My late wife, Becky Dearborn, was very interested in Native American culture, art, and mythology. Through her interest, I’ve acquired a good deal of information on Native American customs. Of particular interest to me is the traditional role of the Shaman in Native American tribes.i
Shamans (who can be men, women, or “Two-Spirit” individuals) are the “knowledge managers” of the tribe. The word Shaman literally means “one who knows.” They are the custodians of the tribe’s history, culture, religion, art, medicine, government, and lived experience. They are the storehouse of the tribe’s expertise, and they take on several different roles within the tribe:
- Communicator: Providing help and advice to members of the tribe
- Educator: Passing along the tribal knowledge, experience, and expertise
- Healer: Helping to treat sickness and disease and addressing problems within the tribe
- Prophet: Helping the tribe anticipate and prepare for future challenges and opportunities
The Shaman:
- Documents the history of what has been done in the past and helps the tribe understand how they got to where they are now
- Preserves a culture that unifies and sustains the tribe
- Teaches life lessons, such as the importance of honor and truthfulness
- Suggests strategies (through storytelling and prophecy) to help the tribe solve problems or accomplish a goal
- Explains the connections between the tribe and the world around them (i.e., the systems view)
- Helps provide stability, unity, and cohesion in times of crisis (such as the forced relocation of the tribe)
Moreover, lest you think that Shamans act only in an advisory capacity, understand that Shamans also have a facilitator or implementor role in the tribe. In some tribes, such as the Cheyenne and the Sioux, the Shaman was also the War Chief, leading the tribe into battle!
So, why am I telling you all this, and why is it important? This is important because, 40 years or so after the advent of data management, we are still having protracted conversations about the business value of good data management practices. As I noted in my recently published “Data Value Manifesto,”ii a number of organizations have laid off their CDOs and CDO groups and data teams because of a perceived lack of significant or measurable business value. This begs the question: How can we, as data and information professionals, be seen as people who can contribute significant value to an organization? My answer: We need to become Data and Information Shamans.
Data Shamans embody the following characteristics:
- They are the custodians of an organization’s data and knowledge assets. They know where data resides, and they know where it’s produced, when, and how often. They know what the data is used for within the organization, and what its current — and potential — value is to the organization. They also understand the quality of the data and know what needs to be fixed in order to make the data useful.
- They understand what has been done with data in the past and can help chart new opportunities for leveraging these data assets to create future value.
- They understand the organization’s business processes, and how it creates value for its stakeholders. They can recommend changes to business processes to deliver better business value faster.
- They can work with business users and IT to develop new data, BI, and AI technologies that increase the organization’s store of knowledge and expertise and ability to deliver value.
- They work to keep the organization’s store of knowledge current, correct, and easy to consume.
- They help understand and solve data and knowledge-related problems within the organization. They are the “go-to” people when a data-related challenge or opportunity arises.
- They help guide the organization through challenging times and changing business conditions, and they provide insight into appropriate and inappropriate ways of using data to achieve business goals.
- They are able to articulate a clear and compelling vision for the future direction of the organization’s use of data, information, and knowledge.
Most importantly, they can tell the story of the importance of data management and the value that good data practices can contribute to an organization. Conversely, they can also tell stories about the consequences of bad data practices (for example, the infamous Time Reporting application I use as an example in many of my writings). As I said in my book “Building the Agile Database,” even our project failures have value because we can always point to them as examples of what not to do next time.iii
There are a few points in particular that I’d like to make about Data Shamans: First, they need to be what I call “Right Here” people (as opposed to what I call “Over There” people). “Over There” people sit in a back room or a cubicle somewhere and wait for somebody to bring them a request or a task to fulfill. When an organization needs to tighten its belt, the “Over There” people are usually the first notch. “Right Here” people are working with the business every single day, on the front lines of business value delivery. If you can’t point to the actual business value that your work is creating, then you’re doing the wrong thing! I’ve suggested that Data people consider transferring out of the IT organization (even to another company if necessary) and embed themselves into a business unit so they can have a more direct impact on value creation.
Second, they need to be seen as facilitators and problem-solvers, not just people who perform tasks and respond to requests. Many times in the past, I’ve had to push back on requests I’ve received, because the requested work was unnecessary, or duplicated somewhere else, or inappropriate for what the organization actually needed, or needed to be done in a different way. Data Shamans need more than just data management skills; they need to be expert facilitators and communicators as well.iv They need to be able to manage conversations around data requirements, ask pertinent questions, surface assumptions, and push back (as necessary) when requests don’t seem to make any sense, or need to be implemented in a more appropriate way. They need to make sure that everybody is telling (and hearing) the same story, that requests for data model, pipeline, and database changes facilitate the work that everybody agrees needs to be done, and that these requests move the organization’s data, information, and knowledge management capabilities forward.
In the same way that members of a tribe wouldn’t ask the Shaman to cast a particular spell or utter a particular prophecy, we need to understand that Data Management professionals need to be regarded as consultants, not just order takers and task executors. We need to be seen as people who understand the current and future needs of the business, and who can help chart and direct the future development of data and knowledge assets to grow the organization’s expertise and value creation capabilities.
Third, Data Shamans need to be able to apply the knowledge of the past to help solve the problems of today. When solving problems, it’s important to not “reinvent the wheel” when it’s just a spoke that needs replacing! This is especially true on agile projects, with their notoriously tight cycle times.
The Shaman is the keeper of a comprehensive encyclopedia of the tribe — its history, religion, medicine, spells, chants, prayers, and music. The Shaman can draw on all of this past knowledge and experience to address the current (and future) needs of the tribe.
In the same way, Data Shamans must be able to draw on past knowledge and experience in order to solve current (and future) data problems. This includes, for example, being able to leverage existing data models and metadata, repurpose existing data (and databases), and make use of data model patterns (David Hay, Len Silverston, etc.)v to jump start data modeling discussions and data requirements analysis.
As with Shamans, data professionals need to understand how to apply the knowledge of the past to solve the problems of today.
i Much of the material in this article is taken from Chapter 5 of my book “Data Model Storytelling” (Technics Publications LLC, 2021).
ii Burns, Larry. “A Data Value Manifesto”. TDAN.com, March 5, 2025. tdan.com/a-data-value-manifesto/32490.
iii There is an excellent book by Scott Taylor called “Telling Your Data Story” (Technics Publications LLC, 2020) that explains how data professionals can better tell their data stories.
iv For anyone who needs help developing facilitation and communication skills, I highly recommend Toastmasters, the international public speaking organization. As I detail in my book “Data Model Storytelling” (pages 41-44), I’ve found Toastmasters to be invaluable in helping me develop the speaking, listening, facilitation, and leadership skills that I’ve used in my data management work over the years. I wouldn’t have progressed nearly as far as I have in my career without the help I’ve received from my involvement in Toastmasters!
v See John Giles’ excellent book “The Nimble Elephant” (Technics Publications LLC, 2012) for advice on using data model patterns to facilitate Data work on Agile projects.
