By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data Analytics instagram stories
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
    15 Min Read
    analyst,women,looking,at,kpi,data,on,computer,screen
    What to Know Before Recruiting an Analyst to Handle Company Data
    6 Min Read
    AI analytics
    AI-Based Analytics Are Changing the Future of Credit Cards
    6 Min Read
    data overload showing data analytics
    How Does Next-Gen SIEM Prevent Data Overload For Security Analysts?
    8 Min Read
    hire a marketing agency with a background in data analytics
    5 Reasons to Hire a Marketing Agency that Knows Data Analytics
    7 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Governing Data vs Governing People
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Big Data > Data Quality > Governing Data vs Governing People
Data Quality

Governing Data vs Governing People

GwenThomas
Last updated: 2011/02/10 at 5:12 PM
GwenThomas
4 Min Read
SHARE

My friend David Plotkin, who is the Data Governance Manager of AAA of Northern California, Nevada, and Utah, reached out to me recently to restate something I’d said last summer at the MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium. He asked me to tell him again what I’d said about data governance not being about governing data at all.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve slept a whole lotta times since last July. That’s a whole lotta forgetting. But his comment struck a bell – it sounded like something I’d say, but it also sounded like only part of the equation.

My friend David Plotkin, who is the Data Governance Manager of AAA of Northern California, Nevada, and Utah, reached out to me recently to restate something I’d said last summer at the MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium. He asked me to tell him again what I’d said about data governance not being about governing data at all.

More Read

ICO and GDPR

Can ICO Data Awareness Campaigns Create More Trust In Crypto?

Are Government Agencies Complying with FedRAMP?
4 Benefits for the Public Sector when Governments Start Using Big Data
Bigger Data, Better Intelligence for Government
Big Data Success in Government

I don’t know about you, but I’ve slept a whole lotta times since last July. That’s a whole lotta forgetting. But his comment struck a bell – it sounded like something I’d say, but it also sounded like only part of the equation.

So I wrote back about the difference between Big G Governance (people-focused activities such as setting policy, priorities, decision rights, control specifications, etc) and little g governance  (data-focused activities such as implementing and monitoring controls). (Spoiler alert: this meme features strongly in the DGI Data Governance Framework update, to be released in the coming weeks.)

Thanks, David said. But not what our previous discussion was.

David has one of the most important qualities of a Data Governance Manager: gentle persistence. He makes you want to do what is right, and he makes it easy to see what is right. Without ever telling me how he was going to use this new meme, he let me know that he was going to use it, that it would be very useful in an important situation. He made me imagine the impact, knowing that I’d want to help if I could.

So I dug through my memories (argh!!!) until I remembered the context and then the content, and I answered him. I’ve included the answer below. But first, a request: Please help me fill in some blanks. What else do we do to/with/for data that needs to be controlled? Does a list of verbs exist that we can access?

Is Data Governance really about governing data?

Well, on the one hand, we need to control data. hence, the “little g” view that data governance is about governing – or controlling – data.

On the other hand, data doesn’t do much of anything on its own. It behaves according to the choices people have made about how it is to be structured, stored, moved, duplicated, reshaped, contained, labeled, categorized, accessed, shared, protected, distributed, hidden, indexed, transformed, extracted, loaded, captured, collected, accepted, rejected, validated, specified, created, updated, deleted, and so on.

The human side of data governance is about agreeing to the rules and rules of engagement that people (managers, architects, data workers, others) adhere to as they translate policy to practice, designing, implementing, and monitoring data-related controls. It is this human side of data governance that tends to require the attention of our data governance managers, because if we don’t work past human obstacles, we won’t suceed in effectively addressing the “physics” of controling data itself. 

TAGGED: government
GwenThomas February 10, 2011
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

smart home data
7 Mind-Blowing Ways Smart Homes Use Data to Save Your Money
Big Data
ai low code frameworks
AI Can Help Accelerate Development with Low-Code Frameworks
Artificial Intelligence
data Analytics instagram stories
Data Analytics Helps Marketers Make the Most of Instagram Stories
Analytics
data breaches
How Hospital Security Breaches Devastate Local Communities
Policy and Governance

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

ICO and GDPR
Big DataData ManagementExclusivePolicy and GovernancePrivacyRisk ManagementSecurity

Can ICO Data Awareness Campaigns Create More Trust In Crypto?

8 Min Read

Are Government Agencies Complying with FedRAMP?

2 Min Read
Image
AnalyticsBig DataCulture/LeadershipData MiningData WarehousingPolicy and GovernanceTransparencyWorkforce Data

4 Benefits for the Public Sector when Governments Start Using Big Data

8 Min Read

Bigger Data, Better Intelligence for Government

3 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data
ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?