Building a Data Vision Board: A Guide to Strategic Planning

Data Engineering Podcast

Summary
In this episode of the Data Engineering Podcast Lior Barak shares his insights on developing a three-year strategic vision for data management. He discusses the importance of having a strategic plan for data, highlighting the need for data teams to focus on impact rather than just enablement. He introduces the concept of a "data vision board" and explains how it can help organizations outline their strategic vision by considering three key forces: regulation, stakeholders, and organizational goals. Lior emphasizes the importance of balancing short-term pressures with long-term strategic goals, quantifying the cost of data issues to prioritize effectively, and maintaining the strategic vision as a living document through regular reviews. He encourages data teams to shift from being enablers to impact creators and provides practical advice on implementing a data vision board, setting clear KPIs, and embracing a product mindset to create tangible business impacts through strategic data management.
Announcements

• Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management
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• Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Lior Barak about how to develop your three year strategic vision for data

Interview

• Introduction
• How did you get involved in the area of data management?
• Can you start by giving an outline of the types of problems that occur as a result of not developing a strategic plan for an organization's data systems?
• What is the format that you recommend for capturing that strategic vision?
  • What are the types of decisions and details that you believe should be included in a vision statement?
• Why is a 3 year horizon beneficial? What does that scale of time encourage/discourage in the debate and decision-making process?
• Who are the personas that should be included in the process of developing this strategy document?
• Can you walk us through the steps and processes involved in developing the data vision board for an organization?
• What are the time-frames or milestones that should lead to revisiting and revising the strategic objectives?
• What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen a data vision strategy used?
• What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on data strategy development?
• When is a data vision board the wrong choice?
• What are some additional resources or practices that you recommend teams invest in as a supplement to this strategic vision exercise?

Contact Info

• LinkedIn
• Substack

Parting Question

• From your perspective, what is the biggest gap in the tooling or technology for data management today?

Closing Announcements

• Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. Podcast.__init__ covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used. The AI Engineering Podcast is your guide to the fast-moving world of building AI systems.
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Links

• Vision Board Overview
• Episode 397: Defining A Strategy For Your Data Products
• Minto Pyramid Principle
• KPI == Key Performance Indicator
• OKR == Objectives and Key Results
• Phil Jackson: Eleven Rings (affiliate link)

The intro and outro music is from The Hug by The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA