“Only those with their feet on rock can build castles in the air”
This line caught my eye when I was re-reading Carpe Jugulum, one of the Witches books in the Discworld novels by the amazing Terry Pratchett. It was referring to the people of Lancre, the small country where most of the Discworld’s Witch novels are based.
The locals are described as a hardheaded and straightforward people who often excelled in the rest of the world. In fact, it supplied the nearby countries with many of their greatest wizards and witches – which could be seen as a contradiction for a people who are typically so straightforward.
Hence the line and the argument, that actually no, you need to have your feet steady on the ground before you can successfully and reliably build creative marvels in the air. That you need that solid foundation first before you can do the creative and fun work.
It’s the same in the world of digital data.
Business impact comes from personalisation, algorithms and of course AI. The companies that build data products that successfully deliver business impact are those that have first focused on their data foundation. That includes getting data collection right, having Digital Analytics specialists, investing in the right technology and ensuring the entire business understands how to use digital data. Without reliable trustworthy data, the probability of getting the desired business impact from data is significantly reduced.
Beyond that, I really recommend dipping into Discworld books if you haven’t previously. Ignore that the pages are populated with trolls and dwarfs, wizards and witches and the world is a flat disc floating through space on the back of four elephants that are standing on the shell of a giant turtle. They contain great insights into people and people’s behaviour. Happy to give recommendations on where to start.
