Abstract
A practical data science, machine learning, or artificial intelligence project benefits from various organizational and managerial prerequisites. The effective collaboration between various data scientists and domain experts is perhaps the most important, which is discussed here. Based on practical experience, the principal theses put forward here are that (1) data science projects require domain expertise, (2) domain expertise and data science expertise generally cannot be provided by the same individual, (3) effective communication between the various experts is essential for which everyone requires some limited understanding of the others’ expertise and real-world experience, and (4) management must acknowledge these aspects by reserving sufficient project time and budget for communication and change management.