It’s amazing how quickly Data Product joined Metadata, Data Quality, and Data Governance as a functionally useless term. Consult ten different sources and you’ll get fifteen different definitions. A Data Product is variously defined as: The theory of applying a product mindset to data sets. Any tool or application that Read more…
A previous article established that the primary expectation of Data Product consumers is Reliability. This week we’ll look more closely at how we can provide that reliability. The five responsibilities of a Data Product provider are Content, Curation, Catalog, Certification, and Maintenance. Content: Data Products are created to satisfy anticipated and/or Read more…
Once you hear the question you can’t unhear it, and you can’t help but think about it. Last month I completed my third tour of duty as an Elder at Germantown Presbyterian Church. It was also my turn to give the devotional that opened the Session meeting. The focus was Read more…
With increased recognition that the new AI models and applications need high-quality, well understood data, Data Products are enjoying renewed attention. The concept has been fleshed out in recent years with definitions, reference architectures, and platforms. They consist of …. Actually, let’s not worry about what Data Products consist of. Read more…
I could stand to lose a few pounds and I know what I need to do: watch my diet and exercise regularly. Knowing, of course, is not the same as doing, and the doing takes effort. Maybe a spoonful of branding and marketing sugar will help the medicine go down. Read more…
This is the first of an occasional series of articles that will examine data that we encounter in our everyday lives. Metrics like unemployment, inflation, stock market averages, crime rates, and the like. Most of us don’t take day-to-day action based upon these numbers, but for many they contribute to Read more…
You had blood drawn in the doctor’s office as part of your annual physical and just received a printout with a bunch of numbers. Cholesterol 142. Platelets 203. Glucose 93. And so on. And you probably believe them. Why? Do you even think about it? Consider all of the assumptions Read more…
When I began this blog, it was my intention to include articles about beekeeping. It’s been a few months so I figure it’s about time. Two things happen when you start talking beekeeping. First, you can end up monologuing non-stop for much longer than anyone should talk about anything without Read more…
Last weekend I attended the memorial service for Harold Taylor, a FedEx friend and colleague who had succumbed to cancer in February. About a dozen of his co-workers gathered with family and friends in a chapel in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Tables were set up with photos and mementos. He had been Read more…
Peter Drucker famously said that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Well, he didn’t really say that. Sort of the same way that Humphrey Bogart never said “Play it again Sam” in Casablanca. Drucker actually said, “Culture, no matter how defined, is singularly persistent.” Not nearly as catchy. But either way, Read more…