Meet Gordon McLean. Gordon is a Business Analyst with IT at Allied Vehicles. We sat down to have a chat with him about everything from the data-driven future of Allied to cycling to keep fit, and even got some movie and podcast recommendations…
What does a typical day look like for you?
There is no typical day, really. My job is to work with the business, understand any challenges they are facing and figure out if, from an IT perspective, we can help.
So, my job is to say, “right, the business is doing X, and we need a system that helps them do it smarter. How do we make that happen?” Then I talk to the developers and we figure that out as a team.
And how long have you worked for Allied and where were you before?
I started on the 28th June 2023. Before this, I was at Virgin Money as a business analyst for seven years.
It was very different. It was a very big organization and projects moved very slowly. I feel like I’ve achieved more in a year at Allied than I did in seven years at the bank.
What are the challenges that you face day-to-day?
Resource pressure is probably the best way to put it. Within IT we’re ambitious and we know what we want to do, where we want to go, but it’s going to take time to get there.
It’s a small and still developing team, and I can see where it’s going to be in two or three years’ time. I want to get there faster, but my experience tells me we will get there soon enough.
What is it that you enjoy most about your job at Allied?
Getting back into a small team and being able to make a difference.
I had seven years in a huge organisation and it was very much a ‘9-to-5’, clock out, and forget kind of job.
They would have projects that would get canned after a year of work, but here you start to see the impact of your work; things land, and I know they will make a difference. That’s a powerful thing for me.
How would you convince someone that this is a great place to work?
The people. They’re good people at Allied.
I’ve never had an interaction with anyone here where I’ve walked away going “God that was awful,” even if it’s been a particularly testing meeting or something. The quality and the passion people have when they want to buy into what you’re doing, when they get it, makes a big difference.
They know I’m a professional, and that’s respected here, and goes a long way. You don’t get that everywhere. I’ve been given freedom to do things without feeling I have to run every little thing past my manager, Kim Sandler.
Kim’s very good at supporting me; she’ll say, “that’s a good idea, go and do it. No need to check in every two days, just go do it.”
So, the trust is a big part of it; that respect of being a professional.
How do you envision the company changing over the next few years?
I think the business will be much more aware of the data we have and will have much better quality data available.
The PowerBI team does a fantastic job and that’s going to push things forward as people start to realise how powerful that can be for making good data-driven business decisions.
Right now, there aren’t many processes that are codified, a lot of it’s in people’s heads. By systemizing that, from an IT point of view, you can measure the inefficiencies in the system. You can start to analyse that.
In five years, if the business isn’t fully digital, we’ve missed a trick.
If you weren’t doing this, what might you be doing?
I love being around live music. I love the experience and going to gigs, so I think I’d be a music geek of some sort.
I play the piano. Badly! I’ve not practiced for a long time. My mum and dad were musical, my extended family is musical. One of my uncles was a music teacher and plays the organ at Kelvingrove Museum every now and again.
So, I’d probably be on tour with a band as a tech or something.
Do you have a goal, personal or professional, that you’re working towards?
Get fit again. I used to do a lot of cycling, but I stopped when my son was born. I’ve signed up for the Etape Caledonia ride. It’s a closed road, sportive ride in Pitlochry, 85 miles up a mountain and round a loch.
Rumour is you’re a big Formula 1 fan, what is it about F1?
I grew up watching F1 with my mum. She used to knit professionally, and she liked to watch sport, but she had to watch things that you didn’t have to really pay attention to. So, F1, cricket, golf, those were always on. Snooker occasionally.
I loved the speed, the thrill of F1. I have memories of Senna, Prost, Berger and all those early guys. The more I got into it, the more I got into the tactics and the teamwork side of things.
I’ve been to two races in Singapore, which were amazing. I’d like to go to more.
Tell me about your blog…
In my very first proper job, I built the company website in HTML, and it was all coded by hand.
I’d seen people publishing things and I thought I might try it as a way to practice HTML. I wrote some things and made a wee website. Then Blogger came along, and it became easier write something and publish it.
I got to know lots of people in the early days of blogging in the UK. We had meetups, and I’m still friends with a lot of them today.
It’s not quite a public diary. Having been through some of the things in my life, like depression and divorce, they’re hard things and I took a lot of solace reading other people’s experiences, and it helped me.
So sharing some of my thoughts about those things, I’ve had people coming back to say, “thank you for writing that, it made a difference to me.”
That was a long time ago now. I’m a happy man, happily married, but that’s what spurred me on.
And now it’s like a bad habit. I can’t stop!
How do you like to unwind?
I spend a lot of time with my son. I’ve got a two-and-a-half-year-old, whom I adore. Previously I would have gone to a gig, or out with mates. I still do occasionally, but mostly I spend time with my son.
Other than that, I love to read, and I’m a big movie fan.
Do you have a favourite book or movie that you would recommend?
Vertigo is my favourite movie, but I’m probably more of a director buff. I like a lot of Wes Anderson’s work and I’m a big Hitchcock fan.
I’m a Star Wars geek too – I’ve got a Princess Leia tattoo. But if I had to pick one, I’d say the Shawshank Redemption. That’s a safe one; some of my other choices may put people off.
What about a book?
I’m currently reading The Book Thief. It’s narrated by Death and set in World War 2.
I like podcasts as well. Everyone should check out 99% Invisible. It looks at everyday design but goes through the history of it.
Things like the censored tone and how its usage changed. Now it’s used mostly as a comedy punchline, but why was it there originally, how does it work?
I guarantee you’ll find something in their archives that will fascinate you.
