What is Data Quality anyway? If you are a data professional, I’m sure someone from outside our field has asked you that question, and if you’re like me you’ve fallen into the trap of answering in data-speak.
To my listener, I’d guess that the experience was similar to having a customer service rep who has just turned down his simple request justify it by describing byzantine company policies.
There’s a ton of great writing available on data quality, and I in no way mean to disparage it or its value in the field. But in that writing I’ve yet to find a concise and compelling definition that’s useful to non-data professionals. I’ll review one or two prevailing definitions and then offer one that could help us unlock real data quality improvements. Continue reading