Information Management - The Data Brains

Consequences Schmonsequences

Listen to this article: Do you listen to the Rock Bottom Data Feed? If you don’t, you should. It’s a serious show about data that doesn’t take itself too seriously; more of a radio program than a podcast. My co-host, John Ladley, in his monologue for the recent episode “More Fuss About Tony Read more

By Mark, 2 daysApril 22, 2026 ago

Artificial Intelligence Blog Data Governance Data Products Data Quality Information Management Life

100 Articles and Counting

Listen to this article: Just over two and a half years ago, I was among those who were invited by my former employer to explore free agency and/or retirement. I knew that I still had more to say and more to share. The Reservoir of Ideas has provided that forum Read more

By Mark, 2 weeksApril 8, 2026 ago

Data Culture Information Management Leadership

The Power of Presence

Listen to this article: I went to my first Teradata Partners User’s Group Conference in 1998 (back then it was the NCR Partners User’s Group Conference). We were considering migrating our data warehouse to Teradata, and a few of us were sent to talk with other Teradata customers. The conversations Read more

By Mark, 5 monthsDecember 3, 2025 ago

Artificial Intelligence Competitive Differentiation Data Culture Data Governance Information Management

AI-Driven Data & Analytics Disruption: Data Modeling, Analytics, and Democratization

This is the second installment of a two-part series about the impact of AI on information management. The first covered Data Quality and Metadata Collection. Data Modeling Nobody at your company is more passionate about understanding the data than your Data Modelers. Unfortunately, too often their work products, while admired Read more

By Mark, 11 monthsMay 21, 2025 ago

Artificial Intelligence Data Governance Data Quality Information Management

AI-Driven Data & Analytics Disruption: Data Quality and Metadata Collection

We are at the threshold of the most significant changes in information management, data governance, and analytics since the inventions of the relational database and SQL. At their core, these areas have changed very little over the past thirty years. Most advances have been beneficiaries of Moore’s Law: faster processing, Read more

By Mark, 12 monthsMay 7, 2025 ago

Data Governance Data Quality Information Management Leadership

Third Recommendation: Stop Using Data

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. Read more

By Mark, 1 yearApril 16, 2025 ago

Data Regulation Information Management Leadership

Is legislating data protection working?

When was the last time you ran outside when you heard a car alarm? I remember once driving an old, heavy, muffler-challenged vehicle through a parking garage and setting off every car alarm in my wake. They made a lot of noise, but I don’t remember anybody rushing to the Read more

By Mark, 1 yearNovember 20, 2024 ago

Data Products Data Quality Information Management

Responsibilities of a Data Product Provider

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

By Mark, 2 yearsJune 19, 2024 ago

Data Quality Data Trust Information Management

Why do you trust data?

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

By Mark, 2 yearsMay 15, 2024 ago

Architecture Information Management

Stuck in the 1990s

From Day One, data warehouses and their offspring—data marts, operational data stores, data lakes, lakehouses, and the like—have been technological work-arounds. In Building the Data Warehouse, the 1992 book that launched modern decision support, Bill Inmon recognized the need for a decision support architecture that was different from the existing Read more

By Mark, 2 yearsApril 17, 2024 ago