S4 | Ep 8 | Building for Strategic Transformation Amidst the Hype Cycles with James Morgan, Chief Data Officer at The Crown Estate
In Episode 8, of Season 4, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by James Morgan, Chief Data Officer at The Crown Estate, where they discuss all of the facets involved in building a Data & Analytics capability for strategic transformation while managing the hype cycles, which includes;
- The importance of having the right information strategy
- Why D&A needs to be involved in strategic planning
- Why you have to identify which stakeholders deliver value for the organisation
- How too many data teams are focusing on solutions instead of objectives
- Choosing objectives that will deliver the best ROI
- Why diverse teams are critical for success with D&A
- Balancing the immediate needs and the strategic vision
- Defining what your core capability needs to be
- Ensuring you enable the business so they don’t do it themselves
- Why all hype cycles only exist to help deliver an outcome
- Why choosing the right tools can be critical
- Why some hype cycles have been hugely advantageous
- The importance of identifying where the nuggets of real change lie within any hype cycle
- Why the fundamentals of good data practice are still applicable today
- Why prototyping is beneficial but it can’t be your main approach
- Why AI isn’t the answer to everything
- Why not all hype cycles are created equally
- How people confuse operating model and team structure
- Trying to hire unicorns and writing 35 different job descriptions to build a team
- Why your data team should represent the population
- Why you have to truly believe in building a diverse team
- Why being obliged to fill a diversity quota or target is the wrong approach
- Why you’ll only ever gain credibility by delivering something that people want and use
- Needing to get your organisation to the place of believing that data is intrinsic to its success
- Attributing the value of your work before you deliver anything
