With Christmas approaching, I thought it would be fun to imagine what a data person might want to receive on the twelve days of Christmas. Probably not drummers drumming and calling birds (or colley birds…argue that one amongst yourselves). I know that I’d like an analytical ecosystem through which all business and operational data is accessible, a data product marketplace to facilitate consistency and reduce replication, and creative applications that make use of the data. Unfortunately, that doesn’t fit into the framework of the song.
So, from The Data Brains to you, the Twelve Days of a Data Focused Christmas.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
…a way to get the data I need.
That’s a good start, I suppose, but we need to start filling in the specifics. Most of the analytical foundations are pretty well known and we don’t need to spend a lot of time dwelling on them, so let’s skip ahead a few days to where we have the basics in place…
On the fourth day of Christmas data theory gave to me:
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…hosting entities related with keys.
OK. That’s better. Now we have something we can put to use.
Data Science is as hot as ever. It’s just that now in addition to a degree in Statistics, or maybe Mathematics and/or Computer Science, plus experience in the business domain, and expertise using the analytical tools, we also need to see Artificial Intelligence and/or Machine Learning on the resume.
On the fifth day of Christmas, recruiters gave to me:
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and an ML model registry.
I suppose one of those PhDs could be a Data and Analytics Strategist working with the architects. Sounds like a good setup to me.
Analytical environments have been migrating to the cloud in Manifest Destinyesque numbers the past couple of years, charging in headlong like the Oklahoma Land rush. And just like 19th-century Westward Expansion, cloud migrations are full of both challenges and opportunities.
On the seventh day of Christmas, cloud hosting gave to me:
Seven network endpoints
Six data products
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and a bunch of streaming ETL feeds.
It’s data and analytics in 2023, so at the top of everyone’s wish list is some nice shiny artificial intelligence and machine learning…
On the eighth day of Christmas ML trainers gave to me:
Eight k-means clusters
Seven network endpoints
Six data products
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and some GenAI conversing with me.
No, I didn’t use GenAI to write this song, but it would be interesting to see what it would come up with.
The active participation of Information Security in the analytics environment, up to and including the Chief Information Security Officer or CISO (pronounced see-so), is crucial for minimizing risk. There should be a healthy tension between data availability to support exploring new ideas and access controls to protect the company and its customers.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my CISO gave to me:
Nine encrypted socials
Eight k-means clusters
Seven network endpoints
Six data products
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and strict limits to the data I see.
When it comes to crossing the Data Chasm, the business has the most important role. Nuff said…
On the eleventh day of Christmas, the business gave to me:
Eleven profile values
Ten definitions
Nine encrypted socials
Eight k-means clusters
Seven network endpoints
Six data products
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and metadata ‘pository.
Consolidated or federated metadata management is fine, as long as it has a common interface. And, by the way, it’s not an accident that given the choice I’d rather have more profile values than definitions.
I look forward to the day when information management is considered as integral to an application development team as project management or testing, and that each team includes members who are solely focused on the data. So, as we come to the eve of Epiphany, may we be closer to achieving true Data Focus.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, a miracle for me:
Twelve mod’lers modeling
Eleven profile values
Ten definitions
Nine encrypted socials
Eight k-means clusters
Seven network endpoints
Six data products
Five PhDs
Four architects
Three normal forms
Two data marts
…and improved data understanding!!
What’s on your Santa’s list for the twelve days of your Data Focused Christmas? Bonus points for fitting into the song.
I hope you get your dearest data wish, whatever it is, and that you and yours have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays.
