Unifying Business, Data, and Code

Chapter 1. The Need for a Unifying Data Strategy

Imagine yourself as a data strategy consultant, supporting executives with a spectrum of problems across diverse industries. In some cases, deadlines are not being met, and you are brought in to understand why. In other cases, the executives have a vision of how they want to change the world and want your thought partnership on rapidly designing, testing, and building a prototype to present at a global conference. As you work with executives to solve various problems, you begin to see patterns of what works and what doesn’t in the world of data, innovation, and AI, and you begin to wonder why.

Ultimately, your role involves identifying the root causes of innovation bottlenecks and offering actionable recommendations to help organizations overcome these obstacles and achieve their objectives. If there were a set of principles and guidelines to make innovation outcomes more effective and reliable, that would enable you and your clients to be more successful.

A unifying data strategy is a way to approach innovation through the lens of what is the minimal amount of collaborative effort with data that creates maximum business value? It doesn’t require or recommend any specific technology, but it does require you to think about data from a holistic perspective so that you can unify teams around a common language, understanding, and way of working together.

Your Quest for Data-Driven Breakthroughs Begins

You’ve been hired by John, ...