Practitioner's Guide to Operationalizing Data Governance

CHAPTER 4Priorities

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT USING THE MOST COMMON APPROACHES TO PRIORITIZATION

Prioritization is hard. It is probably one of the most difficult things many of us do on a daily basis, whether in our work or personal lives. I've listed below the typical prioritization approaches I consistently see with customers.

The List

Everybody has one. Every department has one. Every organization has one. It could be a list of projects or issues that are ranked. It could also be a daily to‐do list. It could also be a list of budget requests for the following year. This approach doesn't work because everybody has one and there is no consolidation across the various lists. It can be hard to reconcile lists across groups because criteria (what makes it on to the list, how the list is tackled, etc.) are not consistent.

Level

This approach to priorities is not systematic either; rather, it is based solely on the level of the person making the request. C‐level and other high‐level management folks tend to get their questions answered or issues addressed first. This is true even if they are merely pondering a thought instead of really asking for something to be done. This doesn't ...