Meet James Hill, proud papa, fan of all things Sports and lead data analyst at Conjura.

• Interesting work happenings:
  I've recently been involved in work to manage the transition of Conjura customers from Google's Universal Analytics to GA4, with Universal Analytics set to be sunsetted next year. This represents both a huge challenge - Universal Analytics underpins the majority of our customers workflows - but also an opportunity, as GA4 provides a more granular view of customer activity. It has been great to see the team come together to ensure we handle this change well in advance. All being well, this will allow us to provide our customers with a joined up, historic view of their marketing performance, something which will not be possible through the Google Analytics UI alone. In time, I hope we will be able to use GA4 to enhance our marketing dashboards, giving our customers even more actionable insight.

• What I'm reading:
  I recently read a book on the life of Saladin, a historical figure that is often overlooked in Western history, but who is viewed as a hero in Middle Eastern countries and across the Muslim world. One of Saladin's biggest accomplishments was to unite a fractured Muslim world against the Crusaders from Europe, which he achieved through a mastery of diplomacy and leadership - definitely a figure most of our current leaders could learn from! The book also provided the inspiration for my now 4-week old son's name. My wife and I were struggling to agree, until she glanced at the book and suggested "Saladin" - we decided that was a bit grand - but it led us to Salah (the footballer provided no inspiration!!).

• What I'm watching:
  I'm a big sports fan and take the chance to watch it whenever I can. It has been a tough year for me with the downward spiral of the England Cricket and Rugby teams, the off-field issues for Yorkshire Cricket Club, and the struggles of Leeds United in the Premier League. Thankfully Leeds were able to pull off the great escape, and the recent victory for the England Cricket team over New Zealand, along with the changes in management, provides some hope going into the summer. All being well, I'm hoping to get down to the Aviva to watch England beat Ireland in the 6 Nations next year and give us back some bragging rights! I also like to relax and watch some good TV in the evenings when work is done and the kids are asleep. My Paternity Leave allowed me to catch up on the fourth season of Ozark recently, and I am looking forward to watching the new season of Stranger Things soon.

• Work shoutouts:
  I joined Conjura just over a year and a half ago, and in that time the company has about tripled in size, allowing us to recruit a wider variety of skills and experience...no longer are we just a bunch of nerds knocking together SQL workflows! A great example of the benefits of this came the other day when discussing Performance Max campaigns with Nicky and Katie from our Sales and Customer Success team respectively. Their marketing experience helped us to resolve an issue we were having, whilst also providing great ideas and context for some potential future reporting opportunities. This shows the benefit of having a diversity of skills...as well as getting the techy and not-so-techy teams to talk to each other!

• People who are inspiring me:
  At the risk of sounding a little cheesy, the person who is inspiring me most at the moment is my wife, Najah! Four weeks ago she gave birth to our second son, Salah Faisal Eric Hill. As with our first, it was incredible to watch her continue to work a full-time job right up until birth, go through the mind blowing process of labour, and then endure the challenge of feeding every 2-3 hours at all times in the day. It is a reminder of the strength of women, and how easy us men have it! I am eternally grateful for the sacrifices she has made for our family, and it inspires me to be the best I can be for her and our 2 amazing boys.