Chapter 6. Organizational Roles and Responsibilities
No effective data strategy will ever be developed without a primary responsibility assigned at a high enough level so that the rest of the organization will take the effort seriously and cooperate to make it a success. First of all, the chief information officer (CIO) and the chief technology officer (CTO) (or higher) must make it clear that creating and implementing a data strategy is critical to the success of the organization.The CIO should describe the reasons for the data strategy to all the stakeholders and, if possible, solicit buy in from them. The CTO evaluates technical alternatives and sets technical direction for IT. The CTO's performance plan should include developing, maintaining, and enforcing the data strategy. We need to be careful about the title of CTO and know where he or she reports, which must be to the CIO, who has overall responsibility for all IT operations
Building the Teams Who Create and Maintain the Strategy
Creating a strategy takes more time and effort than it takes to maintain it. At a minimum, while the data strategy is being developed, a full-time person (let's call him or her the data strategist) should be dedicated to this effort. The data strategy team consists of the following individuals:
Database administrator
Data administrator
CTO
Technical strategist
The ideal candidates from each group are the managers. It's imperative that the team meets regularly, at least once a week, to discuss status, issues, decisions that need to be made, and how to communicate the data strategy.
Sample Agenda for Weekly Data Strategy Team Meeting
These meetings should be scheduled for no more than 1 hour and less if there is not much to cover or report on. The meetings should always start on time, always end on time, and no time should be spent filling in anyone who comes late. An agenda for the meeting should always be provided ahead of time. The meeting should always be...