Data Governance Blog

Is your IT shop a rebellious teen?

Sitting around with some developers recently and I asked why they were hesitant to embrace data governance. They acknowledged that there was good to be gained from it, but they felt they would be too constrained if they had to follow a bunch of governance rules. A woman in our group stated that they sounded like her teenagers, they understood her rules, but did not like to follow them. It really gave me a reason to pause and think about what she said and how it applies to data governance. Was the resistance due to our industry being at a relatively low level of maturity?

The behavior patterns are remarkably similar; while teens know that certain behaviors are risky they still choose to try them for a short-term gain. I have to admit, that as a teen, I’d take my parents’ car to the next town over to see a girl. The fact my parents set the county line as a boundary did not deter me from crossing the line for a few moments of time with my heart’s desire. Sitting with her I got to enjoy the sweet smell of success. So it is with developers, if they won’t get caught and will reap short-term rewards then what is the harm bending a rule or standard?

The problem was after you break the rule once, it becomes easier the second time around. That was the case with me and the young girl in the next county.  I “needed” to keep going over the line to see her and it seemed easier bend my parents’ rules with each trip. Likewise, developers recognize that the best practices may reduce risk, but the short-term benefit hitting the deadline on-time seems worth the risk.

After awhile, they find that they are expected to repeat or improve upon the delivery schedule from the last project, or the last release. Soon they find themselves dependent upon rule breaking to hit their dates and they start looking for new ways to trim the project. And so it goes, until something breaks in a bad way and the rebellious development team gets caught.

Eventually, my Dad noticed the miles were racking up and he called me on it. That cut into the trips and eventually the “long distance” romance faded. So it will be with anyone getting caught going around data governance policies. They may not like it, but they will start to conform and pretty soon they’ll even get on board. They will mature as the industry and their company matures, but it will take time.

Some day they may even take on the “parental” oversight role in their shop, but they will remember fondly the days of being able to bend the rules and the fun they had exploring bugs and fixes with the young gal in the testing group on the next floor up.

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Thanks for stopping by. My writing is intended to take a lighter look at Data Governance, and toss in some pragmatic advice along the way.  If you are interested in more information on how to implement Data Governance in your organization, please contact me via LinkedIn or the email address below.

Regards,
Tom Jesionowski

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