Chapter 10: Who Let the Data Provocateurs Out!

One group of people holds a special place in my heart. I call them data provocateurs. These are the first people in their companies, departments, or work teams to pro-actively attack data quality. I’ve had the privilege of working with many such people. These men and women come from all levels, from individual contributors to Presidents of business units. And they come from all industry segments.

Interestingly, none of the provocateurs I know set out to provoke anything. They were just trying to do their jobs better, whether it be setting up customer accounts, keeping track of oil wells, or trying to make their operations run more efficiently. Most had no specific talent for data when they started. But they kept running into data issues and thought, “There has to be a better way.”

So they went for it. Rather than simply accepting bad data, they got to the bottom of it. They made sure they understood who needed the data, and focused on what was most important. They put some simple measures in place. And they addressed the root causes of error. In doing these things, they became role models for the rest of their companies.

When the history of data quality is written, when data is far better than it is now, data provocateurs will be recognized as the heros and heroines. After all they displayed the courage to challenge the conventional wisdom, and persisted when things don’t go well. Without them, no organization would ever improve.

HERE’S WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU. There is a little provocateur in all of us. It is time to let it out. These ten simple Chapters have explained how. Now, go for it!

In case you missed any of the previous chapters you can find them all here! Thanks for reading and we hope to hear your thoughts on this series www.dataqualitysolutions.com.