"The challenges ahead" - Part 13 of 14: THE DATA ARCHITECTURE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT (free excerpts)

This is the thirteenth part of the chapter titled “The Data Architecture Construction Project”, from the book “The Data Garden And Other Data Allegories”.

<< Click here to go back to Part 12 ("Transparent, Integrated Delivery Support")

Click here to go to Part 14 ("Hope for the future") >>

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The challenges ahead

Now that you’ve laid out your plans for the way you’d like the team to work, you give people a few minutes to allow what you’d said to sink in, before you wrap up the meeting with a summary of next steps.

This is just the beginning and through active collaboration and regular reflection on the operational performance of the team, the operating model is something that can be evolved over time, based on the lessons that are learned along the way.

Whilst you do believe that the changes you’ve outlined will help everyone work better together and will by implication drive greater productivity and success, it’s also important that everyone is clear on the challenges ahead and the part that each individual plays in addressing them.

Data Insights Town is very busy, with many data people travelling across it and using its facilities every day. Any building work will cause disruption and will put some data people at risk. There will be times when parts of the transport network needs to be temporarily shut to enable maintenance work, or where data people will need to be re-directed, especially when new roads are opened up.

Data people will always need to travel and they will find a way to get across town to work, even if they have to work around the infrastructure that’s in place in circuitous, costly and unsafe ways. This is a reality that needs to be accepted and considered when delivering data building projects.

Everyone has become very used to ways of working that are going to need to change, and that’s going to be challenging at first. It’s going to take conscious effort and the support of each other to make those changes stick.

To name a few simple examples: the constant use of sticky-plasters is no longer acceptable. Although it will be tolerated where absolutely necessary, it’s important to start designing for the future, using the right materials for the right job.?

It will no longer be acceptable to build without establishing the right foundations first. This will add time and cost up-front, but will speed things up in the long run. There’ll also be a shift to more modular, re-usable structures. This will make them faster to build, easier to extend and connect together.?

Whilst all of this sounds very straightforward, you know it’s going to mean change for people, which will require support and follow-through.

The final point you want to make is about keeping the end user in mind. Everything is being built for data people, and the way that they will derive value from the roads and buildings that are being built and maintained, will be through using them. This needs to be front and centre during every build: why do data people need these new structures and how will they be designed and built to deliver the most value for them and to encourage them to use them?

In terms of next steps, you’ve now laid out your initial thoughts on how you’d like the teams to work differently. You’ll be arranging for the weekly meetings to be established from next week, along with regular one-to-one catch-ups with each member of the leadership team. You ask that each team lead considers what they’ve heard and pulls together a plan for how they intend to implement the new ways of working.

On this note, you’re finished for today. You thank everyone for joining and express your sincere excitement for this opportunity and the privilege to lead such a great team. You’re looking forward to working with such a talented group of people and are confident that by working as a well-coordinated group, you will all be very successful.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this excerpt.?Please do let me know what you think in the comments below.?

If you want to read more chapters from the book, please do check it out on Amazon:

• The Data Garden on Amazon.CO.UK
• The Data Garden on Amazon.COM

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