#142 How to Leverage an Empathetic Ear to Add Value Through Data Governance - Interview w/ Karin Håkansson

Sign up for Data Mesh Understanding's free roundtable and introduction programs here: https://landing.datameshunderstanding.com/Please Rate and Review us on your podcast app of choice!If you want to be a guest or give feedback (suggestions for topics, comments, etc.), please see hereEpisode list and links to all available episode transcripts here.Provided as a free resource by Data Mesh Understanding / Scott Hirleman. Get in touch with Scott on LinkedIn if you want to chat data mesh.Transcript for this episode (link) provided by Starburst. See their Data Mesh Summit recordings here and their great data mesh resource center here. You can download their Data Mesh for Dummies e-book (info gated) here.Karin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-hakansson/In this episode, Scott interviewed Karin Håkansson, Data Governance Lead consulting on a large data mesh implementation. To be clear, Karin was only representing her own views on the episode.If there is one theme that resonated throughout the conversation, it was have more and deeper conversations with your data governance teams. Don't make assumptions and as a data governance team, don't make decrees - explain what you are trying to accomplish and why. And look to help where possible instead of telling people how to do things.Some key takeaways/thoughts from Karin's point of view:Data governance teams need to get closer to both data producers and consumers; but when doing that, emphasize it isn't about control or oversight. You are there to help.Data producers and consumers need to share with the governance team about their pains and challenges - the governance team in most orgs is there to help. So get specific about where you need help. Emphasis on specific!To get closer to data producers and/or consumers, identify a few obvious data problem areas and just reach out to those involved/impacted. Focus on asking not telling when digging into the pain points. And involve all stakeholders in assessing potential solutions to get them bought in to the eventual solution. A control-based data governance approach doesn't add value to your data. We need new ways of working in data governance focused on adding value, not adding roadblocks.Data mesh creates an environment where we need to look at things differently. And it provides the excuse to look at them differently too. Challenge your base...