Data projects fail because they don’t do the following

…and the answer is…

“Start”.

You’ll have two reactions right now.

One is “why did he put the answer at the beginning of the article when you normally need to scroll through the text to get there?

The other is “what an obvious answer. Where’s the value in that?”

Actually, there might be a third. “Did I miss some of these emails?”

Sorry about the latter, it’s been too many weeks since I last shared my thoughts with you.

Back to the topic…

As always, we need to drill a bit deeper. The ability to start a data project is rarely in our hands alone. To get started, you normally need sponsorship, and that’s the bit that we can find really tricky.

That’s why the dataZED Get Together for November featured Change Management expert, David Cowan.

We had a fantastic round table discussion, which continued over the drinks kindly sponsored by Profisee, and in this newsletter I’ll share some of the discussion.

Project success often hinges on having a sponsor with authority and a solid business case and indeed, lack of sponsorship often leads to project failure.

To get going, a great business case is essential, emphasizing the importance of the outcome, not just the tools or solutions.

How can we make our business case great?

1. Tailor your approach to your stakeholders. That means working out who they are. Sponsorship should come from someone with power, not just a title.
   

2. Tailoring also requires you to understand their motivators and drivers. For some this could be revenue generation, for others it’s regulatory, legal or risk driven. Another group may be focused on your financial efficiency and likely return on investment.
   

3. Emphasise a compelling reason to initiate the project. Not everyone gets excited by clean data, and your organisation’s leaders are considering all sorts of possible activities that they can invest in. What makes the data one so special?
   

4. If you want to invest in tools or tech, remember that the success of the project will lies in the adoption of the tool and the outcome delivered. Your stakeholders, especially senior leaders, are more interested in the outcome than the details of how it's achieved.
   

5. Advocate for an incremental, agile approach to project delivery. This enables you to demonstrate quick wins so you gain credibility. It also avoids the risks associated with a big bang approach as you focus on continuously delivering value.

This points in this outline are the keys to developing the business case that will get your project sponsored. To chat through them a little further, why not book a discovery call?

And that was just part of our session. We continued with discussion around project delivery, emotional intelligence and getting the right people in the right roles.

I’ll share some of that in future newsletters.

A quick plug for my services, I currently have availability for client work and would love to work with some new organisations who want to trust their data more so they can get value from it. Hit reply to this email or use the link above to book a call with me.

Have a wonderful week,
Charles

Don’t forget!

1. The next dataZED Get Together is on 10 January. Click here to sign up

2. dataZED of Data Events calendar. Share an event and View the calendar

3. Event and other sponsorships. I’ve created a sponsor pack about the ways that dataZED can work with you to advertise your business or collaborate on an event. Message me for a copy.

You’ll find a tagged, searchable website of these newsletters at datazed.beehiiv.com, where you can also subscribe to get them sent straight to your inbox.