Comments by Steve Sarsfield Subscribe

On Big Data, Good and Evil

Good points, Kirk.  Thanks for your comments.

On Why Predicting the Future is So Darn Difficult

Shermer is right, of course.  It's all about the butterfly effect, which  refers to minor events that occurs in complex systems that potentially have a major impact.  

Based on chaos theory, it is most commonly described in complex systems like weather prediction. The flapping wing of a butterfly represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events like pollen getting into the air, causing a gazelle to sneeze, thus causing a stampede of gazelles and other animals, thus causing additional dust to get into the atmosphere and block sunlight, thus changing the weather.

Since we can only look at gross changes and not every detail, it is very difficult to predict weather, and to predict the future. While we may not be able to track butterfly activity with any accuracy, we can track gross changes like dust in the atmosphere.  Therefore, it does make sense for us to make short-term predictions, but not long term ones.

 

 

On Six Data Management Predictions for 2011

Thanks, Trevor. We should be making decisions based on gut AND on information. I agree it is a good thing to leverage all the information we have.

On

True. We're in an emerging information society and we shouldn't embrace the information flow so much that we are actually controlled by it. I realize to some degree we are being controlled today. For example, credit score errors are difficult to fix after identity theft. Still, you can fix them.
Let's embrace the information flow as much as it keeps us employed, prosperous and in the pursuit of happiness. For those things, I am very optimisitic about our future.

On

Good point. I'll bet that happens quite a bit, Kathy.  Isn't it all part of the divide between business and IT? Technologists may be hesitant to see the benefits or even care all that much about them.  They should since business benefits usually drive the buying decision.

On

I consider that just showmanship, Daniel.   ;)

I'm not sure I'd go as far as Dilbert here, but definitely provide business value.

On

Thanks for your comments, Daniel.  I didn't get too deeply into the setup process with them except that I learned that like most enterprise apps, there is short professional services engagement that comes with Panviva SupportPoint to help you define/establish the processes.

By the way, I like the Death Star analogy - it works in so many ways.

On

We're lucky in that we live in a time where communication strategies aren't limited to meetings and face-to-face.  We have applications and Web 2.0 technologies that we can use to communication about our data governance project, like:

Workflow - Workflow software are powerful collaboration tools and should be considered to improve efficiency into your data governance process. With workflow tools, teams can manage the processes and coordination of the data governance team.

Wikis - In your data governance projects, you can use a wiki to document processes and have an open online dialogue about risks and challenges. Wikis can hold the latest corporate data policies. Wikis can be opened up to the corporation and provide communications across the enterprise.

Blogs - A well-liked team member can provide commentary or news on your data governance project. The writer may use text, images and links to other blogs written by other team members to inform and foster teamwork.  Data governance teams could designate certain team members to blog each week about the problems they are trying to solve and the projects they are working on.

None of these can eliminate meetings, but they can help, particularly if the data governance team is working from far and wide.

On Top Six Traits of a Data Champion

Thanks, Steve. The folks we're describing here make the desire to do data governance contagious, don't they? Viral data governance really starts with the data champion.