The Power of "Why" in Your Data Strategy

It is well known that poor data strategy leads to poor data quality. Applying Simon Senek's principle of "Starting with the Why", this session will help data professionals change their perception and communication around data and data quality. Understanding and communicating the why of the data helps the users see the value of the data and engage in data quality and improvement.

Using a statewide education data management case study, this presentation will explore the benefits of properly communicating the "why" of the data system. But starting with the why is only the first step. Data professionals need to build a vision users can see and buy in on based on that "why". In addition, data professionals need to be able to sell that vision and tie that vision to data user inputs in order to improve data quality. The session will have four main components:

What is the "why" of your data?
Developing a strong vision for data users incorporating the "why"
Selling the "why"
Tying the "why" to their everyday input practices

Shiyloh Duncan-Becerril is the Special Education Data Administrator for the California Department of Education. Shiyloh is responsible for ensuring accurate data collection of 800,000 student-level data collection and reporting annually working collaboratively with 1,700 school districts. She has worked as a data professional with the California Department of Education, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Shiyloh has a M.S. in Criminology from Florida State University and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Missouri. Shiyloh is an experienced SAS data programmer.