In Episode 8, of Season 4, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by James Morgan, Chief Data Officer at The Crown Estate, where they discuss all of the facets involved in building a Data & Analytics capability for strategic transformation while managing the hype cycles, which includes;

The importance of having the right information strategy
Why D&A needs to be involved in strategic planning
Why you have to identify which stakeholders deliver value for the organisation
How too many data teams are focusing on solutions instead of objectives
Choosing objectives that will deliver the best ROI
Why diverse teams are critical for success with D&A
Balancing the immediate needs and the strategic vision
Defining what your core capability needs to be
Ensuring you enable the business so they don’t do it themselves
Why all hype cycles only exist to help deliver an outcome
Why choosing the right tools can be critical
Why some hype cycles have been hugely advantageous
The importance of identifying where the nuggets of real change lie within any hype cycle
Why the fundamentals of good data practice are still applicable today
Why prototyping is beneficial but it can’t be your main approach
Why AI isn’t the answer to everything
Why not all hype cycles are created equally
How people confuse operating model and team structure
Trying to hire unicorns and writing 35 different job descriptions to build a team
Why your data team should represent the population
Why you have to truly believe in building a diverse team
Why being obliged to fill a diversity quota or target is the wrong approach
Why you’ll only ever gain credibility by delivering something that people want and use
Needing to get your organisation to the place of believing that data is intrinsic to its success
Attributing the value of your work before you deliver anything

S4 | Ep 8 | Building for Strategic Transformation Amidst the Hype Cycles with James Morgan, Chief Data Officer at The Crown Estate