The Chief Data Officer's Playbook

by Caroline Carruthers, Peter Jackson

The issues and profession of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) are of significant interest and relevance to organisations and data professionals internationally. Written by two practicing CDOs, this book offers a practical, direct and engaging discussion of the role, its place and importance within organisations. Chief Data Officer is a new and rapidly expanding role and many organisations are finding that it is an uncomfortable fit into the existing C-suite. Bringing together views, opinions and practitioners experience for the first time, The Chief Data Officer's Playbook offers a compelling guide to anyone looking to understand the current (and possible future) CDO landscape. Content covered why does any organisation need a CDO?the secret ingredients of the successful CDOavoiding the hype cyclethe CDO place in the C-suitebuilding the CDO teamthe CDO and technologyenablement not red tapeadvice to give the business owners. This book will offer key insight for CDOs looking to understand their position better, for aspiring CDOs and data officers looking at career progression, for those recruiting CDOs, and anyone else looking to understand the CDO landscape.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship

208 pages, Paperback

Published November 27, 2017

Reviews

[Emre Sevinç · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as someone coming from a long and very technology-intensive background to learn more about the challenges of being a data officer. Since the terms "data officer" and "chief data officer" are relatively new, there aren't many resources that discuss these, and show how they relate to other roles in a company. In fact, when I searched for books last year, I could find only one other book who used the term "data officer" in its title, and even that book didn't seem to have broad coverage enough.

I'm pretty satisfied with this book's coverage of data officer role, and its recommendations. It presents a realistic picture without being limited to a single domain such as data governance. Its focus on identifying this role as a primarily "business" role, and not a technical role is also important for positioning data officers, I believe. Having said that, the book also does a good job of showing how people from different backgrounds end up being data officers, and how they should view the challenges based on their background.

Even though the book is written at a high level, its advice for the first 100 days and 300 days shows the tactical and strategical actions to be taken. Of course, depending on the industry you work in as a data officer, you will be faced with very different styles, but I agree with the authors about the common themes that a data officer will deal with whether they are working in a bank, or a multinational manufacturing company. For example, having the strongest support of top management, at CEO or president level, being in very healthy communication with all the stakeholders, having a very good overview of data assets of the company, not forgetting tactical achievements while constantly fine tuning the long-term strategy are some of the points that are valid independent of your industry. These will be decisive factors when it comes if your tenure will extend to more than 2.5 years as Gartner predicts for the average chief data officer.

I think I'll go back to this book every now and then in the upcoming months, and I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what it means to be a (chief) data officer, or whether their company needs one.

I wish the book had a more detailed reading and reference list at the end, and maybe a better index, but I can't complain much I believe. Unless a much better book is written in the future, this is the book that you'll have to consult for any kind of overview and understanding of being a data officer and working with data officers.

[Pablo María Fernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's a good book. Maybe a little simplistic for the ones who already work leading data teams but I found good advice in general (many apply to other c-level positions as well). It covers the usual topics on this subject: in which part of the organization does the CDO belong to, the usual scope, challenges of this new position. Many is corporate common sense tips like "underpromise, over deliver" or "build confidence with quick-wins" but I found quite useful the chapter "First 100 days" because it present an organized framework on how to approach a new challenge and also the differentiation between being the first, the second or the third generation CDOs. Of course there are no recipes for this type of role but I think that the authors gathered good material specially for the ones who are getting started coming from other fields.

[Jody B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical and sensible

I'm usually wary of titles with playbook in them, but this book was a pleasant surprise. It is easily read, very practical and sensible which is a significant achievement for a book on something as abstract as data. I have highlighted a number of sections to use/reference in future and will ecommend it to others as well.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like a memoir with useful advice for anyone who are Chief Data Officer (CDO) or wanna-be CDOs. What amazed me the most about this book is how real and down-to-earth the problems that the author has pointed out (at least up to Mar 2023) in corporates. For ex:

Do corporates really need a CDO? If yes, where should you place them in the org chart? The confliction between CDO and CIO/CTO. Who CDO should hire, what to do in CDO's first 100 and 300 days. The backgrounds and types of CDO (tech, data, business). The rising need for Data Governance, etc.

Highly recommend for anyone in Data domain + Executives of big corporates to understand what CDO might help you or why you need a CDO.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best account I've seen of the chief data officer role. As an aspiring CDO, this is a great resource to focus not on the data strategy itself, or the details of how to exploit data, but on what the role requieres, what skills, what to focus on the first day, and how to advertise yourself. Very useful for a role whose position in the company is still to be clearly defined.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Resource

This book is well written, well organized, and very insightful. There is a lot of information available on data management and the like, but this book pulls together a lot of it and provides references to additional information. I highly recommend this book for CDOs and people who hire them, as well as people in data leadership roles.

[Saphira_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a newcomer to the topic and it really gives a valuable overview. It also offers some methods you can easily apply and start operating with. I now feel like I have a good foundation I can build knowledge and experience on as someone who just grows into the role of a data expert/officer due to a changing role in my professional business life.

[Maxwell T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid guide for folks stepping into executive data roles. Don’t usually go for these kind of books, but gives tools and language for data leaders (and/or org execs looking to bring in data leaders). I think some more discussion of technologies / concepts would enrich this book.

[Sergey G · Rating 3 out of 5]

My expectations from the book were much higher, there is some practical information based on the authors' experiences which is very valuable, but most of the content I find really high-level and not concrete enough.

[Sylwester Kroczek · Rating 4 out of 5]

All about CDO role

All important information concerning CDO role, eg. who should be CDO, how is it organized in many companies, how this role was evolved.

[Mj · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning is great it does become a bit morr vague at the end in my opinion. Still one of the better books I've read.

[rohan amin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great playbook for understanding the importance of the CDO's role in an organization.

[Evgenii Chernyi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Хотелось почитать что-нибудь о той области, в которой работаю. Ну, в поисках инсайтов. Как следует изучил Amazon и выяснил, что немного как-то книг написано про Data warehouse, Business intelligence и управление данными для управленцев. В основном присутствует только техническое чтиво для инженеров. Наткнулся на только что вышедшую книгу за 64 доллара (и это Kindle Version!!!) с многообещающим названием и ещё более многообещающим содержанием: «The first 100 days of CDO», «The next 300 days», «Why do CDOs fail?» и т.п. Оказалось поверхностная вещь с банальными мыслями. Ну, узнал зато, что в Великобритании (оттуда авторы) те же проблемы в моей отрасли, что и в России: качество данных; скорость обработки; потребители из разных подразделений, разрабатывающие одни и те же отчеты (или по крайней мере сильно пересекающиеся) в своих колодцах и не расшаривающие их с другими и т.п.
Книга сейчас, кстати, продаётся с большим дисконтом - за 12 долларов.

[Sun Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for data professionals

A book that every data organisation should read. I will read it again very soon. The book gives good direction and focus on important elements in the data journey

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant insight into a role I aspire to

[Miroslaw Pawelko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Impressive how one can wrote so many sentences with no content. Keep away

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very general hand-waving.