Introduction

When I gave a speech at the international 2018 Enterprise Data World (EDW) conference, I opened by mentioning a few personal facts about myself combined with a short description of the country I come from: Sweden. I usually do this at international conferences instead of talking about my profession and the organization I represent. Not only does this avert any confusion between my country and Switzerland, but also it de-mystifies what type of foreign country I have traveled from. I find that this develops a better relationship between myself and the audience.

The speech at EDW was about various data governance challenges, especially how to gain managerial interest for the topic. What I did not understand, until Laura Sebastian-Coleman mentioned it to me afterwards, was that the way I depicted Sweden influenced the conception of my entire speech. The messages I put across delivered a slightly different twist than I had originally intended.

The peaceful democratic kingdom of Sweden has witnessed peace since 1814, that is, for more than 200 years. This country in Northern Europe has managed to stay out of two world wars, even with waring activities literal on its doorstep. That could not have happened without diplomacy and flexibility. Furthermore, the country has a history of taking diplomatic roles in the United Nations and has acted as an intermediate negotiator in some notable international settlements. So, there must be some natural behaviors and mindsets for finding diplomatic solutions here, rather than solving disagreements with violence. Despite being a small non-violent country of just 10 million citizens, we have our share of innovations, startups and a growth of large multinational industries. Today, companies like IKEA, H&M, Ericsson and Volvo, and innovations like Spotify, Skype and Candy Crush Saga are known all over the world. Mentioning this is not for the sake of bragging; but merely to put forward the idea that there are no contradictions between success and diplomacy.

My speech at EDW was about the benefit of having a non-coercive approach in data management in general, and, particularly in data governance. The reception my speech gained was somewhat biased by my opening with the statement of 200 years of peace in Sweden. I was unaware of this at the time, but it had set a precedent for the messages, improved the trustworthiness, and, it had mind-primed the audience of what is possible. As a result, the idea to set all this out in a book evolved.

I started with looking back a few decades and contemplating what the common denominators of the data governance establishments are and why they have been successful. For instance, where the data governance work implemented changes which brought value to its stakeholders, being recognized and requested, and implied a durable change toward the mindset that data as such is indeed valuable. The conclusion was that working with purposes, trusts, behavior and willingness to implement win-win solutions is far more important than the data governance formalities. Thus, applying some of core aspects of diplomacy to data governance is probably an understandable explanation to a well-integrated and benefitable data governance. It made sense.

I saw my first data model while studying at the university back in 1985. I stared at it and did not get it. I have never forgotten that first time. It was not self-explanatory, which is an important lesson for all data architects. As I started working with it in my first job it quickly became my favorite tool and a natural part for model-driven business improvements and requirements.

This was during the fourth-generation programming language (4GL) years, which were very data modeling intense times. A group of guys at the IT department at the Swedish national airline company had developed a method for doing data modeling with business representatives in workshops. They started a consultancy agency where I spent 15 years. Here I practiced the ability to spread the doctrine of data as a resource and to work with the development of data with, and inside, the business.

During these years, I worked with these issues in virtually all industries and different kinds of companies. I became the senior training manager of a data architecture certification program which after a few years became an enterprise architecture program. At this time, most of the books about data modeling were written from the data modeler’s and the data architect’s viewpoint, focusing on the modeling theories and various modeling situations. I lacked a handbook to describe how to design, establish and live with a data-driven enterprise architecture, the main messages I was teaching in the certification program. So, I wrote one together with a colleague2. That book took me to the DAMA project working on the second edition of Data Management Body of Knowledge3, by writing the Data Architecture chapter and a few other topics which were included in other chapters.

So, what do I want to accomplish with this book? The attempt with this book is to define the data diplomacy approach and to describe the data diplomacy behavior related to data. It is a compilation mostly of my own experiences and what I have picked up from people I have met or worked with. I think everybody should share their experiences. Especially those where things have really turned out well.

This is not a novel. There is no butler who did it and no one will be married in the end. However, hopefully there is peace, hope, future and a treasure somewhere, without suggesting this is a fairy tale. The book is preferably read from to start to finish to get the gist of the data diplomacy concept, as the ingredients of it are introduced in steps. But it is fine to dip into anything that seems interesting; as you would be reading a book of poems or proverbs, not that I suggest this book is art.

As a reader, some awareness of the challenges of managing data is preferred and useful, but not critical. A few concepts within the data management topic are frequently used and good to be aware of.

• Data governance – the exercise of authority and control over the management of data assets4 to ensure that data is managed properly, improved when needed and properly designed for the benefits of the organization and its stakeholders.
• Data model – documentation of a data structure consisting of vital business concepts, referred as ‘entities’, enriched with definitions, attributes, relationships and business rules.
• Data architect – a person with the capability to design how data should be organized, stored, processed and transferred.

This book is primarily intended for CIO’s, CDO’s, chief architects, data strategists, data governance leads and data architects. It is for anyone who is struggling with data quality, data accountability, and the concept of data as a valuable asset. It is for those who seek for the next generation of data governance, when the first generation was riddled by formality or just did not take off. The book is written as a dialog from me and those who are in the frontline of the quest for data improvement. It is organized in four parts.

• The first chapter introduces the concept of data diplomacy and illustrates it through a set of real-life cases where diplomacy played a crucial part.
• The second chapter introduces four arenas for performing diplomatic data governance and describes the activities that go on in each of the arenas.
• The third chapter details the four data governance arenas including the minimum set of roles that are needed when instituting data governance using a diplomatic approach.
• The fourth chapter is a toolbox for the data diplomat, that contains various methodology hints.