Why momentum beats maturity models — and what actually works when you want data to drive the business.

The Seduction of the Big Plan

Let’s be honest — it’s tempting to start with a well-crafted strategy.

You want to show the organization you’ve got this. That you see all the moving parts. That you’ve accounted for governance, architecture, stewardship, enablement, and at least 47 different data capabilities you’re aware of. So, you build the slides—the ones with boxes, arrows, and pillars. You write a 30-page document. You call it a roadmap.

It feels responsible. Mature. Visionary.

And this one step often takes six months. Sometimes a year.

To be clear, that's not six months of real progress. It's six months of educated guessing — about what the business needs, what problems matter, and what people will actually use. Most of it is written in the language of capabilities, rarely outcomes:

• “Data quality monitoring platform”
• “Master data management model”
• “Governance operating rhythm”

But let’s be real:

• Do portfolio managers care what technology you use?
• Do they care that you're moving from ‘low’ to ‘medium-high’ maturity in your data governance maturity model?
• Does anyone not intimately aware of data concepts care that you built an automated lineage?

No. They care about outcomes. Faster answers. Clearer insights. More confident decisions. Period. 

The Field of Dreams Trap

Traditional data strategies fall into the same trap as the old Field of Dreams cliche:

“If we build it, they will come.” But they won’t.

They’ll wait until it works for them — not for you.  That’s why we recommend starting somewhere completely different: with business outcome wins.

A real, functional, made-someone’s-job-easier kind of win. The kind that solves a problem someone in the business actually cares about.

Something like:

• Fixing the fee leakage that’s costing you six figures a quarter.
• Automating the ESG reporting process that takes two weeks too long.
• Giving an analyst a single place to explore returns without pinging six systems.

 Small? Maybe. But real? Absolutely.  And real beats theoretical every time.

Wins First, Then Wisdom

Here’s the thing: early business wins isn’t just about momentum. It’s about learning. Every win teaches you something:

• What data no one trusts.
• What teams keep duplicating.
• Where things break under pressure.

These patterns are gold. They show you where the friction lives. They show you where to build foundations — not the imagined kind, but the kind that people will actually use. 

The Lean Startup community calls this validated learning, and it’s how we guide clients to build strategy—   from the ground up …instead of the cloud down.

Strategy as a Byproduct

Ironically, the best data strategies often emerge after the work starts — not before.

You realize:

• We need a better stewardship model because no one owns “portfolio hierarchy.”
• We need reusable definitions because “client AUM” means five different things.
• We need data products, not brilliantly designed models. 

So don’t plan a massive platform overhaul.  Build a thin slice — just enough data product, just enough governance, just enough quality monitoring to make the next win faster, smoother, and more scalable.

This is how strategy sneaks in the back door — born of doing, shaped by learning, and funded by trust.

When You Stop Pushing and Start Delivering, They Will Ask

Here’s my favorite part:

 Once people start getting answers they trust, on time, with less pain…

• They stop resisting.
• They start asking.
• They begin pulling data into their teams instead of waiting for IT to push it.
• They start ASKING for more.
• They shift to the driver's seat, sponsoring more data enablement

That’s the shift.  That’s when data stops being a strategy deck and starts being a cultural operating system.

The Best Way to Build a Roadmap That Works

So if you’re sitting in front of a blank slide titled “Enterprise Data Strategy,” here’s our advice:

• Start small.
• Win something.
• Write down what you learned.
• Build just enough foundation to make the next win easier.
• Repeat.

And eventually, you’ll look back and realize — you didn’t just write a strategy.  You lived it.

And everyone came along for the ride.