Alex Leigh

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So far Alex Leigh has created 58 blog entries.

Does your Data Governance team need a conductor?

By Alex Leigh|2023-02-03T11:46:40+00:00February 3rd, 2023|What I've done|

“What skills does a Data Governance manager need?” is a question I’m often asked. In fact, I’ve made a stab at answering it here: https://lnkd.in/eSRuYMz4#data Re-reading that reminds me of a discussion I had with Debbie Carless BA(Hons) PGDipIM CMgr FCMI (who is DG manager at Solent and also a musician) as to if the role was analogous to that of a conductor of an orchestra. There’s something in that; creating a community of the willing coalescing around a single idea. Lots of subject matter experts all following the same score. All of us together far more than the sum [...]

You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

By Alex Leigh|2023-01-03T15:30:33+00:00January 3rd, 2023|What I've done|

Not the snappiest title ever, but any reference to the Princess Bride has to be cut a certain amount of slack! As must I, based on the previous blog post being published some eighteen months ago. In my defence, the last couple of years have been crazy busy which has also generated a whole load of content I'm keen to share. Starting with a oldie but a goodie, chosen only because I finally fixed the Business Glossary template linked to in this article. If you've not read that, it's offers lots of good advice on the how and why of generating, maintaining [...]

Data Governance is a wet sock problem!

By Alex Leigh|2022-07-26T09:55:04+01:00July 21st, 2021|What I've done|

This might be a bit of a stretch. But stick with me. When my daughter was young, she was very impatient. No idea where she gets it from. Anyway, after a bath, she'd always get dressed without drying herself properly. This led to 'the parable of the wet sock'. Firstly, she had to find the sock. It would often be in the wrong drawer. And it would never be attached to a matched item. After time spent assembling a pair, dragging a once dry sock over a wet foot was a study in frustration. And a sure way to early sock destruction. Completing [...]

Data Myths and what to do about them

By Alex Leigh|2021-04-09T13:08:17+01:00April 9th, 2021|What I've done|

A couple of weeks ago Nicola Askham and I posed a question on LinkedIn: "What are the most common Data Myths you hear?'. 6000+ views and a hundred odd comments later suggests this is something worth investigating further. While it felt a bit like group therapy, there is a serious side to myths around data. Firstly they exist- that's a problem because they often confuse or obfuscate the narrative that data really is an organisational wide asset, and must be managed as such. Secondly, they endure- so even the most compelling or nuanced arguments are blocked by a unshiftable ideology around [...]

Data Strategy and Governance – your questions answered

By Alex Leigh|2021-01-07T16:09:33+00:00January 7th, 2021|What I've done|

In the last of our 2020 webinars, Nicola and I collected a list of the questions we are asked the most, and made an attempt to answer then all. The video below has those and some questions from attendees on the day. You'll need to click into the blog entry to see the video panel. Wordpress doesn't show it on the preview. Who knows why! And because it was very close to Christmas, you'll see both of us have appropriate themed jumpers :) https://youtu.be/1DB_57sVDCM This year, we'll be running free "Masterclass' sessions going deeper into specific data strategy and [...]

Putting the Data Strategy to work

By Alex Leigh|2020-10-19T10:12:04+01:00October 19th, 2020|What I've done|

So much work on Data Strategies is wasted when they fail to launch. There are many reasons for this - and we'll get back to some of those in a later post - but the one I see the most often is the lack of any framework to 'land' the strategy on. In this masterclass, Nicola and I set out a pragmatic model for implementing Data Governance in support of a strategy. We discuss what needs to go into a framework, why there is no single framework for every organisation and the importance of leading with culture. We finish with an [...]

Why do I need a data strategy?

By Alex Leigh|2020-09-18T14:41:18+01:00September 18th, 2020|What I've done|

Nicola Askham and I are running a series of webinars charting the path to a sustainable data culture. I really enjoy working with Nicola as we share the same passion for pragmatic and aligned data governance, while bringing different skills and experiences to that goal. In this second webinar, we discuss what a data strategy is and why you might need one. It's 30 minutes long including some excellent Q&A at the end. I hope to be launching a public Data Strategy course that builds on much of this content later this year. More details coming very soon. In the meantime, [...]

Data Sharing Agreements – what, why and how.

By Alex Leigh|2020-08-21T14:53:24+01:00August 21st, 2020|What I've done|

What are data sharing agreements and where do they fit in a Data Governance framework? On first analysis, it’s not obvious that they do! However, they are relevant when we consider the scope of that framework. The production, manipulation and use of data outside of our organisations are often forgotten when considering data quality. We focus on internal ingress points which are mostly controlled through our own stewards and producers. This can be a dangerous assumption as external data is far more common than we might think. It fits into two distinct areas: Additional data sets. These are often paid-for datasets which augment [...]

Webinar: Data is your GPS

By Alex Leigh|2020-07-31T10:16:10+01:00July 31st, 2020|What I've done|

Nicola Askham and I recorded this pre-lockdown. We only finally found time to publish it now! It is the first of five webinars taking you from the Business Case for Data Governance, through the development and operationalisation of a data strategy, and finishing on how to make Data as an asset sustainable. Data as your GPS https://datapromedia.wistia.com/medias/6kt27nnc6p The next one 'How to create a pragmatic data strategy' will be a slightly different format, but hopefully just as informative. Due to be released end August 2020.

Data Governance Network – Maturity assessment

By Alex Leigh|2020-07-24T10:54:26+01:00July 24th, 2020|What I've done|

Who are the DGN and why are we running an assessment. The Data Governance Network (DGN) is made up of practitioners from over 30 UK universities. It is primarily a support network to develop and share good practice in relation to data management and governance for the HE sector. It has become clear that in order to provide this support we need to understand where the sector currently is in terms of its capabilities around the management and governance of data. By understanding this we can target the development of tools, techniques and associated guidance to increase our mutual data capability [...]

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