From the IAIDQ President
Christian Walenta
President
christian [dot] walenta [AT] iaidq [dot] org
April 2009: IDQ Newsletter Vol 5 Issue 2
Dear fellow IAIDQ member,
A few weeks ago I participated in the National Engineering Week program that promotes math and sciences at local school [1]. In the course of one day we talked to about 300 kids. During the event we explained the importance of engineering, showed fun video clips, and conducted a problem-solving activity in science class with the kids.
As we introduced ourselves, I had to describe my job and Information Quality in layman's terms to 12 to 14 year-olds. The initially blank stares I got from that many kids made it clear to me that I needed to find a way to express Information Quality in much simpler terms, use language that the kids could relate to, and cite examples to illustrate my points. As the day progressed, I had plenty of opportunities to refine and improve my explanations.
Later, back in the office, I realized that the lessons I had learned about communicating with kids apply day to day at work. First, we need to keep talking about Information Quality, and we need to use the business context at hand (e.g., a failed business transaction, a customer complaint, or a technical IT issue). Second, we must demonstrate how this context represents a data quality issue, and how information quality methods and practices can be applied to better understand and address the business issue.
When more people understand the importance of IQ, we are able to garner more support for our data quality efforts. In fact, in my organization, people have generally "gotten it" and I am not preaching about the importance or need for IQ anymore. This does not mean that we get everything we want or have all the resources we need. However, the conversations have matured; now we talk about expanding the reach of the IQ effort, improving the data quality skills within our teams, or how to better organize for data quality.
As we work in Information Quality we should not stick to our own language, but rather adapt to our customers, suppliers, and business colleagues. Give it a try!
Sincerely yours,
Christian Walenta
IAIDQ President