Data Governance: A Chicken and Egg Problem DATA CONTENT ANALYTICS subject matter rating: Proving the need for data governance before you have a value-generating program in place requires persuasion, business savvy and political skill

Ultimately, data governance will not be established and primed to flourish without the consent of the business and process owners with real power in the company. You need to recruit them from the beginning to back the establishment and fund the data governance function. If they don't see the benefit, or if they're actively against it for some reason, a data governance program will never get off the ground. That makes it essential to define a clear mandate of what data governance will do within your organization, making sure that the vision contains enough benefits so even the skeptics agree it's worth doing. You'll have to live up to that promise. The initial data governance framework needs to be fleshed out and made a reality. Sometimes, that can be just as challenging as getting the approvals and funding. Hiring a few critical people, forming a data governance council and getting the right people to participate, gaining a few early wins, resisting the temptation to make everything a data governance problem - these are some of the issues you'll deal with in the early stages of your program. Try to imagine how you'll confront these questions ahead of time. Nothing is insurmountable, but be prepared for growing pains as your program gets off the ground and begins to stretch its political legs.