Data Governance Matters

I’m having a pint right now at the Prince of Wales pub in London, halfway between Victoria Station and my hotel. And right now I’m thinking of my dad, Melville Thomas, who was born in Wales and came to the U.S. when he was five.

Dad was a good father and a good psychologist, who eschewed lucrative careers in Industrial Psychology and private practice to help thousands who came through the Florida Alcoholism Treatment Center in Florida, where we moved from Indiana when I was a kid. Dad was also an extraordinary teacher.

As anyone who knew him would attest, he was always ready to pull out a scrap of paper and pen, then diagram out the essence of a tricky problem, a  complicated concept, or an intricate idea. Dad told me on many occasions that “if you can’t describe something on the  back of a used envelope, you’re not ready to talk to others about it.”

If I’ve ever explained anything succinctly that has helped you or your program, you can thank my father and his back-of-the-envelope training. Here’s to you, Dad.

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A postscript.

I wrote the above in a notebook, to transcribe into the blog software when I got back to my room. When I was done, I got involved in a discussion with a group gathered around the bar at the pub. One topic of conversation was what I’d been writing about, and of course someone wanted to know whether I’d written a book.

So wouldn’t you know it - we had a “small world”  moment. One man in the group runs very large SAP projects that rely on strong data governance. And, it turns out, he had a bone to pick with me about my book, Alpha Males and Data Disasters: the Case for Data Governance.  I was prepared to concede a few points right off the bat - yes, the book only addresses a few drivers for data governance. Yes, its provocative title was chosen to make a point. No, there’s no male bashing in it - it is simply using a recognizable term to talk about data-related risk and how to manage it. And yes, I do have newer thoughts than those from when it was first written, over three years ago.

But that wasn’t his point. And no, he didn’t take umbrage at the concept of Alphas. His point was that I hadn’t taken it far enough!

In his experience, there was a higher category - Uber Alphas - who were the key to successful data projects. An Uber Alpha, my new friend said, has the drive, focus, and skills of an Alpha. But the Uber Alpha has adopted Beta characteristics: the Uber Alpha is a system thinker, doesn’t let ego get in the way of reaching goals, is very willing to solicit advice from many sources, and values the support and contributions of less-aggressive Betas.

In our interconnected world, and with interconnected systems, this man said, a pure Alpha will self-destruct. But an Uber Alpha will come out on top.

It makes sense to me.

Here at the Data Management & Information Quality Conference Europe 2008 (DM&IQ) event in London, there’s been a lot of talk about politics.

Go Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Usually at these things, folks are careful to avoid such talk, but not this time. It may not come as surprise to those of you in the field, but nearly everyone I talked to (from the U.S. and from Europe) was passionately hoping Obama would win, and was very relieved when he did.

So of course some of us had to analyze this. Do you think it’s because we’re system people and used to looking at the big picture?

Cheerio, all!

I’m in London speaking at the Data Management & Information Quality Conference Europe 2008. Having a great time. Lots of good sessions, and it’s great to meet up again with folks from the Netherlands (with whom I was “locked” in a conference room for 3 days at the IAP event last July) and folks from Great Britain that I see at events here in London. And of course, there are folks from the U.S. here that I seem to see only on the conference circuit. Had a great discussion with the inimitable John Zachman about the possibility of using humor to teach seriously needed concepts.

(I also made John blush - told him he was a big inspiration for me when I was trying to decide whether I was crazy or, yes-the-world-might-benefit-from-understanding-DataGovernance. Told him he was living proof of the power of one guy, one idea helping to change the world. Made me wonder why I waited to tell him for so long - why do we wait to tell people the important stuff?)

But I digress. Every evening I’ve been able listen to Big Ben from my hotel room. How cool is that? But it’s much more than cool. The sound, the certainty behind it, is so… comforting. The world is changing around us, but at least I know what time it is. I know where I am, and I trust the source of the information I’m getting.

How great is that. So here’s a question for all of you who are charged with creating roadmaps and change plans for our organizations? Where’s your Big Ben?