When you start a new data leadership position, how do you approach the data strategy roadmap? Start from scratch? Try to keep as much of what exists as you can?
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President & Chief Data Officer in Services (non-Government)10 months ago
Typically not from scratch. I try to understand the current landscape and what the goals are for the organization. I do a quick assessment of the tech stack, in-house capabilities, etc. I talk to stakeholders to understand pain points and areas of opportunity. I work with stakeholders to evaluate initiatives on several dimensions and plot them (like in a magic quadrant). I then start to prioritize initiatives. My goal is to get low hanging fruit first, especially if I need to get buy-in for my team, etc. and to sequence initiatives so that they logically build upon each other. For example, if automation is needed before we can handle incremental business, then focus on automation first. Data & AI Practice Lead10 months ago
When beginning a new data leadership role, my approach to the data strategy roadmap involves a balanced assessment. I evaluate the existing data landscape to determine its relevance and alignment with business goals. If components are effective and align well, I aim to retain and optimize them. However, if improvements or changes are needed to better align with business objectives, I'm open to making strategic adjustments or starting afresh in areas that require significant enhancement. This ensures a pragmatic and tailored data strategy that maximizes existing strengths while addressing any shortcomings.Data Science & AI Expert in Miscellaneous10 months ago
Start from the business strategy, reuse as much as possible from the existing data strategyDirector of IT10 months ago
Take the word data out, and the answer is still the same.Starting from scratch is almost never on the table, unless you're joining a start-up (and even then...). The business is living and breathing and must continue to do so while you flex.
Keeping as much of what exists is a huge negative impact to mission. That feels like an abdication of leadership.
You keep what you must, enduring, and perhaps temporarily in the interim to get on and stay on the glidepath to where you choose (in line with business strategy), and then recommend, and then successfully sell that the business should go.
VP of Data10 months ago
I recently did this and it seemed best to keep things status quo until I was able to identify the issues that needed to be resolved. Once I know those then I assessed how much of what I had worked well and what didn't. Then I started to make a plan to change the parts that didn't work well. Communication and transparency has been the key to manage the sweeping changes that needed to be made.