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5 Minutes read
Top 5 Hard Truths About Your Governance Strategy
It is a scenario playing out in boardrooms every day, often referred to as “The Universal Data Headache”. The marketing department presents a report on acquisition numbers. Moments later, sales present their own report using the same underlying data, but the numbers don’t match.
Confusion turns to frustration, and trust in the data evaporates.
This isn’t hypothetical. Even major, tech-savvy companies, including a large ridesharing firm, have seen teams struggle for months to reconcile reporting, unable to get consistent results despite querying the same tables. This headache is not just a sign of “bad data”; it is a symptom of a much deeper issue that more technology nor stricter rules can solve.
To transform fragmented data into trusted, actionable insight, we need effective data governance that challenges conventional thinking. Here are five hard truths about why data strategies fail and how to fix yours
1. It’s a People Problem, Not a Technology Project
The most common mistake organizations make is assuming that a new governance platform or data catalog will magically solve their problems. While technology plays an important role, governance is fundamentally a socio-technical challenge, not a purely technical one.
At its core, governance often exposes tension between IT’s need to control data assets and the business’s need for flexible access. Successful governance is not about implementing software; it is about establishing communication, facilitating negotiation, and fundamentally changing the culture around data. This requires cross-functional agreement on definitions, goals, and processes.
2. The Goal Is Empowerment, Not Control
Too often, governance is perceived as a restrictive function designed merely to “lock data down”. This perspective misses the point.
The true purpose is to make data reliable, understandable, and usable across the organization. When done well, governance builds trust in data and empowers teams to use it confidently for innovation and decision-making. The goal is to shift from a culture of data fear to one of data freedom, where governance enables progress rather than slowing it down.
3. You Should Not Govern Everything, So Do Not Try
A common trap is the “boil the ocean” approach—the desire to govern all data assets at once. This often leads to massive, unwieldy projects that quickly lose momentum before delivering value.
A more effective approach is a “land and expand” strategy. Start small by governing the most critical data assets and demonstrating value quickly. You can use frameworks like Gartner’s “information rings” to tier your data:
- Most critical content: “Master” data governed centrally.
- Second-most-critical content: Data shared across applications, governed regionally.
- Least-critical content: Data for specific local processes, governed locally.
4. There Is No "Single Source of Truth," Only Shared Agreement
Organizations often get stuck searching for a single, objective “source of truth”. But in complex businesses, different departments legitimately have different definitions for the same data—just as a healthcare provider might have varied definitions for key metrics across its personal care and hospice divisions.
The goal of data governance is to facilitate agreement on definitions, not to discover a universal pre-existing truth. Tools such as a Business Glossary serve as a shared record of the consensus your teams have built together, rather than dictating truth from on high.
5. It's a Permanent Function, Not a Temporary Project
Perhaps the most damaging misconception is the “set it and forget it” mentality. Governance is not a project with an end date; it is a permanent business capability, just like HR or Finance.
As new data sources emerge, business rules evolve, and emerging regulations make data dynamic. An effective program requires building a lasting capability, establishing formal roles like Data Stewards, and implementing continuous monitoring to maintain quality over time.
Shifting Your Perspective
Ultimately, successful data governance requires a fundamental shift in mindset. It means moving from a focus on technology to people, from control to empowerment, and from viewing governance as a short-term project to seeing it as a permanent business capability.
To solve the universal data headache, stop asking “How do we control our data?” and start asking, “How do we build a system of trust that empowers our people with data?”
