If you haven’t already heard, 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. In addition, a recently released report from MIT Sloan delivers some very depressing numbers about the efficacy of CDO groupsi:
- The average tenure of a chief data officer (CDO) is just two and a half years. This compares to nearly seven years for the typical chief executive officer (CEO) and just over four and a half years for the average chief financial officer (CFO) or chief information officer (CIO).
- Only half of CDOs are able to drive innovation using data. Just 40% of CDOs manage data as a business asset.
- Roughly 26% of CDOs have succeeded in creating a data-driven organization.
- About 25% of CDOs have no single point of accountability for data within their organization.
- Only 40% of respondents said the CDO role is successful and established within their organization.
The MIT Sloan article stresses the importance of “aligning expectations (of the CDO) to specific business outcomes.” In other words, data people need an understanding of how businesses actually work, and what businesses need in order to succeed.
We’ve been talking about “Aligning Data Management with the Business” for what seems like a lifetime, and yet we don’t seem to be getting any closer to achieving that goal. And our companies have noticed and are taking action. Between the perception that our data work is not adding value to our organizations, and the emergence of AI-powered tools that can automate a lot of our work, the jobs and careers of data professionals are in as much jeopardy as I’ve seen at any time in my career.
We are, at this point, in pretty much the same place as software developers were in 2001. Following a decade of high-profile and very expensive software project failures, developers realized they were going to have to completely reimagine the way they did their work and deliver value to their companies, or else risk the loss of their jobs. Thus, the Agile Manifesto (and the Agile movement) was born.
What we need right now is a sort of “Data Value Manifesto” for our profession. We need to have a long heart-to-heart about what we’ve failed to do and failed to deliver, and we need to create for our profession a completely new way of doing things. Either this, or face extinction.
So, what would such a “Data Value Manifesto” look like? I’ve been working on a new book called “A Vision for Value,” which examines the reasons why data professionals are perceived as not delivering value and suggests some ways in which data teams can increase both their value and their visibility. Let me present some of the ideas I’ve been working with, in manifesto form. See what you think.
Manifesto for Data Value Delivery
We as data professionals and data teams are passionately committed to continually improving our ability to deliver significant and measurable business value to our organizations. To that end, we resolve to continually work toward understanding the needs and concerns of our business community, developing the knowledge and understanding needed to respond effectively to these needs, and meeting those needs in tangible and measurable ways. We understand that meeting this commitment will require us to learn skills we don’t currently have, and to work in ways we’re not accustomed to, but we are resolved to make these changes, and any others that are needed to improve our standing with, and value to, our business partners.
Our Core Values
To this end, we as data professionals commit ourselves to these core values:
- Thinking and working as business people, rather than as technologists.
- Being value-driven, rather than data-driven.
- Becoming trusted and dependable business partners, rather than back-office technical workers.
- Cultivating a reputation for honesty, transparency, and dependability in our work, to be people the business can count on for results.
- Delivering value quickly, iteratively, transparently, and continually.
- Committing ourselves to continuous improvement in all aspects of our profession.
- Communicating and evangelizing the business value of good data management practices across our organizations.
Our Underlying Principles
Adopting these core values will lead us to adopt the following principles:
- We need to focus on data in motion (i.e., as streams of knowledge-creating information communicated to stakeholders), rather than data at rest (i.e., carefully curated data repositories that may or may not add value to organizations).
- We need to understand that the business value of data stems from its reusability, more than its quality. Data quality is important, but data doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful.
- We need to develop a working knowledge of how businesses create and measure value, developing business skills and acumen as well as technology skills.
- We need to prioritize our attention on work that provides the greatest value to our organizations, on Business initiatives rather than Data or BI initiatives.
- We need to develop measurable and business-relevant goals (i.e., OKRs) for our data work, measure our progress toward those goals, and then communicate our progress to our organizations and our management.
- We need to become “Right Here” people, working with business people on the front lines of value delivery, rather than “Over There” people doing invisible technical work in a back office.
- We need to recognize that “better data is not a business outcome” and focus on business objectives rather than data management objectives.
- We need to cultivate our credibility with the business, establishing ourselves as “go to” and “can do” people the business can trust and rely on to get things done.
- We need to understand and adopt the core principles of Agile and Human-Centered Design (HCD), to deliver results quickly, iteratively, and continually, with the maximum amount of transparency and Stakeholder involvement.
- We need to adopt the principle of Continuous Improvement in everything we do, working to constantly improve our knowledge, skills, and ability to deliver value.
- We need to develop the skills to communicate effectively with our business partners, and to evangelize the business value of good data management practices within our organizations.
What I’d like to see is data teams adopting some version of this manifesto (adapted to their own particular requirements and company culture) and then publishing it within their organization. Make it clear to your company’s business and IT stakeholders that you are committing yourselves to these core values and practices. Then make sure to deliver on that commitment, to establish credibility as a trusted and knowledgeable business partner committed to furthering the goals and vision of your organization!
I’d welcome any and all suggestions and comments on this manifesto, and any and all help developing these ideas. Anyone who wants to comment or help should connect with me on LinkedIn. I will post a link to this article on my LinkedIn page; feel free to add your input in the comments section. Thanks!
i Eastwood, Brian. “Chief Data Officers Don’t Stay in Their Role Long. Here’s Why.” MIT Sloan School of Management blog post, September 1, 2022.
