In the Data Echo World I previously wrote about the real world most organizations find themselves in. No one ever decided to build this environment intentionally. It came about over years of siloed decision making and tool selection, as well as a business-first world of just get it done and get it done now. An important factor that can’t be ignored is that Information Technology (IT) has been viewed as a cost center for the business rather than a partner. Most IT organizations took orders from the business and to deliver within budget, took what expertise and tools they had in house and tried to meet the demands of the business. This led to tech debt, including poorly documented processes and code as well as tools used for the wrong purpose. This spiral continues to this day with many organizations just trying to keep the lights on, hiring and focusing the limited IT resources they have on the tools they use and support. This has led them down a path to the biggest hiring mistake most organizations make.

Before we can change this hiring mistake, I think we need to discuss a simple alignment of successful organizations. These organizations have one thing in common. Within their walls, IT is an equal trusted partner in the organization. These organizations no longer have business initiatives. Every initiative is a company initiative that will require IT resources. This perspective leads organizations to engage with their technical leaders in project planning instead of project execution. In doing so, the right resources can be identified to deliver the project on time. Additionally, the right budget from a financial and people perspective can be agreed upon. All poorly run projects have just a few things that you can point to. The first is that the IT resources needed for the project where not available at the same time the SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) where available for the business. This leads to the hurry up and wait development model. The second is that budgets went well over from a people, time, and money perspective because the project budget and timeline was set by leaders before the project plan was agreed upon and the right tech leaders had their input on what needs to happen to deliver the project successfully. This leads to the “We didn’t know what we didn’t know” model. When technical leaders and SMEs align on the project details, leaders from both the business and IT can be confident that the budget and timeline is reasonable as long as both partners commit the resources to deliver the project. When the business and IT are in an equal relationship, organizations thrive and innovate.

Quick Side Note: In the past, a response to the above from some people is that they are an AGILE organization and this kind of planning is for waterfall organizations. I will let you read up on AGILE and engage the many experts in the field, but it does not mean planless or a lack of requirements. It means that the project is delivered incrementally to allow for flexibility if requirements need to change. Those scope changes need to be agreed upon by the project partners with an understanding that there are impacts to the change from a people, time, or financial perspective. AGILE does not mean lack of planning or budget.

So back to the question of who these technical leaders are and what qualities do they possess. Let’s start with a premise. Today’s world centers around data. It drives decisions and and can even predict the future. Accessing it is critical for organization success. Websites need it, applications need it, and decision makers need it. With that in mind, the primary tech lead and most important role in your organization is your Chief Data Overlord. In most organizations, this is your data solutions architect or lead senior engineer. Their role is to know all the other partners (council members) that will need a place at the table. System architecture, data architecture, data governance, Information Security, data analysts, and so on. Most importantly, they know the SMEs. SMEs are technical leaders in the business that hold business knowledge and are critical to successful projects.

There are a few qualities that make a successful Chief. One is that they are a chess player. Not in a literal sense, but in the perspective they are able to evaluate decisions for their down stream impacts and see the big picture. This requires strong analytical and problem solving skills. They have to understand the long term impacts of current decisions to allow your organization to take advantage of future opportunities. Tech debt, like financial debt, keeps you from taking advantage of great opportunities. The second and maybe equally important is that they trust others and their expertise. No one can be an expert in everything, but a good Chief Data Overlord must have enough understanding of your ecosystem to make good decisions. Before implementing something, they need to determine whether the solution already exists and what options are available. That requires them to understand what they don’t know, who can bridge the gap of knowledge for them, and to trust the council of tech leaders who will deliver the specific expertise to bring the solution together. A third quality of a Chief is that they have to be a great communicator. They have to engage with the organization to understand the problems that need to be solved. They need to ask the tough question of the parties involved. They need to partner with other tech leaders to work through the details of a solution. And finally, they have to bring everyone together to agree upon the solutions that will be implemented. One final thing to look for in a Chief Data Overlord. The question “Why?” must be part of their DNA. The right person for this role is always questioning the reasons, the methods, and the choices your organization is making.

The more people your organization has that fit this Chief role, the more company initiatives you can successfully complete. Each company initiative requires a Chief Data Overlord and their qualities will ensure they partner with each other and stay on the same page, reducing your tech debt and connecting your IT organization.

This leads to the biggest hiring mistake organizations make. Notice, not one of the qualities above is tool specific. That is an important part of the Chief Data Overlord’s role and one that will help your organization take advantage of the Cloud. The Cloud is an ever changing ecosystem of tools and applications. Integration tools and techniques change with the wind. Organizations in today’s world need people who are flexible, have an aptitude for problem solving, and are willing to learn new things. Unfortunately, too many post jobs, especially in tech leads, with specific tool knowledge as a requirement and many times those requirements are so specific and seem to require so much expertise, they exclude great candidates that can help your organization. I have two examples that come to mind just from recent interactions with recruiters. A friend of mine called me to review a job a manufacturing company posted to replace their long time SQL database administrator. They asked for 25+ years of SQL Server experience because their DBA suddenly retired and they wanted his expertise. A couple of things came to mind. First, longevity does not equal expertise. I have worked with a lot of people who were newer and had great expertise and many who had been in a role a long time and knew little. In today’s cloud environment, many tools are new. Finding experts is impossible. Finding people who can gain knowledge quickly should be your goal. Anyone you hire will need to learn your way of working and ecosystem anyway. The second example was from a few years ago. A company wanted a dashboarding and reporting tool and decided on Microsoft Power BI as it was included with their Microsoft subscription. They wanted an expert to help implement this correctly so they posted a Senior role looking for 10 years of Power BI experience. There was a problem. Power BI was released in 2014 with limited functionality. In 2020, to find this 10 years of experience, you would need to hire the people who created it and I doubt they would work for $105k/year. In both cases, the companies were unable to find candidates when they finally reached out to recruiters. In both situations, the job descriptions and requirements were rewritten to help find the right candidates to help those organizations meet their goals.

If you want to take advantage of the cloud, your organization is going to need to rethink who you hire and how. The qualities that make a great Chief Data Overlord also make great technical resources at all levels. If you want to be successful as an organizations, you will need to create a partnership with IT to deliver on the company initiatives. Finally, if you want to keep your organization on the leading edge of technology and competitive in the market, you will need to fill it with Chief Data Overlords that can integrate your ecosystem and deliver data to the right place at the right time with the right tool. When hiring, remember to hire attitude and train aptitude.