Identifying the right people for your team

Just like any other initiative in the workplace, the success or failure of data quality work depends on the people on the team. It depends on their skills, knowledge, motivation, and their ability to work as a team. With the growth of the data governance discipline over the last 20 years, there are now many skilled individuals in the marketplace. The challenge is bringing people together who have the right mix of these skills and properly supporting and motivating them.

A data quality initiative usually has an enhanced team (in terms of size) for the implementation phase, which requires the entry of people into the organization. When the implementation phase settles into business as usual, members of the team who are employed on a contingent basis (either as contractors or consultants) usually leave, or move on to the next initiative. It is therefore key to ensure that the people who are brought into longer-term roles are given the appropriate...