Moving into the governance arena, Kowalski gives the reader tools to integrate a data governance operating model with the organizational culture. The book provides this context in every section, but it is of high importance here. with gears icon as they read through the book, which provides context on different options middle east rcs data regarding how to fit specific concepts into a local culture. When building an operating model, designing the organizational hierarchy of governance, and providing the rules of engagement, a strong cultural fit is paramount. Kowalski underscores this and supplies further guardrails to help the reader implement these principles effectively within their organization.
In the last third of the book, we operationalize governance by implementing a strong policy framework. The book really shines in this area, giving the reader a strong sense of what makes a good robust policy that employees across an organization can follow. Not only are policies themselves guardrails, but Kowalski arms the reader with processes to create strong policies. Kowalski highlights that policy should be high-level, brief, and direct. To keep policies robust and long-lived, Kowalski recommends bringing specifics into standards documents, that can be updated over time while still achieving the same guiding principles in the main policy. This gives a lot of flexibility to a governance program, while still providing consistency to the organization. Kowalski finishes the section with tips on how to make the policy searchable, readable, and overall useful to the community within an organization.