Bruce Lee

Enter the Dragon

At first sight, pushing Bruce Lee into an article about data might seem a bit of a stretch, I don’t think so, I believe it does make sense, so bear with me a few minutes.

Can’t hide my admiration for the man and his work, in its many dimensions, but my focus is on a particular aspect of his life.

During his short life he spent a vast amount of his time developing a system – Jeet Kune Do – that combined the best from both East and West martial techniques. Objectively aiming at developing a system that was simultaneously more efficient and effective.

“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end. “

Bruce Lee - Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune do is based on a philosophy of simplicity, directness, and freedom, not bounded to any method or tool. Instead, it uses the best of all methods and tools to tackle all the issues it faces.

In our specific context these can be either technical, business, or organizational, and the way to approach how data is managed and used should be rooted on three principles:

• Efficiency: Creating solutions that reach its target in the least amount of time, in the most effective way and with the best results.
• Directness: Creating solutions that follow the shortest and most efficient path handle a problem.
• Simplicity: Doing only what is necessary to solve an issue as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Following these principles can provide the tools to build what any organization needs to achieve effectiveness and excellence in the way their data is managed.

But also important is to know that these principles are not laws, they are only guidelines. There are times when these “rules” should be broken because a given context dictates it.

It must be a framework that allow us to use everything, that we can change, modify, and add to it, in a way that is a continuous growth of knowledge.

Always keeping an open mind and absorbing whatever proofs to work with the least amount of effort and the most efficiently as possible.

Organic Data Governance

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

― Bruce Lee

 The development of a framework that embodies the principles above and allows governance initiatives to overcome its more frequent obstacles, such as the lack of leadership buy-in and commitment, lack alignment with business goals and benefits, lack of focus on strategic data, lack of cross organization involvement or a technological approach, can only be achieved with an approach that is flexible enough to adapt to the business needs, and produces tangible business benefits.

• Focusing on strategic data, aligned with the organization’s key strategic business objectives.
• Focusing on the business cases to deliver these priorities and objectives, all with clear, achievable objectives and stakeholders that are aware of the importance and impact of data.
• Focusing on small, targeted initiatives where the impact and value of data can be clearly identified.
• Focusing on communicating them across the organization, success stories, that even at a small scale will create the awareness and act as a motor to leverage the replication of that story in other business units.
• Empowering business units, allowing them to drive and orient these initiatives. Data governance is not an IT function, it is a business function, it is the business who better knows what their problems and objectives are. The role of IT in this process is to find the right technology and support the business units in this journey.
• Applying an agile development mindset to all this process, start with a minimum viable solution and iterate, allow that visible results are presented in short time lapses.
• Making use of all the tools available to assure the alignment with the business and data strategies, as Master Data Management (MDM), data quality, data stewardship workflows, data catalog, business glossary and metadata management.
• Using data minimalism principles – Assuring that all data is being collected and processed within a specific context, either operational, regulatory, etc. and that it is collected and analyzed with an end in mind, sustained by a business case and aligned with the business objectives.

 This approach will create sufficient traction and will increasing the awareness across the organization and will end-up acting as the motor from within the organization for a Data Governance structure that will grow organically out of the initial iteration.