Empowering the next generation of data leaders.
Created Discovering Data to strengthen the dialogue between business and technical data leaders, and the website https://www.datafoundations.com.au/. Host of the Discovering Data podcast. Actively connected to data management practitioners across all seniority levels to contribute to Discovering Data. Data strategy consultant. Helping businesses integrate and organize their data, so that they can react faster and better to constant market changes
What attracted you to data management or IT, and why did you choose to pursue this career?
Information is what fuels every system, from biological organisms to conventional computers. Organizations that manage data well attract talent, disrupt markets, and remain competitive. I am on mission to understand what it takes to do this well, and to help leaders build exceptional data teams.
What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far, and why has it been important to your career?
The launch of Discovering Data is by far my greatest achievement to date, after becoming a father. Discovering Data is an inclusive multi-disciplinary community of data and business leaders powered 100% by curiosity. Our mission is to help data people understand the industry, connect with their peers, and accelerate their intellectual and professional growth.
What are the two or three biggest challenges you face as a data management professional / CDO and how can we address them?
Knowledge asymmetry, inflated expectations, and poor data literacy are very big problems right now. The journey towards maturity has just started and that’s what excited me most. I would like to see more standards, more honest dialogues, and a stronger culture of learning across the board.
How do you see data management / the role of the CDO / IT changing in the next 2 – 3 years?
Realizing the potential business value of data and information assets requires clear goals, a solid plan, and a lean approach that combines tech, people, and processes. This is what data management is all about, a strategic imperative that will become more and more important as organizations move towards higher levels of data and information maturity.
Do you have any planned next steps for your career?
Keep building and growing the Discovering Data community and learning from the best minds in the field.
What is the single best piece of advice you have received in your data management / IT career so far? Why has it been so important to you?
“Spend more time with business leaders” Technical leaders reliably underestimate how air-tight their knowledge and social bubbles can be. We need to be more curious and hang out with people that don’t speak or dress like us because differences are huge opportunities for growth.
Can you share something about yourself as a person that people wouldn’t know about you?
The first two presents I asked as a kid were a screwdriver and a microphone.
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