Football [1] has been in the news rather a lot of late; apparently there is some competition or other going on in Russia [2]. Presumably it was this that brought to my mind the analogy sometimes applied to the data arena of offence and defence [3]. Defence brings to mind Data Governance, Master Data Management and Data Quality. Offence suggests Data Science, Machine Learning and Analytics. This is an analogy I have briefly touched on in these pages before [4]; here I want to expand on it.
Rather than Association Football, it was however the American version that first crossed my mind. In Gridiron, there are of course wholly separate teams for each of offence, defence, kicking and receiving, each filled with specialists. I would be happy to learn from readers about any counterexamples, but I struggle to think of any other sport that is like this [5]. In each of Association Football, both types of Rugby, Australian Rules Football and indeed Basketball, Baseball (see previous note [5]) Volleyball, Hockey, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Polo, Water Polo and Handball, the same players form both the offence and defence. Of course this is probably due to them being a bit less stop-start than American Football, offence can turn into defence in a split-second in some of them.
To stick with Football (I’m going to drop “Association” from here on in), while players may be designated as goalkeepers, defenders, mid-fielders, wingers and attackers (strikers), any player may be called on to defend or attack at any time [6]. Star strikers may need to make desperate tackles. Defenders (who tend to be taller) will be called up to try to turn corner kicks into goals. Even at the most basic level, the ball needs to be transferred from one end of the field to the other, which requires (absent the Goalkeeper simply taking what is known as route one – i.e. kicking it as far as they can towards the other goal) several players to pass the ball, control it and pass again. The whole team contributes.
I have written before about the nomenclature maze that often surrounds the Top Data Job [7] (see Further Reading at the end of the article). In some organisations the offence and defence aspects of the data arena are separate, in the sense that both are headed by someone who then reports into a non-data-specialist. For example a Chief Data Officer and a Chief Analytics Officer might both report to a Chief Operating Officer. This feels a bit like the American Football approach; separate teams to do separate things. I’m probably stretching the metaphor [8], but a problem that occurs to me is that – in business – the data offence and data defence teams will need to be on the field of play at the same time. Aren’t they going to get in each other’s way and end up duplicating activities? At the very least, they are going to need some robust rules about who does what and for these to be made very clear to the players. Also, ultimately, while both offence and defence teams in Gridiron will have their own coaches, these will report to a Head Coach; someone who presumably knows just a bit about American Football. I can’t think of any instances where an NFL team has no Head Coach and instead the next tier of staff all report to the owner.
Of course having multiple senior data roles reporting into different parts of the Executive may be fine and many organisations operate this way. However, again coming back to my sporting analogy, I prefer the approach adopted by Football, Rugby, Basketball and the rest. I like the idea of a single, cohesive Data Function, led by someone who is a data specialist, no matter what their job title might me. In most sports what seems to work well is a team in which people have roles, but in which there is cross-over and a need to just get done. I think this works for people involved in data work as well.
You wouldn’t have the Head of Tax and the Head of Financial Reporting both reporting to the CEO, that’s what CFOs are for (among other things). It should be the same in the data arena with the Top Data Job being just that, the one person ultimately accountable for both the control and leverage of data. I have made no secret of my opinion that this is the optimum approach. I think my view is supported by the overwhelming number of sports where offence and defence are functions of the same, cohesive team.
Further reading on this subject:
Notes
| [1] |
Association of course. |
| [2] |
My winter team sport was always Rugby Football, of the Union variety. But – as is evident from quite a few articles on this site – for many years my spare time was mostly occupied by rock climbing and bouldering. The day after England’s defeat at the hands of Croatia, the Polish guy I regularly buy my skinny flat white from offered his commiserations about yesterday. I was at a loss as to what he had done to me yesterday and he had to explain that he was referring to the World Cup. Not all Brit’s are Football fanatics. |
| [3] |
Offense and defense for my wife and any other Americans reading. |
| [4] |
This was as part of Alphabet Soup. |
| [5] |
The only thing I could think of that was even in the same ballpark (pun intended) was the use of a designated hitter in some baseball leagues. Even then, the majority of the team have to field as well as bat. |
| [6] |
There are indeed examples of Goalkeepers, the quintessential defensive player, scoring in International Football. |
| [7] |
With acknowledgement to Peter Aiken. |
| [8] |
For neither the first time, nor the last: e.g. A bad workman blames his [Business Intelligence] tools and Analogies. |
From: peterjamesthomas.com, home of The Data and Analytics Dictionary, The Anatomy of a Data Function and A Brief History of Databases