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