Data Governance Matters

Today I heard a pair of metaphors mushed up together and mangled. Happens all the time. But this time, I was getting a demonstration of it at the same time I was hearing it.

I’m in Phoenix this week at the Independent Analysts Platform, a grand experiment founded by Rick F. van der Lans in which about 25 of us non-affiliated data-related analysts are sequestered for three days in an Embassy Suites, where a string of vendors are bringing us their messages, sharing value statements for using their products, and letting us look under the hoods of their products.

It’s a great event. I’m getting to know some peers I didn’t know before, and we’re all getting to understand vendor products in a detailed way.

At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But this one guy used his time to share what had to be his standard marketing deck. Not a whole lot of substance. The crowd was a bit frustrated; we came to hear details that would help us as we work with clients to make strategic decisions.

Someone asked the guy for clarification on a point, and he became a bit flustered. “Well,” he said, “what I just shared, those few words, that’s the ten thousand foot — the ten thousand foot elevator.”

I knew what he meant. It was a 10K view. Not the very, very simple thirty thousand foot view, but not the detail you’d expect from an on-the-ground or in-the-ditches (or looking-under-the-hood) viewpoint.

The other metaphor he was referring to was the elevator speech - the 1 minute conversation you should be ready for in case you are lucky enough to have an uninterrupted minute alone with a stakeholder.

I felt bad for this guy. He had a lot more than a minute with us- a great chance to influence a bunch of influencers. I could tell by the look on his face that he realized he hadn’t used his time as profitably as he could have.

The thing about elevator rides is that, after you’ve delivered your speech, the stakeholder will step out the door, and you’ll be left to finish the ride yourself. I couldn’t help but picture this guy, taking the long ten thousand foot elevator ride down after he left us, coming up with those great lines he wished he’d thought of in time to say to us.

For posts detailing capabilities reported by vendors presenting to us, check out blogs from Rick Hackathorn at http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/hackathorn/archives/events_in_the_b/iap08/ and Shawn Rogers at http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/rogers/.

Nine months is probably the perfect amount of time for creating a baby, it’s way too long for even a semi-regular poster like myself to go between blog entries. I’ve been busy, Gwen has been understanding, but returning from this year’s Data Governance Conference in San Francisco and realizing my last post was about last year’s conference made me realize it was way past time for an entry…

There was quite a bit of buzz at this year’s Data Governance Conference in San Francisco regarding branding and marketing Data Governance programs. Attendees bantered back and forth regarding techniques to use.

Would you like to know where I start when I’m trying to ‘sell’ an idea? First, I distill my thoughts into a one-line description of what I’m trying to accomplish (I call it a ‘hook.) Then, I create a logo.

A logo is a powerful, often overlooked tool. A logo, coupled with your ‘hook,’ not only reinforces your objectives with each viewing, but, as advertisers have long known, a well designed logo can imbue a product with associated feelings of ‘trust,’ legitimacy,’ ‘acceptance,’ ‘quality’, and ‘like-ability.’ And, it never hurts to be liked…

Consider the influence of what might have been the most sociologically significant logo of the modern era. Although the Peace Symbol was originally designed in 1958 and used by the British nuclear disarmament movement, the true power of the Peace Symbol began to manifest itself in the 60s when the anti-Vietnam movement adopted it as its symbol. Everyone, hippies, buzz-cut veterans, rock stars and A-list Hollywood actors began wearing them, often as much as a fashion statement as a political one.

It was this ubiquitous presence as much as anything else which tremendously magnified the visibility and influence of the anti-war movement far beyond the numbers of activist members. The rest of the country perceived every magazine photograph of a Peace Symbol-clad veteran or movie star as an endorsement of the peace movement. A-list celebrities wearing a Peace Symbol during television appearances because it was ‘groovy’ became de-facto supporters. Peace became ‘cool.’

Maybe you can make your governance initiative ‘cool’ or ‘groovy’ as well. Tap into the inherent power of visual representation. Repeat your program’s objectives with every view of your logo, and reinforce acceptance of your initiative’s importance and legitimacy with every repetition. You probably won’t define a decade, you may never get a movie star or even a C-level executive pinning your logo on a suit collar, but…

You just might help move your Enterprise into a better place.

Kumbaya (and peace…)
Darwin

Don’t you hate it when you misspell someone’s name? I added an “s” to the end of “Mike Meier” when I wrote about our experience preparing for the Annual Data Governance Conference in San Francisco. With his usual kind, dry sense of humor, Mike simply posted a comment to the blog entry disavowing himself of that specific letter. What a guy!

Anyway, giving our talk was as much fun as it was to create. Lots and lots of people in the room. Seems like EVERYONE wanted to know how to get things done when you have no budget, no formal program, and no formal power. And it turns out that the concept of “guerrilla-style” programs is as useful to others as it was to us - we were told by folks from lots of different kinds of enterprises that it would help them think creatively about how to organize their resources and mobilize efforts.

But the best part, for me, was how much FUN everyone in our session seemed to be having with this topic that — truth be told — can be kinda dry. Mike and I set it up so that first we introduced a topic, then Mike shared what he did and how that worked for him, and finally I got to jump in and comment from a best practices perspective, acknowledging that I hadn’t been there when he was doing his thing, but was instead offering 20-20 hindsight and the benefit of having seen-this-done-that a bunch of times.

We knew our approach was a gamble. We chose a pretty cheesy approach, with a lot of banter and some simply silly bits. But I guess the conference attendees were in the mood for a little Rowan and Martin, cause they laughed a lot all the while they were taking notes.

So… is there a budding Goldie Hawn out there who wants to join the act? Hey Goldie? want some governance? Sure! Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me…

So I’ve been having this ongoing discussion with someone who is administering a Data Governance program. We joke a lot in private about whether a statement made to Data Stewards might invoke a “Who made you queen?” response.

Don’t get me wrong - who wouldn’t like to be queen, at least for a day? Who wouldn’t love to be pampered and served? (Hey steward - peel me a grape!)

But our role as administrators of cross-functional programs is to serve, not to be served. And besides, we remind ourselves, being a supreme ruler can be risky business. After all, what is the ultimate fate of most czars and dictators?

At the Annual Data Governance conference in San Francisco, I thought nothing of it when someone walked up to me and said “Hi, Gwen” even though we hadn’t met. After all, presenters’ pictures are posted on the conference site, and we do all wear nametags. But it kept happening; people waved when they were too far away to read my tag. I was confused.

Then, at lunch, someone educated me. He sat down and promptly told me I look just like my picture on the web. Several people at the table started talking then, agreeing that I look like myself and chatting about how other people don’t always look like the photos they distribute.

Well, I knew I was in for it. At the table with us was the Media Director for the Data Governance Institute, Reese Thomas. (Yes, we’re related; he’s my big brother.) Reese is the one responsible for plastering my picture all over the Institute’s main site at www.DataGovernance.com, as well as other places on the web.

“What made you recognize her?” he asked, as I wanted to slide under the table in embarrassment. “The flip in her hair,” was the first response, and Reese just beamed, because a) he’d been betting on that when he picked photos and b) what big brother doesn’t think it’s funny when his little sister is embarrassed?

See, Reese knows what might not be clear to others: I’m actually painfully shy. I’m outgoing at conferences and other group settings when I remind myself to be “on” - but I am shy, trust me. And I was very very very very very reluctant to have my name and photo where it is on the site. Reese won the argument by reminding me what I have always known as an educator — that people learn better from another person than from a blank page.

So I was sitting there, blushing, listening to people talk about recognizable hairdos and how they like putting a face to someone they’re learning from, until I couldn’t take it any more. So I did what I could - I hijacked the conversation to make it about running Data Governance programs.

“So what you all are demonstrating,” I said (or something like it), “is the value of branding. The take-away is that if you each create a graphic or some other visual element that can be a ‘logo’ for your program - and if you put that logo in the same place on all of your program materials, then your stakeholders will ’see you coming’ from across the room, and will recognize your stuff as coming from your program, and they’ll be put into the right frame of mind before they even read what you have to say.”

Whew… saved by the teaching lesson. Finally, the conversation turned to what really mattered — whether we liked the entree and whether it was better or worse than other conference meals.

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BTW, this was originally written at the conference, but blog issues made it disappear. I’d let it just go away forever, but instead I’m re-posting it. Why? My brother says I have to….