There are two important, linked themes in
knowledge-based organizations. One can be called caring about data. The
other is caring for data.
It's on the caring-for side that most work
has been done to date. Organizations have people and teams in place, charged
with ensuring the availability, retention, and quality of business data. These
roles grew out of data processing disciplines. Someone would be in charge of
files, then when database technology came in, we got database administrators
(DBAs). The more central data came to be in the running of the business, the more
data-care roles emerged. We now have data custodians and data governance
processes. Structurally and culturally, caring for data is in good shape.
But have organizations made the same
progress in caring about data? We care for data so that the business can
make use of it. But if the business doesn't care – or care enough – about data,
then all the supporting work is for nothing.
Managers make the right caring-about
noises. Many people are masters at using data to move the business forward.
They are also powerful advocates for data, supporting the development of new
applications and the sourcing of new feeds.
I still see a gap at the point where
caring-about and caring-for should meet. The gap is in the matter of dta standards. Some business people see standards as only a technical issue. From
their perspective, standards are tools that help the organization care for
data. Here's the thing: standards are used by technical people, but they belong
to the business. They tell you what your data means. It's standards that make
the transformation of data into action possible.
Care about data? Then care about standards.
Use them to ensure common meanings across the organization. Get everybody
speaking the same language. Share a mental model of the knowledge domain in
which you act. It's the only way to make sure your data really is a business
asset.
Comments