Author Interview – Danette McGilvray

This is the fourth of our Author Interviews in our 12 Weeks of Books to celebrate Castlebridge’s 12th birthday.

This week, my colleague Dr Katherine O’Keefe chats with our good friend and colleague Danette McGilvray. Danette is a world-renowned Data Quality consultant and author, and has just officially launched the second edition of her book, Executing Data Quality Projects – Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information. Danette is the founder and principal consultant at her firm Granite Falls Consulting, and collaborates with Daragh O Brien and others in The Leaders’ Data Group coalition.

The Interview

Featured Author: Danette McGilvray

In this video, Danette and Katherine discuss the origins of Danette’s 2nd Edition book, the differences between the 2nd edition and the first edition (which came out in 2008). Danette shares the motivation for developing her Ten-Steps framework and process as a flexible way of approaching data quality issues across organisations of all sizes and for a wide variety of data quality challenges.

She originally wrote the first edition because she saw what a difference that the Ten Steps methodology made to the effectiveness of projects, and the benefits that come from a focus on data quality. In the second edition of her book, Danette looks at some of the ways people have taken the Ten-Steps framework and applied it or expanded on it in a variety of other data management disciplines, including Data Ethics and Data Protection (yes, our work here at Castlebridge is referenced in Danette’s new book).

In the interview, Danette raises a key point we need to bear in mind as data management professionals:

“Data Quality management is never just about the quality of the data but the impact of the data on people.”

She also highlights how (as Tom Redman says) “Data Management people know data but don’t know management” and this highlights a key learning and knowledge development opportunity for well read data management professionals!

Watch the interview below (and then scrolls down for our competition).

Danette’s Influences

Danette referenced a number of the other authors we are featuring in this series as people who have influenced her thinking, in particular Tom Redman and Larry English. She picks up on Tom’s admonition about data management people not knowing management when it comes to picking a book that has influenced her.

Danette refers to data management and data quality people as “intrapreneurs” in their organisations.  In that context, Danette cites Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth Revisited: Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it” as a book that has impacted on her thinking and her approach. She discusses how the natural tension that exists between working in the business and working on the business for small business owners is mirrored in the tension for data management and data quality professionals to do the “doing” of the work but also to focus on raising awareness and improving their abilities to do the work and understand what work needs to be done.

Danette also suggests that people getting to grips with data quality issues should take every advantage to find out what has worked for other people and find models and methods that work and that can be adapted to suit your situation.

Competition Time

If you would like to be entered into a draw to win some of the books referenced by Danette in this video and in the rest of the videos we’re running this month, please provide your email address and an answer to the simple question in the form below. The terms and conditions for the competition can be found here:

Books Referenced in this Video

• Executing Data Quality Projects – Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information (Second Edition) (Danette McGilvray)
• Executing Data Quality Projects – Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information (First Edition) (Danette McGilvray)
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it (Michael Gerber)

Related Castlebridge Content

• Remembering Larry
• Definitions, Words, and the Alchemy of Information
• The Princess Bride Effect, Boil Water Notices, and Brexit
• John Ladley – Author Interview Week 1 
• Katherine O’Keefe – Author Interview Week 2
• Dr Tom Redman – Author Interview Week 3