Ten whole years of The Data Governance Coach blogs

Yes, that’s not a mistake, you’ve read that right: I’ve been writing blogs as The Data Governance Coach for ten whole years!

I can’t quite believe it.

But when they say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, that is precisely how I feel. Writing blogs on data governance for the last decade has been a complete joy.

Sometimes blogging can feel challenging. It’s either hard to get started or hard to keep up with - but the lovely feedback makes it all worth it!

I’ve absolutely loved being able to provide a free resource so everyone can take the next step (whatever that may be) with their data governance initiative. I never in a million years thought blogging from my little laptop would be so rewarding!

To celebrate hitting the BIG ten, I wanted to share my most popular blogs from over the last decade. Now, I won’t lie, this really was a lot of digging through the archives and some of these I completely forget even existed…

So, here goes.

1. Data Owners and Data Stewards - What is the difference?

A topic that has caused a lot of confusion over the years! In this blog, I addressed the difference between data owners and stewards and hopefully provided some much-needed clarification.

2. What’s the difference between Data Owners and Data Custodians?

This is a question that I frequently receive - and it’s an important one! Addressing roles and responsibilities is an essential part of implementing data governance. But how can we do that if we don’t know the difference between all the different roles needed?

3. What is the Difference Between Policies and Standards?

Over the 20+ years I’ve been working in data governance, this question always ends up in a (sometimes heated) debate! In this blog, I explored the difference between policies and standards and where on the earth the confusion comes from.

4. How To Identify The Right Data Owners

This one was inspired by my Free Data Governance Checklist where I talk all about how you need to define roles and assign responsibilities - and this blog covers where to begin.

5. Data Governance Interview - Jill Wanless

This was a very exciting interview that I did way back in 2013. What makes it even more exciting is that Jill is still a successful and senior Data Governance Practitioner!

6. Interview Questions For A Data Governance Manager Role

I enjoyed writing this blog so much as I got to collaborate with the data community to create this resource. Using LinkedIn we all came together and jotted down our best interview questions for a hypothetical Data Governance Manager role. I get so much feedback about what a useful resource this is, both for those hiring a Data Governance Manager and those preparing for interviews.

7. What do you include in Data Quality Issue Log?

Whenever I’m helping clients implement a Data Governance Framework, a Data Quality Issue Resolution process is at the top of my to-do list, so I thought I’d write a blog all about it and it has definitely proved a popular resource!

8. Make Sure you Follow These Practical Steps for Creating a Business Glossary

Way back in 2015, I teamed up with Collibra to teach a training course, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask Carl White his thoughts on the best way for organisations to approach data governance.

9. Why are there so many different Data Governance definitions?

It’s a good question… I didn’t have a definite answer (and still don’t!) but I wrote down exactly why I thought that the data management community hadn’t pinned down any exact definitions.

10. When is a Data Quality issue not a Data Quality Issue? Part II

And last but not least, a collaborative blog on when is a data quality issue not a data quality issue, providing insights on the types of issues you will get thrown at you when you start doing Data Governance at your organisation.

When I first started blogging I wrote a list of topics for my blogs and was worried that I only had enough content for six months, I never dreamt that I would in the future be writing a post sharing my most popular blogs from the last ten years - make sure to leave a comment if you’ve had a favourite from the past decade that I haven’t mentioned above!

Thanks for reading, here’s to the next ten years!

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