I sense some contradictions here. Let me attempt to clarify.
You say “ Finally you can not have no data strategy.” I’m not sure what that statement means but I assume you are trying to say that all organisations must have a data strategy. Is that correct?
Given your references to Roger Martin above I’m assuming your view is therefore that strategy is not a plan. However since most of the article refers to things that I would consider plans I am confused. Roger Martin is very clear that “a plan is not a strategy”, which echoes the teachings of Henry Mintzberg and I agree, whether in the context of business strategy or data strategy.
You mention data strategy being the strategy for the data function and I wonder what happens if there is no data function? I see a lot of organisations that have no defined data function. Of course data engineering, analytics and modeling takes place but it is performed by people across the organisation, like marketing, sales, operations, finance. In this case is the whole organisation deemed to be the data function?
If the whole organisation is considered to be the data function (and there is no dedicated data team) then what is the difference between the data choices in the business strategy and the data strategy?
Finally, even in organisations that have dedicated data functions there is usually some data analytics work done outside of the dedicated data function. How is that work steered (i.e. how are choices made) within your view of the world?
Hi Martin! Thank you for your comments. Many things I think can be discussed.
"you can not have no data strategy." - Typically not having a formulated (data) strategy means, you have a kind of opportunistic way to do the things. This is also a decision, as you priorize other things or things are running well. But you always have ways to handle your data in a way.
“a plan is not a strategy” - right. I'm a convinced that a strategy without a plan is possibly and mostly worthless but both are different things. Maybe worth an own article...
"data strategy being the strategy for the data function" - I put some parts together from different sources to show examples what data strategy could be. I'm convinced there is not one way. While the article from Jens Linden define creating value of data as part of the business strategy while data strategy is a functional strategy, I personally wouldn't differentiate here. But it is an interesting perspective I could also respect form seeing the complete picture in his article: https://medium.com/towards-data-science/how-most-organizations-get-data-strategy-wrong-and-how-to-fix-it-b8afa59f1533
"If the whole organisation is considered to be the data function" - I assume here two becomes one, but as I said before... - where do you see such organizations?
"How is that work steered (i.e. how are choices made) within your view of the world?" - Ah, my view of the world. I blog to learn and what I write here are just thoughts. My basic thought here is having a data strategy is typically better than having no (formal) data strategy. In my daily business I do what works best in the situation through understanding the customer. There is not the one view of the world. Most organizations I see today are trying to decentralize. Currently typical best practices are federated approaches, flexible collaboration models, clarifying ownership, communities, managed self-service - but as always, it depends.
Developing a data strategy, while usually viewed as essential by data types, can be seen as removing or reducing power from many isolated “domains” around the business, whatever the actual case may be. This may be true even with abundant engagement.
How can we improve the process of developing an enterprise data strategy?
I sense some contradictions here. Let me attempt to clarify.
You say “ Finally you can not have no data strategy.” I’m not sure what that statement means but I assume you are trying to say that all organisations must have a data strategy. Is that correct?
Given your references to Roger Martin above I’m assuming your view is therefore that strategy is not a plan. However since most of the article refers to things that I would consider plans I am confused. Roger Martin is very clear that “a plan is not a strategy”, which echoes the teachings of Henry Mintzberg and I agree, whether in the context of business strategy or data strategy.
You mention data strategy being the strategy for the data function and I wonder what happens if there is no data function? I see a lot of organisations that have no defined data function. Of course data engineering, analytics and modeling takes place but it is performed by people across the organisation, like marketing, sales, operations, finance. In this case is the whole organisation deemed to be the data function?
If the whole organisation is considered to be the data function (and there is no dedicated data team) then what is the difference between the data choices in the business strategy and the data strategy?
Finally, even in organisations that have dedicated data functions there is usually some data analytics work done outside of the dedicated data function. How is that work steered (i.e. how are choices made) within your view of the world?
Hi Martin! Thank you for your comments. Many things I think can be discussed.
"you can not have no data strategy." - Typically not having a formulated (data) strategy means, you have a kind of opportunistic way to do the things. This is also a decision, as you priorize other things or things are running well. But you always have ways to handle your data in a way.
“a plan is not a strategy” - right. I'm a convinced that a strategy without a plan is possibly and mostly worthless but both are different things. Maybe worth an own article...
"data strategy being the strategy for the data function" - I put some parts together from different sources to show examples what data strategy could be. I'm convinced there is not one way. While the article from Jens Linden define creating value of data as part of the business strategy while data strategy is a functional strategy, I personally wouldn't differentiate here. But it is an interesting perspective I could also respect form seeing the complete picture in his article: https://medium.com/towards-data-science/how-most-organizations-get-data-strategy-wrong-and-how-to-fix-it-b8afa59f1533
"If the whole organisation is considered to be the data function" - I assume here two becomes one, but as I said before... - where do you see such organizations?
"How is that work steered (i.e. how are choices made) within your view of the world?" - Ah, my view of the world. I blog to learn and what I write here are just thoughts. My basic thought here is having a data strategy is typically better than having no (formal) data strategy. In my daily business I do what works best in the situation through understanding the customer. There is not the one view of the world. Most organizations I see today are trying to decentralize. Currently typical best practices are federated approaches, flexible collaboration models, clarifying ownership, communities, managed self-service - but as always, it depends.
Developing a data strategy, while usually viewed as essential by data types, can be seen as removing or reducing power from many isolated “domains” around the business, whatever the actual case may be. This may be true even with abundant engagement.
How can we improve the process of developing an enterprise data strategy?