In the Data Ethics episode of the Rock Bottom Data Feed podcast, our guest Daragh O’Brien made the observation that in our industry we often mix up word sequencing. For example, to him there is no such thing as “Data Ethics.” Rather, there is the application of ethics to data. We do that a lot:
Data Governance, Data Quality, Data Profiling, Data Fabric, Data Mesh, Data Product, Data Warehouse, Data Mart, Data Lake, Data Lakehouse, Data Mining, Data Ethics, Data Culture, Data Debt, Data Steward, Data Owner, Data Custodian, Data Driven, Data Security, Data Protection, Data Sovereignty, Data Masking, Data Architecture, Data Modeling, Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, Data Management, Data Literacy, Data Strategy, Data Ops, Data Wrangling, Data Security, Data Drift, Data Chasm, Data Regulation, Data Trust, Data Value, Data Flow, Data Lineage, Data Provenance, Data Pipeline, Data Bias, Data Dictionary, Data Glossary, Data Catalog, Data Sampling, Data Platform, Data Hub, Data Feed, Data Monetization, Data Lifecycle, Data Science
I’m sure there’s more. For those familiar with regular expressions:
“Data *” captures the overwhelming majority of our vocabulary.
Some are nouns. Some are verbs. Some are both. We reflexively add the prefix “Data” and voila, we’ve created something new and unique and useful. Oftentimes, though, it isn’t any of the three.
Continuing the exploration of new ways to facilitate the introduction (or reinforcement) of Data Governance in your organization, I’m sure you can see where this is going.
Don’t use the term “Data Governance,” but instead focus on the governance of your data.
Prefixing Governance with the word Data makes the composite sound like a thing in itself, when it isn’t or perhaps shouldn’t be. Besides, we’ve already tried this thing called Data Governance. Lots and lots of times. We’ve developed comprehensive processes and programs and councils and RACIs and workflows. It’s not working very well.
The thing commonly referred to as Data Governance is actually a set of governance processes and capabilities that are applied to data.
Now, with this new mindset, think about your company’s existing governance processes. Find places where data focused governance processes and capabilities can be incorporated. An existing governance process for finance can be extended to apply also to data. An existing governance process for application development can be extended to apply also to data.
I have talked about not selling Data Governance before, but the concept is applicable more broadly. Wherever you see word “Data” followed by something, delete the data and key into what’s left. It doesn’t work all the time, but it does work a lot of the time.
Focus on the quality of your data, not Data Quality.
Incorporate data-related objectives and activities into your corporate strategy, instead of pursuing Data Strategy.
In the 1993 movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, Ben Kingsley plays Bruce Pandolfini, a chess instructor working with Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc), a young prodigy. Pandolfini sets up the board with a problem, but Waitzkin has trouble solving it. Pandolfini then says, “Here, I’ll make it easier for you,” and sweeps all of the pieces off the board. Without the distraction, Waitzkin finds the solution.
Don’t be distracted by “Data.”
The solution is in the other part.
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