Data Governance Matters

Yes, Data Governance Matters

Does Data Governance really matter? someone asked me recently. At first I didn’t answer – I thought it was a joke. When I realized she was serious, I answered carefully. Where you work, I asked, does data matter?

When she nodded yes, I went on. Does the way that information is managed matter? When she nodded again, I asked whether managing that information involved options, and decisions about which option to choose?

Of course, she answered. OK, then, I said: does it matter HOW those decisions are made, and by whom, and when, and following what process, and with whose input and approval?

She paused, then said she’d never really considered it, since she wasn’t the one making most of those decisions. But yes, of course those things matter.

Those things, I said are governance. And when they’re applied to data, they’re Data Governance. So yes, Data Governance matters.

Later, I realized that Data Governance Matters would be a great name for my new blog. So here it is. I’ll be doing most of the posting myself, but I’ve been promised frequent guest posts by Darwin the Data Dude (see Total Disclosure).

Talk to you soon.