Data Quality is Boring!

Is this the kind of response you get when you mention to people that you work in Data Quality?!

Let’s be honest here. Data Quality is good and worthy, but it can be a pretty dull affair at times. Information Management is something that “just happens”, and folks would rather not know the ins-and-outs of how the monthly Management Pack gets created.

Yet I’ll bet that they’ll be right on your case when the numbers are “wrong”.

Right?!

So here’s an idea. The next time you want to engage someone in a discussion about data quality, don’t start by discussing data quality. Don’t mention the processes of profiling, validating or cleansing data. Don’t talk about integration, storage or reporting. And don’t even think about metadata, lineage or auditability. Yaaaaaaaaawn!!!!

Instead of concentrating on telling people about the practitioner processes (which of course are vital, and fascinating no doubt if you happen to be a practitioner), think about engaging in a manner that is relevant to the business community, using language and examples that are business-oriented. Make it fun!

Once you’ve got the discussion flowing in terms of the impacts, challenges and inhibitors that get in the way of successful business operations, then you can start to drill into the underlying data issues and their root causes. More often than not, a data quality issue is symptomatic of a business process failure rather than being an end in itself. By fixing the process problem, the business user gains a benefit, and the data in enhanced as a by-product. Everyone wins (and you didn’t even have to mention the dreaded DQ phrase!)

Data Quality is a human thing – that’s why its hard. As practitioners, we need to be communicators. Lead the thinking, identify the impact and deliver the value.

Now, that’s interesting!