Episode description

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Sue's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suegeuens/

In this episode, Scott interviewed Sue Geuens, Director of Data Governance and Product Data at Elsevier. To be clear, she was only representing her own views on the episode.

We use the phrase MDM to mean master data management throughout the episode.

Some key takeaways/thoughts from Sue's point of view:

1. At the end of the day, if you want to do data governance well, it's about the people. Go talk to them, find out their specific needs and desires and work to tailor your language - and presumably your application of policies when possible - to their situations. People want good data, help them get there!
2. Relatedly, get good at telling stories about data work. Get people to lean in and get them involved. Personalize your communication!
3. While policies and standards are crucial, they are about creating better data for the organization. Try to leverage them as a carrot instead of a stick.
4. ?Controversial?: Don't talk about someone owning data. That's scary for most. Find ways to get them excited about owning the data without making it scary by using different phrasing.
5. The key to doing data governance well is getting people to care. We need them to care about the data because others have to use it. And that means the people are the most important focus.
6. Data governance is too focused on 'governance' and that means oversight. The word governance has a bad connotation for a reason - it makes many potential allies uncomfortable. So governance folks have to really work to make it less scary.
7. Don't focus so much on the data aspects of data work when talking with stakeholders. It's about achieving outcomes through data, not data work itself. Focus on what gets your business partners excited and that's (unfortunately) usually not...