Hi ,
Imagine a football game where the coach of one team ran onto the field, grabbed the ball and started kicking goals. It'd be pretty
ridiculous. Right?
The players are there to play the game, and the coach's role is to take a step back and guide them to success.
The same thing is true of data science. Organisations
hire data scientists to "play the game" (i.e. do the technical work) and each layer of management above them is there to step back and guide those below them to success.
But that doesn't mean executives, and those further from the data science playing field, can just walk away and expect data science to succeed without them making a
contribution.
According to the recently released "Business Model Transformation: the AI and Cloud Technology Revolution" by Danny Samson, Alon Ellis and Stuart Black, for a business to succeed in any technology-led
transformation, "every executive and board member should know at least enough to effectively contribute to insights and strategic decisions concerning digital transformations, technology investments and business model considerations."
Furthermore, among board members, the most important skills when it comes to governing technology-driven
opportunities are mindset factors, including:
- The willingness to explore possibilities and ask 'what if?';
- Discomfort with the status quo; and
- A strategic focus on far-future opportunities.
This means that, even if you're not on the playing field, in the "game" of data science, for your team to succeed, you still need to know the rules of the game and you still need to remain
engaged.
Talk again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes
p.s. I recently had the privilege of interviewing Stuart Black, on the topic of Board attitudes to data use, for my podcast "Value Driven Data Science." The episode goes live on Thursday.
p.p.s. Thanks to Tim Davey for inspiring the analogy.
