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        <title>Trevor McCormick Blog</title>
        <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog</link>
        <description>Trevor McCormick Blog</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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        <copyright>Copyright © 2026 Trevor McCormick.</copyright>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Ten Principles for Instrumentation Leadership (and What Comes Next)]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/ten-principles-what-comes-next</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/ten-principles-what-comes-next</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The capstone: ten principles distilled from building instrumentation at scale, and a vision for where the data product function goes from here.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[From Data PM to Data Product Leader: The IC-to-Manager Transition]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/from-data-pm-to-leader</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/from-data-pm-to-leader</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The IC-to-manager transition for data PMs means letting go of schema ownership and learning to lead through others. The skills that made you a great IC won't make you a great leader.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Build vs. Buy for Analytics Infrastructure: A Recurring Evaluation Framework]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/build-vs-buy-analytics-infrastructure</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/build-vs-buy-analytics-infrastructure</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Build-vs-buy is not a one-time decision. It's a recurring evaluation as your scale, team, and requirements change. Here's a framework for making the call repeatedly.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
            <category>Platform &amp; Architecture</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Org Design for Data Product Teams: Conway's Law in Practice]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/org-design-conways-law</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/org-design-conways-law</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The org chart is a product design decision. How you structure the data team determines how your instrumentation system evolves — Conway's Law is inescapable.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Building the Business Case for Instrumentation Investment]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/building-business-case</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/building-business-case</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Frame instrumentation's indirect value in revenue, cost, and risk terms that leadership understands. Data infrastructure doesn't generate revenue directly — it enables everything that does.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Managing a Data Product Portfolio: Where to Invest, Maintain, and Sunset]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-product-portfolio</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-product-portfolio</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[You manage multiple data products simultaneously. A portfolio view tells you where to invest more, where to maintain, where to incubate, and where to sunset.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Making Invisible Work Visible: Internal Marketing for Data Teams]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/making-invisible-work-visible</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/making-invisible-work-visible</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Data work is invisible by default — pipelines that don't break, schemas that don't drift, quality that doesn't degrade. Make it visible with PM-grade communication.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Instrumentation Roadmap: Balancing New Features, Migration, and Tech Debt]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/instrumentation-roadmap-strategy</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/instrumentation-roadmap-strategy</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[A roadmap makes tradeoffs visible across three competing priorities: new instrumentation for upcoming features, migration of legacy systems, and technical debt reduction.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Managing Data Product Managers: Coordination-Output vs. Code-Output Teams]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/managing-data-product-managers</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/managing-data-product-managers</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Managing people whose output is coordination and influence requires different techniques than managing people whose output is code or analysis.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Hiring for Instrumentation: Building a Team With No Existing Playbook]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/hiring-for-instrumentation</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/hiring-for-instrumentation</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[No job templates exist for instrumentation roles. Build hiring criteria, career ladders, and onboarding from scratch — because the field is too new for standard playbooks.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Building a Data-Informed Product Culture Without More Dashboards]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-informed-culture</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-informed-culture</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Data culture is a product problem, not a dashboard problem. More dashboards don't change behavior — rituals, incentives, and access do.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Leadership &amp; Teams</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[How to Measure the Impact of Instrumentation and Data Products]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/measuring-impact-of-data-products</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/measuring-impact-of-data-products</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Report outcomes (decisions enabled), not outputs (events shipped). Your VP doesn't care about event counts — they care about what decisions your data made possible.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Metrics &amp; Measurement</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Data Product Maturity Model: From MVP to Self-Serve]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-product-maturity</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/data-product-maturity</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[A data product matures through stages: MVP (it exists), validated (stakeholders trust it), automated (it runs itself), self-serve (consumers don't need you).]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Product Management</category>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[When to Rewrite Your Event Schema From Scratch]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/when-to-rewrite-schema</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/when-to-rewrite-schema</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The decision to rewrite is a product decision, not a technical one. When incremental evolution isn't enough, here's how to evaluate whether a rewrite is warranted.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Schema Design</category>
            <category>Strategy &amp; Roadmapping</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Migrating Instrumentation Without Breaking Dashboards and Models]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/migrating-instrumentation</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/migrating-instrumentation</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Instrumentation migration is a product launch in reverse — you're replacing something people depend on, not adding something new. The coordination is harder than the code.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Schema Design</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Writing Requirements for What Not to Send: SDK-Level Collection Controls]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/what-not-to-send</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/what-not-to-send</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[SDK-level conditions that suppress event emission — kids mode blocks collection, input events must not contain PII, flags exclude events from marketing use.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Schema Design</category>
            <category>Product Management</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[The Analytics Code Review: What a PM Should Look For]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/analytics-code-review</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/analytics-code-review</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[The PM's contribution to analytics code review isn't code quality — it's requirements fidelity. Does the implementation capture what stakeholders need to know?]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Product Management</category>
            <category>Monitoring &amp; Quality</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Managing Schema Evolution Without Breaking Downstream Consumers]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/managing-schema-evolution</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/managing-schema-evolution</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Every schema change is a negotiation between producers and consumers. Versioning, compatibility rules, and deprecation processes keep evolution safe.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Schema Design</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Build vs. Buy for Notification Telemetry: Why Third-Party Tracking Falls Short]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/notification-telemetry-build-vs-buy</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/notification-telemetry-build-vs-buy</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Building in-house notification instrumentation vs. relying on third-party telemetry you don't control, can't validate, and may not give you everything you need.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Experimentation &amp; Growth</category>
            <category>Platform &amp; Architecture</category>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Using Instrumentation to Validate Audience Segment Targeting]]></title>
            <link>https://trmccormick.com/blog/validating-audience-segments</link>
            <guid>https://trmccormick.com/blog/validating-audience-segments</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
            <description><![CDATA[Proper instrumentation helps PMs validate that different audience segments are served the correct experiences — not just that experiments ran, but that the right people saw the right thing.]]></description>
            <author>trevor.ryan.mccormick@gmail.com (Trevor McCormick)</author>
            <category>Experimentation &amp; Growth</category>
            <category>Metrics &amp; Measurement</category>
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