Darth Data
Jim Harris in Data Quality, Debates tagged Humor, Philosophy, Star Wars Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 3:00AM While I was grocery shopping today, I couldn’t resist taking this picture of Darth Tater.
As the Amazon product review explains: “Be it a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away or right here at home in the 21st century, Mr. Potato Head never fails to reinvent himself.”
I couldn’t help but think of how although data’s quality is determined by evaluating its fitness for the purpose of business use, most data has multiple business uses, and data of sufficient quality for one use may not be for other, perhaps unintended, business uses.
It is this “Reinventing data for mix and match business fun!” that often provides the context for what, in hindsight, appear to be obvious data quality issues.
It makes me wonder if it’s possible to turn high quality data to the dark side of the Force by misusing it for a business purpose for which it has no applicability, resulting in bad, albeit data-driven, business decisions.
Please post a comment and let me know if you think it is possible to turn Data-kin Quality-walker into Darth Data.
May the Data Quality be with you, always.
Reader Comments (7)
Jim, I laughed because we have "Darth Tater" at home...
Your question, can the data be leveraged as "Dark Data?" The answer of course is yes. Data is Data, it is the building of the Information that is what causes data to either be Dark Data or Good Data . . . Sith or Jedi.
Who trained the warrior? What was shared, built and what end is the vision? The responsibility falls on the collaboration between the business vision and the data know-how folks.
That will ultimately determine the destiny of young Padawan Data on its path to becoming an Information Jedi.
May the Force be with you...
Interesting concept about using data for the wrong purpose. I think that data if it is the "true" data can be used for any business decision as long as it is interpreted the right way.
One problem is that data may have a margin of error associated with it and this must be understood in order to properly use it to make decisions. Another issue is that the underlying definitions may be different.
For example, an organization may use the term customer when it means different things. The Marketing Department may have a list of "customers" that includes leads and prospects, but the operational department may only call them "customers" when they are generating revenue. Each department's data and interpretation of it is correct for their own purpose, but you cannot mix the data or use it in the "other" department to make decisions.
If all the data is correct, the definitions and the rules around capturing it are fully understood then you should be able to use it to make any business decision.
But when it gets misinterpreted and twisted to suit some business decision that it may not be suited for then you are crossing over to the Dark Side.
JIM . . . I AM YOUR FATHER!
Thanks for your comments, Garnie, Rob, and Phil — May the Data Quality be with you, always :-)
@Garnie — Well said, Master Bolling. Quality is the Midi-chlorians residing within the bits and bytes of all Data and Information. Together with Business Insight they form a Symbiont Circle, known by some as The Circle of Quality.
@Rob — Well said, Master Drysdale. You have emphasized another significant symbiosis, specifically the one formed by Data and Metadata. Additionally, you have noted the challenge of The Point of View Paradox. As Master Kenobi says: “You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”
@Phil — THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!
It’s much more likely that you are my father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
Jim, great piece as always. Good data can of course be turned to the Dark Side, and I have to take an issue a little with Rob's comment that Truth Shall Always Prevail.
In a very narrow Marketing context anyway, some data, whilst accurate, is unfit for purpose.
The classic example being Finance address data containing "Accounts Payable", which is then used to address marketing communications. In an accounting context this is fine, but for Marketing completely unacceptable. The point being, take care on the uses to which data is pressed.
Simon,
I agree wholeheartedly that you can't use data for a purpose it isn't intended for. That was what I was trying to explain when I said you can't use Marketing data for Operations or vice versa and you are using a great example here.
I know of all kinds of examples where people use the wrong contact information for the wrong purpose with clients or prospects. For example, let's say you sell your product to a company and your contact is the Purchasing Department. Support updates then get sent to the Purchasing Department when, in fact, they should be sent to the IT Department.
In my example above, I worked with a company that had multiple internal definitions and data around "customers". You had to know what the data was for and what it meant before you ever tried to use it.
When I say that the data is true and correct and you can make business decisions with it you still need to understand the data, where it came from, accuracy, etc. Without that, it's meaningless and you can't use it for decisions.
And I guess I would assume that people are smart enough not to market to the Accounts Payable contact, but I know that's too much to ask . . . :-)
Thanks Rob, we're in violent agreement!
And I agree, the definition of "customer" is always famously vague in organizations, particularly by the time you factor in different business units, product lines, one-off versus ongoing relationships, lapsed customers, etc.
Certainly enough to keep us all busy!