I’ve created this special compendium of posts that are relevant to planning and managing data related programs and projects. There are four groups:
All in Project Management
I heard David Lebryk of the U.S. Department of Treasury speak on Data Act implementation this morning at the Johns Hopkins/REI Systems Government Analytics Breakfast Forum in Washington DC.
Data Program Governance and the Success of Shared Digital Services
If the tip of the data management “spear” is analyzing data in new and interesting ways to help solve important problems, someone still has to manufacture the spear, carry it, and train throwers to hit the target.
Managing Open Transportation Data at the U.S. Department of Transportation
Such challenges are not unique to the Federal Government. All large organizations desiring to take a more strategic position in how data — the lifeblood of organization processes — are managed and released will have to address such governance issues.
Dashboarding Open Data Program Governance
A key feature of the Project Open Data effort being managed by OMB and OSTP is that so much of it is being conducted in the open using accessible resources such as shared documentation, a defined metadata schema, and use of GitHub for capturing comments and issues. Agencies that want to involve private sector vendors in their open date efforts should consider the use and management of such tools as a required part of program governance and oversight (as long as sufficient staff and resources are provided to manage such efforts, of course).
Risk, Uncertainty, and Managing Big Data Projects
Anyone who practices project management for a living will recognize this list. It’s certainly not unique to big data analytics project. It is however reasonable to ask whether “big data” projects are unique in some way that exacerbates the probability of failure.
Interim Report on the Generalizability of the NOAA Big Data Project’s Management Model
It’s good to see the Federal government and private sector working together to create value from data that might not be realized were its use restricted only to specifically funded and legislated programs.
Moving to the Cloud: Business as Usual or Opportunity for Change?
Sometimes it makes sense to consider open data programs and cloud infrastructure transformation at the same time.
Is Making the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database More "Open" Good Or Bad?
Realistically it’s also impossible to control what people say online about companies. Just type the name of any large company into the Google search engine followed by the word “sucks” and you’ll see what I mean.
USAID’s “Frequently Asked Questions” and the Management of Open Data Programs
By itself, just documenting a process is never enough. Also needed is a sufficiently-resourced governance structure that supports program management in how systems and processes are changed and in how they operate.
Will NOAA’s “Big Data Partnership” be a Model for Other Government Agencies?
One thing that’s different with the NOAA data partnership program is not just its focus on making data available for access and exploitation via the cloud but the changing market environment in which it will be operating.
Observations and Questions about Open Data Program Governance
After this week’s call with Socrata’s Health Data Publishers Roundtable about working with data owners I put together a few thoughts to share with the group. Here are some observations along with a list of questions that I think deserve further discussion.
A sudden turn-off of digital access to government services — as might be required by the agency shutdown — must at minimum be figured into the risk management planning of any organization planning to offer or use products or services that are dependent on government-sourced open data.
The Oscars Are Coming The Oscars Are Coming
I was certainly not surprised that the best movie I saw in 2014 – Interstellar — was not nominated for Best Picture.
Still, knowing that data exist – which is what the inventories will tell us — is not the same as accessing and interpreting the data. Even assuming the public eventually gains access to the inventoried data, we’ll still need contextual information about the programs described by the data and measurement of the impacts these programs have.
Knowing An Organization’s Data Management Maturity Helps Promote Effective Open Data Program Planning
Each data element in a data asset inventory has its own “lifecycle” that when properly managed provides a framework for tracking and optimizing how data are used from creation through obsolescence.
Open Data Management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Much of what the EPA staff talked about involved processes and activities that are necessarily associated not only with “open data” but with any data intensive business process. Data must be managed. Systems that share data need to be coordinated. Resources need to be allocated and shared. Such requirements are not unique to “open data” but are universally relevant.
Looking Beyond Open Data Availability to Managing Open Data Value
Policy and theory are great but only usefulness and impact lead to real sustainability.
Don’t Just Make Data Open, Make Open Data Useful!
In this post we dive a little deeper into the topic of “open data usefulness.”
USAID’s Evolving Open Data Culture
I learned last night at the latest Open Data Leaders Meetup in Washington D.C. that they really are serious about “open data” at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).