutions Director at HIKE2

When Good Data Goes Bad: What to Do When It Happens

Every data team eventually faces a high-stakes error — whether a missed budget email or a flawed metric presented to executives. For Amanda Hashfield, the key isn’t to avoid every mistake. It’s to build a culture where teams can respond with speed, transparency, and improvement.

“Be open, be transparent, fix it quickly — and then fix the process so it never happens again.”

One of Amanda’s most important leadership moments came when a team member confessed to an error after data had already been shared up the chain. Her response?

“Thank you for bringing this forward. You’re human. We all make mistakes. Now, what can we learn from this?”

That kind of reaction does more than repair the issue — it creates safety, so your team surfaces problems before they snowball.

Deliver Value, Not Just Dashboards

Across the panel, a core message emerged: If your data program isn’t creating measurable business value, it’s time to reassess.

Here’s how each panelist reframed their data work:

• Amanda Hashfield: Defined “value vectors” — strategic lenses like reducing litigation risk or freeing up lawyers’ time — to prioritize incoming data project requests and avoid the trap of reactive reporting.
• Vivienne Wei: Encouraged teams to audit recurring reports with this test: “Stop sending it. See who screams.” If no one notices, you’ve got an opportunity to redirect effort toward something with higher impact.
• Ariana Recidoro: Applied a project management mindset to every request. “Are we actually solving a problem, or just checking a box?”

Together, they emphasized that asking the right questions is more important than building the perfect report:

• What decision will this data inform?
• Who’s going to use it — and do they trust it?
• Is it helping us do our jobs better?

Boil Just Enough Water for a Cup of Tea

One of the most memorable moments came when Vivienne quoted a British data leader she recently met:

“Don’t boil the ocean. Boil just enough water for a cup of tea.”

It’s a reminder that scaling a data program or launching agentic AI solutions doesn’t mean solving everything at once. Instead:

1. Start with a high-value use case
2. Find a business champion who’s all-in
3. Deliver a tangible win
4. Use that momentum to drive adoption and credibility

Amanda shared how a partnership with a motivated e-discovery team — despite messy historical data — turned into a repeatable success story and internal evangelism for the broader legal analytics program.

The Mindset Shift That Makes Data Work

This panel was packed with practical advice, but the biggest shift is cultural:
Better data outcomes require better environments for people.

The most successful data and AI transformations aren’t just driven by smarter tools — they’re led by teams that foster psychological safety, curiosity, and strategic alignment.

Consider these mindset shifts as you assess your own team:

• From “more reports” → to “fewer, more useful decisions”
• From “perfect the dashboard” → to “test value and iterate fast”
• From “solo heroics” → to “collaborative communities and shared models”
• From “fear of error” → to “fix it, learn, and prevent recurrence”

“You don’t have to build everything from scratch,” Ariana reminded the group. “Tap into your community. There’s no need to gatekeep — especially in legal ops. We’re all trying to make this work easier for each other.”

Want to build a data-driven culture that actually drives decisions?

HIKE2 works with forward-thinking legal, operations, and technology leaders to help define the strategy, stand up the systems, and embed the right governance to support AI and data transformation — at any stage of maturity.

Let’s help you avoid data disasters — and create real momentum.