Baking a... data strategy??

I’ve been spending a lot of my time this week doing work prep (reading, research, reflecting), in readiness for my return to employment next week. Today though I have spent the morning doing something I really love doing outside of work… baking cakes for a family birthday party.

It got me thinking – there are a lot of similarities between baking a cake and developing a data strategy (bear with me on this one!), so I thought I’d share my top 3 tips that I think can be applied to getting started with a Victoria sponge or an organisational data strategy.

1.      Understand the end goal.

With a cake this can be fairly simple – who it’s for and what kind of cake they like would be my starting point. For your data strategy it doesn’t need to be overly complicated either, the important thing is that you have a clear terms of reference which sets out what your organisation is seeking to achieve – what you expect from your data strategy and what you want it to enable you to do.

2.      Preparation.

Once I understand what cake I am making, I will move on to my planning and preparation, considering things like timings (when it is needed for), researching and selecting the recipe, shopping for ingredients, making sure I have use of the kitchen and the right equipment, you get the gist. The same principles can be applied to the development of a data strategy. When planning out the engagement you will set out a timeline for the development of the strategy and select a framework to work to. You will need to consider who the stakeholders are and what their availability looks like, planning a suitable period of time to speak to them to gather all of the background information needed, and of course to do all of this you need to have identified the right resources around you to conduct the engagement and analyse and write up findings.

3.      Have the right ingredients.

I’ve touched on ingredients already in point 2, but as this is such a crucial element, I wanted to draw it out as its own point. I won’t go into any detail on the ingredients of a cake, other than to say, if you miss a core ingredient from your recipe, you probably won’t get the cake you intended to get! When we think about developing a data strategy, the same is true – in this case I am considering the stakeholders – and crucially all the insights that they are going to share with you – to be the ingredients. This is where robust stakeholder identification comes in – to ensure a well-rounded strategy which encompasses the needs of your entire organisation – you must make sure that you have identified and taken the time to gather and consider the views of all relevant stakeholders.

So, there we have it – baking a cake and developing a data strategy – I don’t know why I didn’t spot the similarities sooner! I hope you enjoyed reading and please do comment below if you have any thoughts – I am interested to know what you think and whether you can see the similarities between the two processes, or perhaps you see something different that I haven't considered!

I’m now off to buy a new piping bag to finish these cakes… turns out I didn’t follow all of my own advice!