Fail Fast, Learn Faster

10BecomingData-Driven: One Company's Odyssey

“Torture the data, and it will confess to anything.”

—Ronald Coase

Ronald Coase was a British economist who taught at the University of Chicago and who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics. Coase realized one fundamental truth about data – that data can be selectively presented to support almost any argument. The credibility of data initiatives is based on trust and the quality and credibility of the data provided. Lose that trust and lose all credibility.

At the beginning of this book, I stated that becoming data-driven doesn't happen automatically. Becoming data-driven requires leadership and vision by companies, and by executives within those companies who step up and demonstrate the leadership that leads to transformation. I commented that this quality of data-driven leadership distinguishes organizations that succeed and become leaders in their markets from those firms that stagnate and fall behind.

As a growing number of firms embark on data transformation initiatives, taking a deliberate approach that is grounded in a strong foundation and data management practices, and is tailored to be successful for the long term, are highly likely to differentiate those firms that prevail through a combination of planning, persistence, and commitment. Companies must establish sound practices to ensure data quality, data integrity, date lineage, data management, and data accountability. As noted, trust in the data is the foundation ...