Data culture

Intention starts at the top. But decisions are placed into the capable hands of those closest to the action. When that handoff happens, no amount of well-designed, well-meaning intention can replace the intimate thoughts of the individual. Organizational, division, or team values seep into the thoughts of the employees, but they need to translate to the daily decision makers.

Values inform the individuals. They craft what is acceptable, what is expected, what is rewarded. Collectively, employees making up an organization acting in accordance to the values is the culture.

When I think of data culture, I imagine images of every bit of data I need and want before my hands to validate some idea. Whether or not I should have that data comes as an afterthought. Data culture tends to devolve into mass data collection. Data collection is a means but not an end in itself.

In the quest for data accessibility, data flows free through all products, services, and tools for an organization. Once collected, the data is available where it is needed. What often is understated in the conversation of accessibility is intention. Intention to collect data precedes it being accessible.

Data platform teams can improve processes, create infrastructure, and train the organization. But data infrastructure optimizes for accessibility, not for intention. Data accessibility needs to be tempered by data minimization. No amount of engineering cleverness or sophistication will help people make informed decisions.

The endless pursuit of more data leads to more problems. It is tempting to collect as much data as possible. Data paranoia creeps into our thoughts. It tells us what insights we will miss out on. Or what products we won’t be able to build.

Instead, each organization should turn to its core values. Those values should drive what types of products they want to build, what data should be collected, and how that data should be used. If the application aligns with the company’s values, then go for it. The important step here is taking the moment to reflect on the intention of data collection. Focusing on the intent drives minimization. Individuals must take that moment to reflect and regard their actions with the values to prevent errant collection and misuse of data.