Foreword

It is exciting to have had a small part in the making of this book, which presents a fresh set of insights about the work involved in information architecture and data governance and, with these insights, the potential for organizations to get more value from their data. I first met Håkan Edvinsson in 2016 via email. At the time, I was editing the DMBOK2 and he was the primary contributor on the Data Architecture chapter. The first time I sent him an edited version of his chapter, he thanked me and then suggested that we should talk. He lives in Sweden and I live in Connecticut. Fortunately, we both live in the twenty-first century, and could connect electronically. We Skyped several times before the work was finished.

Two things struck me about these conversations. First, the energy and intelligence that Håkan brought to the discussion on data architecture. He was not, as some architects can be, simply in love with his own work. Instead he was interested in the kinds of problems that architecture could solve. And he understood why architecture is important: because without a thoughtful approach to data architecture, we will not be able to tap into the potential value of data. But with a thoughtful approach, we can see additional opportunities to use and generate value through data. He provided interesting examples, from the automobile industry to the cleaning business, to illustrate his ideas and clarify his points.

The second thing that struck me was the caliber of our discussions about the text of his chapter. By the time I sent Håkan his chapter, it had been through public commentary, an initial edit, and my editing. I tend to edit with a very heavy hand. Sometimes I may cut a little deep in pursuit of clarity. This was, I think, Håkan’s impression during our first email exchange. “I don’t recognize this as my text,” he said. So, we started talking it through. Both of us asked questions. Both of us listened. Though we did not discuss it explicitly, I think both of us recognized we were dependent on each other to meet our common goal: a clear, accurate, and informative chapter, one that he could be proud of as primary contributor, and one that I knew worked cohesively within the DMBOK2. We negotiated and collaborated until both of us were satisfied with the outcome. In the end, we got to a better place together than either one of us would have gotten to alone. And I got my first taste of Håkan’s diplomatic skills.

Håkan and I met in person at the Enterprise Data World (EDW) Conference in 2018. At this point, the DMBOK2 had been out for a year. Håkan presented, as he describes in his foreword, on the idea of non-coercive data governance. He introduced himself as a Swede and reminded the audience of the benefits of living in that peaceful democracy. He drew on the work of Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking Fast and Slow, to show that we sometimes misunderstand our own reactions and misread the actions of others. Then he shared a set of stories that illustrated how we can get better results and more buy-in for data governance if we are not only self-aware but also aware of what other stakeholders actually have at stake in their interactions around data.

After the presentation, I felt like I had finally heard some new ideas about data governance. This was the same conference at which people were claiming that “Data Governance is dead.” But Håkan had described how it could be alive and well, if practiced in a different way. Following the conference, we exchanged email about the concept of Data Diplomacy – a different way of thinking about the role of information architecture in data management, the challenges of data governance, and even about data itself. Now he has fully fleshed out his ideas and introduced a new concept that I think will be of great use to any organization trying to improve its overall approach to data management.

Laura Sebastian-Coleman, Ph.D., CDMP
Author: Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement.
Navigating the Labyrinth: An Executive Guide to Data Management.
Production Editor: DAMA Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK2), Second Edition.