“I think of analysts as data wizards who help their product teams solve problems”

Product Analytics Manager Mariya Mansurova discusses the growing influence of agentic AI, particularly in improving coding efficiency and its potential for automated reporting. She advocates for using computer simulations as a powerful and underutilized tool in product analytics to answer what-if questions and handle uncertainty. Mansurova also highlights the common pitfalls of moving LLM applications from prototype to production, stressing the need for rigorous evaluation and testing. She believes data analysts benefit greatly from adopting software engineering best practices and should maintain a broad toolkit of methods to solve problems effectively.