Best OCDQ Blog Posts of 2011

Welcome to my roundup of the best blog posts published on the Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality (OCDQ) blog during 2011.

My selections were based on a pseudo-scientific, quasi-statistical combination of page views, comments, and re-tweets (as well as choosing a few of my personal favorites). Instead of ordering the posts chronologically, I decided to organize them by theme.

The Metadata Trilogy

Although it has an incredibly important role to play in data quality and its related disciplines, I don’t write about metadata very often. But the reader feedback that I received lead me to writing three blog posts about metadata in the span of a few weeks:

The Metadata Crisis — There is a running debate within many organizations over the meaning of commonly used terms, which complicates what on the surface seem like straightforward business questions.

The Metadata Continuum — There is a continuum, where at one end we have the uniformity of controlled vocabularies, and at the other end we have the flexibility of chaotic folksonomies. However, both flexibility and uniformity provide value.

You Say Potato and I Say Tater Tot — The demarcations of the borders between metadata, data, and information are important, but sometimes difficult to discern. In this post, I offer an explanation about these demarcations using potatoes.

The Data Governance Star Wars (one less than a) Trilogy

In June, Rob Karel of Forrester Research and I used a Star Wars themed blog mock debate to take on one of data governance’s biggest challenges — how to balance bureaucracy and business agility. Gwen Thomas of the Data Governance Institute joined Rob and I to continue the discussion during a special, extended, and Star Wars themed episode of OCDQ Radio:

Data Governance Star Wars: Balancing Bureaucracy and Agility — In character as OCDQ-Wan, I argue in favor of business agility and explain that Collaboration is the Data Governance Force.

Data Governance Star Wars on OCDQ Radio — In Part 1, Rob Karel and I discuss our blog mock debate, which is followed by a brief Star Wars themed intermission, and then in Part 2, Gwen Thomas joins us to provide her excellent insights.

Although not Star Wars themed, here are some additional Best OCDQ Blog Posts of 2011 on the topic of data governance:

The Three Most Important Letters in Data Governance — There are only three letters of difference between the words cooperative and competitive, which we could say are the three most important letters in data governance.

Data Governance and the Adjacent Possible — It’s important to demonstrate that some data governance policies reflect existing best practices, which helps reduce resistance to change, and therefore I advise: “If it ain’t broke, bricolage it.”

Aristotle, Data Governance, and Lead Rulers — Well-constructed data governance policies are like lead rulers — flexible rules that empower us with an understanding of the principle of the policy, and how to enforce it in a particular context.

The Stakeholder’s Dilemma — There will be times when sacrifices for the long-term greater good will require that stakeholders either contribute more resources during the current phase, or receive fewer benefits from its deliverables.

Beware the Data Governance Ides of March — My dramatized warning about relying too much on the top-down approach to implementing data governance — and especially if your organization has any data stewards named Brutus or Cassius.

Data Governance and the Buttered Cat Paradox — The fearless felines of the buttered-toast-paratrooper brigade ponder how to approach data governance — top-down or bottom-up. See the follow-up post: Zig-Zag-Diagonal Data Governance

OCDQ Radio

In June, I launched OCDQ Radio, which is a vendor-neutral podcast about data quality and the audio complement to this blog, providing me with a platform for recorded discussions with the great folks working in the data management industry. So far, there have been 21 episodes of OCDQ Radio, including 22 guests from 7 countries. Here are a few of the most popular episodes:

So Long 2011, and Thanks for All the . . . — The OCDQ Radio 2011 Year in Review, featuring Jarrett Goldfedder, who discusses Big Data, Nicola Askham, who discusses Data Governance, and Daragh O Brien, who discusses Data Privacy.

The Fall Back Recap Show — A look back at the Best of OCDQ Radio, including discussions about Data, Information, Business-IT Collaboration, Change Management, Big Analytics, Data Governance, and the Data Revolution.

Big Data and Big Analytics — Special Guests Jill Dyché and Dan Soceanu discuss big trends in Business Intelligence, including Cloud, Collaboration, and Big Data, the last of which lead to a discussion about Big Analytics.

Organizing for Data Quality — Guest Tom Redman (aka the “Data Doc”) discusses how your organization should approach data quality, including his call to action for your role in the data revolution.

Making EIM Work for Business — Guest John Ladley discusses his book Making EIM Work for Business, exploring what makes information management, not just useful, but valuable to the enterprise.

The Blue Box of Information Quality — Guest Daragh O Brien on why Information Quality is bigger on the inside, using stories as an analytical tool and change management technique, and why we must never forget that “people are cool.”

Master Data Management in Practice — Guests Dalton Cervo and Mark Allen discuss their book MDM in Practice, and how to properly prepare for a new MDM program.

Studying Data Quality — Guest Gordon Hamilton discusses the key concepts from recommended data quality books, including those which he has implemented in his career as a data quality practitioner.

Good-Enough Data for Fast-Enough Decisions — Guest Julie Hunt discusses Data Quality and Business Intelligence, including the speed versus quality debate of near-real-time decision making, and the future of predictive analytics.

Social Media Strategy — Guest Crysta Anderson of IBM Initiate explains social media strategy and content marketing, including three recommended practices: (1) Listen intently, (2) Communicate succinctly, and (3) Have fun.

The Best of the Rest

Plato’s Data — Data shapes our perception of the real world, but sometimes we forget that data is only a partial reflection of reality. This theme was also discussed on the OCDQ Radio episode Redefining Data Quality with Peter Perera.

There is No Such Thing as a Root Cause — There are no root causes, only strong correlations. And correlations are strengthened by continuous monitoring. This post received excellent comments, including great banter with Martin Doyle.

You only get a Return from something you actually Invest in — Invest in doing the hard daily work of continuously improving your data quality and putting into practice your data governance principles, policies, and procedures.

The Dichotomy Paradox, Data Quality and Zero Defects — Has your data quality practice become motionless by trying to prove that Zero Defects is more than just theoretically possible?

The Data Quality Wager — Inspired by Gordon Hamilton, my rendering of Pascal’s Wager in a data quality context.

DQ-View: Talking about Data — DQ-View video discussion about how data professionals should talk about data when invited to participate in business discussions within their organizations.

The Speed of Decision — Examines the constraints that time puts on data-driven decision making, pondering whether decision speed is more important than data quality and decision quality.

The Data Cold War — Examines how Google and Facebook have performed the Master Data Management Magic Trick and socialized data (“Information wants to be free!”) in order to capitalize data as a true corporate asset.

A Farscape Analogy for Data Quality — Ponders whether data is not viewed as an asset because data has so thoroughly pervaded the enterprise that data has become invisible to those who are so dependent upon its quality.

No Datum is an Island of Serendip — Our organizations need to create collaborative environments that foster serendipitous connections bringing all of our business units and people together around our shared data assets.

Thank You for Reading OCDQ Blog in 2011

In 2011, the Obsessive-Compulsive Data Quality (OCDQ) blog published 112 posts, which received 130,000 total page views, averaging 350 page views and 150 unique visitors a day.

Thank you for reading OCDQ Blog in 2011. Your readership was deeply appreciated.

So Long 2011, and Thanks for All the . . . – The OCDQ Radio 2011 Year in Review

2011 Quarterly Review of the Data Roundtable (Part 3)

2011 Quarterly Review of the Data Roundtable (Part 2)

2011 Quarterly Review of the Data Roundtable (Part 1)

Commendable Comments (Part 10) – The 300th OCDQ Blog Post

730 Days and 264 Blog Posts Later – The Second Blogiversary of OCDQ Blog

OCDQ Blog Bicentennial – The 200th OCDQ Blog Post

Commendable Comments (Part 5) – The 100th OCDQ Blog Post

The Best Data Quality Blog Posts of 2010