2012 Quarterly Review (Part 3)

Dec 19, 2012 by Jim Harris in Data Governance, Data Integration, Data Migration, Data Quality, Master Data Management

Welcome to the unofficial 2012 quarterly review that I have decided to perform on the Data Roundtable. In this four-part series, I will select and summarize my favorite posts published on this blog during each quarter of this year, selecting one post per contributor per month.

Part 1 of this series covered blog posts from January, February and March.

Part 2 of this series covered blog posts from April, May and June.

Part 3 covers blog posts from July, August and September.

July 2012

Teamwork! — Joyce Norris-Montanari goes to the dogs, more specifically her dogs Teddy and Bella, for examples of how effective teams complement each other’s skills.

London Calling — Rich Murnane calls upon London’s country as an example of the complexities inherent in representing complex real-world concepts as simple data structures.

Pervasive Knowledge and Protection of Privacy — David Loshin poses four questions about the accuracy and privacy of the information collected about us by online service providers.

An Independence Day for our Personal Data — Jim Harris looks forward to personal data ownership becoming just as much of a self-evident truth and unalienable right as our personal freedom.

Beyond Reengineering — As part of his Influential Books series, Thomas Redman reviews the book Beyond Reengineering by Michael Hammer.

Facebook and the Future of Personal Data — Phil Simon ponders the future of personal data privacy in the era of social networking where we voluntarily share a lot of information about ourselves.

When and Where to Cleanse in Data Migration — Dylan Jones recommends improving your data in the most practical environment possible. Is that the target immediately after go-live? You decide.

August 2012

It IS About the Data – Mergers and Acquisitions — In the conclusion of her three-part series, Joyce Norris-Montanari recommends building for the future — not just for today’s requirements.

Unstructured Big Data and Data Quality — David Loshin says we need to rethink what is meant by data quality in the context of big data, and especially with streamed social media.

The Godfather of Data Governance — Jim Harris tells the story of Bonasera visiting Data Corleone on the day of the Data Governance Council meeting to ask the favor of having his bad data “fixed.”

The War for Data Talent — Thomas Redman examines the rapidly growing demand for people with data skills, citing industry reports by McKinsey and Heidrick & Struggles.

The Politics of Data Whistleblowing — Phil Simon explains that without adequate safeguards and a receptive audience, data whistleblowing can be an exercise in futility.

The Problem With Outsourcing Data Quality — Dylan Jones expresses concern about data quality outsourcing preserving a status quo that ignores the need for continuous improvement.

September 2012

Where Oh Where Did My Metadata Go? — Joyce Norris-Montanari examines creating a strategy for business and technical metadata in an environment where multiple ETL tools are used.

Nobody Said it was Easy — Rich Murnane uses the lyrics of the Coldplay song The Scientist to explain his data management journey.

Machine-to-Machine Data and the Expectation of Data Quality — David Loshin ponders whether we should expect machine-generated data to have better quality than human-generated data.

The Data Sharpshooter Fallacy — Jim Harris takes aim at analysts overlaying meaning onto a random cluster of data points and thereby convincing themselves that they have discovered a business insight.

Positioning — As part of his Influential Books series, Thomas Redman reviews the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Goldilocks and Data Layers — Phil Simon discusses how many layers should be between end users and enterprise data (spoiler alert: neither too many, nor too few — aim for just right).

Don’t let Your Data Migration Take the Blame for Bad Legacy Data — Dylan Jones recommends performing rigorous upfront data quality assessments on your data migration projects.

Thank You

On behalf of all the contributors to the Data Roundtable, thank you for reading and commenting on the posts published on this blog throughout the year. Your readership is deeply appreciated.

In two weeks (Happy Holidays! ), Part 4 will conclude this series by covering blog posts from October, November and December.

Tags: Data Governance, Data Integration, Data Migration, Data Quality, Master Data Management