This is a different type of blog post for us. Over time we have gathered some quotes that we like that can be related to data, data management, data governance and data intelligence. We hope that you enjoy them like we did.
Here are the quotes:
- “I’ll take continuous improvement over postponed perfection every day”. – Russ Griffith – Conveys the thought that doing something right now, even something little, is better than waiting for the big plan to be finalized.
- “In God we trust, all others bring data.” — W. Edwards Deming, management expert – Conveys the importance of data in any organization.
- “If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing.” – W. Edward Deming, management expert – Educate staff on how to make requests and report data quality issues, and use the just-in-time, help desk, customer service approach to get these questions answered as quickly as possible.
- “Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.” - Mark Twain - Unless you have a plan for that data, it will not be of much use. Prior to the data collection phase, analysts will usually have a specific question they want to answer or a challenge they want to overcome. Based on their goals, they determine what kind of data they need and where to source it. Data collection with no clear purpose? Garbage!
- "Garbage in, garbage out" - Refers to the idea that in any system, the quality of output is determined by the quality of the input. The first recorded use of the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" dates to the late 1950s, but George Fuechsel, an IBM programmer and instructor, is generally credited with coining the term in the early 1960s. Fuechsel is said to have used the term to state concisely that software just processes what it is given: If it is given bad information, it will produce bad information. Data governance will improve the data in.
- “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward – This conveys our approach to data governance, a just-in-time, help desk, and customer service approach. Be pragmatic and just do it – don’t waste time talking about it. Put the people, processes, and tools in place to make it happen.
- “With data collection, ‘the sooner, the better’ is always the best answer.” - Marissa Mayer, American business executive – Conveys the importance of automated process, data stewardship, data policies, and automated integrations between data systems.
- “A failure to plan is a plan to fail.” - often attributed to Benjamin Franklin - You need to have a data governance roadmap and have those in the organization follow this roadmap.
- “In a world of more data, the companies with more data-literate people are the ones that are going to win.” — Miro Kazakoff - So true, conveys the importance of the data and the data governance of this data.
- “Everyone has the right to use company data to grow the business. Everyone has the responsibility to safeguard the data and protect the business.” — Travis James Fell – Everyone at the organization should keep in mind the importance of the organization’s data. Use it but protect it.
- Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.” – Peter Drucker - Remember to train your staff constantly about the organization’s data and about data governance. Make your staff more data literate and always improve your data.
- “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization for one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.” ― Peter Drucker – Empower your data stewards so that you do not have to spend time in meetings creating data-related deliverables.
- “Change is the only constant in life.” – Heraclitus, Greek philosopher – Data governance is about constant change – embrace it.
- “Change before you have to.” – Jack Welch, former GE Chairman and CEO – Data governance is about change and planning for the future. If there is no change, you are probably leading to failure.
- "Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up." - G.K. Chesterton – Related to the story about a fence that was taken down which caused the sheep to come into the town. Document your data so that you understand why things are the way they are.
Thought we would end our post with a Justinian Cartoon – We love this cartoon as it conveys our approach to data governance: a pragmatic, just-in-time, help desk, and customer service approach. Be pragmatic and just do it – don’t waste time talking about it – put the people, processes, and tools in place to make it happen..
IData has a solution, the Data Cookbook, that can aid the employees and the organization in its data governance, data intelligence, data stewardship and data quality initiatives. IData also has experts that can assist with data governance, reporting, integration and other technology services on an as needed basis. Feel free to contact us and let us know how we can assist.
Photo Credit: StockSnap_WFEYZYN6V7_WomanSmiling_DataGovernanceQuotes_BP #B1292
