I would like to discuss now the role of the IT folks in the data governance process. In my previous blogs, I have emphasized how important it is that the process be business led. However the IT folks have a very important role in data governance. The role is to provide assistance and support in implementing the decision of the governing body. In addition the IT folks have a responsibility to raise issues that require decisions.
One of the key responsibilities of the IT folks and the business is to maintain an open dialog on issues. The challenge for the IT folks is to express the issues in plain language as opposed to talking to IT speak. IT folks have a great tendency to talk in slang and short forms because they get tired of repeating the same words over and over again. I think it is the responsibility of the business people to call them on this whenever it is used.
In addition to the obvious reason of understanding each other, sometimes the IT folks often do not know the meanings of some of the terms they use. Another thing is that some words lose their meaning through overuse. For example, the word "system" really does not have a very specific meaning any more. Let me give you other examples: program, software, web 1.0, web 2.0, SOA, and on and on. However often the business people do the same thing. Some of the worst offender are the defense, the aerospace and telecommunication industries. These groups use so many short forms one would swear they are speaking another language.
I am emphasizing this understanding as being important because I think it is key for effective data governance. I will continue developing ideas on governance in future blogs.
