The Book Look: Data Strategies for Data Governance
What makes a data book great? Our time is valuable, so a good data book should be concise and practical. It should show us how to do something, step by step, so we can apply the techniques to reinforce...
View ArticleCrossing the Data Divide: Framework for Selling Data Initiatives
Deja Vu All Over Again Something interesting has been happening to me over the last few months that I’ve not experienced in a while. Smart and experienced CIOs and their data leaders have been asking...
View ArticleA Step Ahead: Categories – Boon or Bane?
Do you love or hate organizing papers and objects in your home? For those that hate it, why do you hate it? I like the results of organizing: reduction of clutter and ease of finding things. But I hate...
View ArticleThe Art of Lean Governance: Walking the Data Factory
The concept of “walking the data factory” drew a great deal of interest during our recent DGPO webinar on data classification as part of a holistic governance program. We discussed ways to connect the...
View ArticleEyes on Data: The Right Foundation for Trusted Data and Analytics
Trust. Trust is defined as the assured reliance or belief on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something (Webster’s Dictionary). It’s a term we use often to describe how we feel...
View ArticleData Speaks for Itself: Data Love and Data Limerence
Now that “data” is finally having its day, data topics are blooming like jonquils in March. Data management, data governance, data literacy, data strategy, data analytics, data engineering, data mesh,...
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass: The Unique Identifier of the Rose
I recently taught an online class on BCBS 239: Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Reporting for Risk.net. Preparing the course materials took me back to 2007-2008, when I worked for Merrill Lynch...
View ArticleData Is Risky Business: Turning Abstract Ethics into Practical Practices
This quarter’s column draws on my keynote for DAMA Calgary’s contribution to DAMA Days Canada last month, which in turn drew on some of the content in the second edition of the “Data Ethics” book I...
View ArticleLegal Issues for Data Professionals: A New Data Licensing Model
Setting the Stage: Data as a Business Asset This column presents a new model for licensing and sharing data, one that I call the “Decision Rights Data Licensing Model” (or the “Decision Rights Model,”...
View ArticleThe Data-Centric Revolution: Best Practices and Schools of Ontology Design
I was recently asked to present “Enterprise Ontology Design and Implementation Best Practices” to a group of motivated ontologists and wanna-be ontologists. I was flattered to be asked, but I really...
View ArticleData Professional Introspective: Demystifying Data Culture
The term “data culture” is frequently used to describe a normative view about how an organization functions (or more precisely, should function) with respect to its data. The term is not particularly...
View ArticleAll in the Data: The Search for Intelligent Life in Your Organization
An invisible, yet universal, force exists that is shaping the very fabric of data-driven decision-making, data practices, and operational data management functionality. This force is “informal...
View ArticleThe Book Look: Data Privacy Across Borders
I never realized how complex data privacy rules can be for multinational companies until I read “Data Privacy Across Borders” by Lambert Hogenhout and Amanda Wang. This book not only goes into detail...
View ArticleCrossing the Data Divide: Data Catalogs and the Generative AI Wave
The “Tide” of LLMs Has Reached Our Shores As a career data professional and having spent most of the last 10 years with Collibra, Alation, and now as an independent, I’ve come to a somewhat painful,...
View ArticleA Step Ahead: Hierarchies – Boon or Bane?
This is a follow-up article to last quarter’s “A Step Ahead: Categories – Boon or Bane.” There’s an old cliché that says, “To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” I think this is very true of data...
View ArticleData Speaks for Itself: Is AI the Cure for Data Curation?
By now, it is clear to everyone that AI, especially generative AI, is the only topic you’re allowed to write about. It seems to have impacted every area of information technology, so, I will try my...
View ArticleEyes on Data: Transforming Data Challenges into Real Progress
In a world increasingly dominated by data, organizations are grappling with the need to effectively manage and harness this valuable asset. And with increased regulations and compliance, opportunities...
View ArticleThe Art of Lean Governance: Addressing the Elephant in the Room
Hands down one of the most frequent observations when walking the data factory at different clients is the excessive use of spreadsheets for data collection and purification. These spreadsheets are...
View ArticleThrough the Looking Glass: Data as Code? Or Data as a Code?
Readers of my column know my aversion to buzzwords.[1] I approach the hot catchphrase “Data as Code” with trepidation. Already, we have to name a few: – Infrastructure as Code (with its own acronym,...
View ArticleData-Centric: How Big Things Get Done (in IT)
I read “How Big Things Get Done” when it first came out about six months ago.[1] I liked it then. But recently, I read another review of it, and another coin dropped. I’ll let you know what the coin...
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