What makes bread rise – and your data strategy work? The role of a data strategy.
For bread to rise, it needs to create carbon dioxide. This reaction occurs when the yeast starts to feed off the sugar and is accelerated when the dough is put in the oven, with the heat expanding and moving the gas to create bubbles in the dough.
But there are several factors that can stop that chemical reaction from happening. The yeast is too old, too much sugar was added, you missed out an ingredient, you didn’t prove your dough for long enough, the temperature in the oven wasn’t right…the list goes on.
The more you understand the bread-making process, and why each step is needed, the better equipped you are to avoid those mistakes.
The same goes for data. The more you have a clear roadmap to follow, and understand why you need to follow it, the easier it is to keep your data goals in sight and delivered on time (and in budget).
Data governance, for instance, is a step that is too easily missed from a data project, most often because the business either doesn’t understand why they need it, or why it needs to fall at that particular part of the journey – yet like proving bread, it is an essential step to making your data project a success.
Defining a data strategy at the very beginning will keep you on track and help you to communicate the why and when of the project, avoiding delays and mistakes later on. It’s essentially a recipe for success, that keeps everyone on the same page and moving forwards.
Are you baking a bloomer or flatbread? Creating a goal-oriented Data Strategy
Before you begin to define your data strategy, you need to know what you’re trying to achieve with your data.
If you set out to make a flatbread, but follow the recipe for a bloomer, you’re going to be disappointed: yes, you might get a ‘perfect’ loaf, with all the right chemical reactions, but it’s not what you needed or wanted. And it will make a rubbish kebab.
