Data Must be Owned by Business

Many companies hastily adopt trendy data initiatives, such as data mesh and data democratization, aiming to become data-driven but often face disappointing outcomes due to insufficient genuine investment from key business stakeholders. This lack of engagement frequently leads to technical metrics being prioritized over meaningful business aims, causing businesses to regret wasted resources on data-centric buzzwords. Despite having efficient data systems, the lack of a genuine commitment to analyzing and interpreting data can result in superficial insights that fail to inform business strategy. The emphasis should be on aligning data projects with significant revenue or cost impacts, similar to how product ownership in software engineering focuses on tangible business value.