Coming on the back of a strong Q1 2025, (it was a strong H1 2025) I decided to invest time and money on my self-development and the data works course run by Dr Grace Kite at magic works. I loved reading Grace LinkedIn posts and articles on all things data and marketing effectiveness it seemed a solid investment of £1,500 for my learning.
I have done many courses over my career. With data works course, the Mini MBA with Mark Ritson and Analytics and Optimisation course with Andrew Hood from Lynchpin via E-consultancy + Manchester Met University have been the most significant courses for learning and my self-development.
With ROI the trendy buzzword I can say the data works course was a very good investment and returns a good ROI.
I was able to put into practice the learnings from the course with some great feedback which led me to share my thoughts in this article. As the saying goes sharing is caring.
Mini Use Case
For context below refers to a cleaning business, business was acquired in Jan-25 and one of the objectives for 2025 was to reduce churn. From the data works course I was able to put into practice the learnings of a killer chart. The killer chart which is looking at churn rate since the start of 2025.
A snapshot of a WhatsApp chat with the client who loved the Killer Chart.
In most cases one of these 2 charts would be used to tell the story of churn performance. It does a job without shouting out what the insights are.
Which is where the killer chart comes into play and it tells you everything you need to know with some additional commentary to provide further context.
The 2 key areas that make the Data Works course stand out:
1 – Reputable, Fountain of Knowledge and Great Learning
The core appeal for me to do the data works course was Dr Grace Kite and the love she has for data, insights, visualisations and effectiveness. With the magic works course data works part of magic numbers a leading econometrics consultancy. There was a mini army for the data works course not only Grace who was course leader, supported by Tashan as the host and several others who joined at different stages over the course, they all shared a great amount of knowledge.
Coming from a data background I had an expectancy which it delivered and more, but I knew there was far more for me to learn and develop my skills in effectiveness and data. There were 5 modules in total, with each module having homework and additional reading, podcasts, vodcasts to top up on the learning. With every module there were some great nuggets to takeaway and more, as the saying goes everyday is a learning day. In addition to the modules there were masterclasses and discussions sessions from the magic works team which was of great value and a Q&A with a special guest in Ethan Decker.
2 – Qualification
There are 2 parts to a qualification, one part is for completing the quiz and the second part is for the final assignment. The final assignment is taking all the learnings from the 5 modules against the argument you wish to make to reach the sales target and build a presentation to tell the data story you wish. The assignment is worth the time investment; it becomes bit of a puzzle it requires reviewing past modules to help best tell your argument.
Not only it’s a highly respectable qualification it’s also accredited by the CPD standards with a bonus of 12 hours of training received.
My top 3 wins from the data works course to whet the appetite:
- The nuggets and insights shared: (Top 3 but there could easily be a dozen)
- The use of charts to tell a story / How to build a killer chart
- The argument formula and using data to support it
- Understanding 4P’s in data
- Loved the mentor discussions with Tashan and Sam. Some great topics that came up for conversation. Getting a different perspective on a range of topics helps with building the puzzle
- Q&A sessions with Grace. Great way to pick the brain of Grace
