The Basic Idea™

Introducing a thinking space for data and AI strategists, managers and leaders.

The Why

I recently published my second book, “Elements of Data Strategy” (EDS). With that, I thought all my ideas were finished, and I could move on to other topics. I was wrong! As the book started making rounds in the wild, I received so much feedback (both ends of the spectrum, of course!) and had so many follow-up conversations that new ideas began to appear, building on top of my work.

I returned to the best advice I received on writing: if the pain of not writing is bigger than that of writing, you have no choice. It has to be done. I started feeling the same way. The outpouring of comments on EDS made me even more certain that there’s still an unfulfilled niche ripe for new ideas. I realized EDS was just the first step in setting the foundation. The web is overflowing with content on data, but I don’t see a sufficient practical focus on the area between business and data. With some notable exceptions, most of the materials and frameworks are focused on both extremes, while the middle is unattended:

This is not all, however. There’s a second, perhaps larger, motivating factor. Despite the huge hype based on the success of a certain Large Language Model, looking around the organizations (at least in Europe), there’s still so much to do. We have barely scratched the surface of what can be done with data. We are so focused on the giant tech companies, but many other potential applications in other industries are there for the taking. There’s also an asymmetric focus on AI itself - there’s so much more potential in data work that is not even focused on advanced analytics - such as business intelligence or making decision-making more data-driven.

Why is this the case? I’m afraid this is such an important and extensive topic I’ll need to dedicate much more space to it. But here I lay bare my hypothesis, on which this whole work is based:

No consistent or significant value can be generated without a data strategy.

To make this happen, we also need a community, so let’s talk about that.

The Who

This work is for the people in the middle. You can call them Data and AI Strategists, Analytics Translators, CDOs, or Heads of Data, but they occupy one of the most complex areas in technology:

My goal here is further to push the definition of our new job role and for it to follow data science and engineering in becoming established and widespread.

The How

I plan to post weekly, on Wednesdays. It will be a free newsletter initially; I want to see if such materials can follow the success of EDS and be useful. In the future, some of the content will probably be available only to paid subscribers, but the core will always be free.

Onwards and upwards!

Berlin, April 2023

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