About eight months ago, a proposal for a Data Culture Enablement Project was granted funding from a Natural Resources of Canada departmental special projects fund. The objective of the project is to develop a series of tools to promote a vibrant data culture and to enhance data literacy and skills within the Department. The project was sponsored by the Canadian Forest Service with the CFS acting as the pilot site. I have the privilege of being the project lead.
Over the past eight months a number
of core deliverables have been created including:
1.
a draft corporate data values statement as a foundation
for a vibrant data culture
2.
four unique Data Personas that can be applied to any
position within the organization
3.
a data culture/skills assessment tool based on the Open Data Institute
Data Skills Framework
4.
analysis of where the CFS is on a data maturity
framework
5.
a matrix to crosswalk combining data personas with a
corporate data maturity model, including characteristics, capabilities,
recommended data skills and associated sources of training.
As we started analyzing the data
from the assessment survey, some preliminary observations have emerged.
- Promoting and developing a data culture is more complex than it originally appeared. The technology part is easy - it is the people part that requires thought, patience and perseverance.
- If you bring 10 people into a room and ask them to define what data is, you will get 15 answers.
- Data literacy and skills is the operational side of data culture. You cannot promote broader team data literacy and skills without a supportive data culture, hence the need for a corporate data skills values statement.
- Ultimately, promoting a supportive data culture requires senior leadership buy-in and a strong commitment to change management and ongoing communications
There is no question of the positive
organizational value that comes from promoting a corporate data culture and the
affiliated data literacy and skills. It is not, however, a quick fix. Data
culture is a journey, not a destination.
More to come, as we work our way through this project.
Comments and thoughts
appreciated....
