GOOD STRATEGY REBELLION

Tag: Information Technology

  • Navigating Data Warehousing’s Professional Crisis – 2026

    Navigating Data Warehousing’s Professional Crisis – 2026

    Martyn Rhisiart Jones

    Read my absolutely fabulous books: http://www.goodstrat.com/books
     
    A quiet disquiet has settled over the once-confident corridors of enterprise data. What was, not so long ago, regarded as a rigorous and rather specialised craft, data warehousing and business intelligence, now frequently presents itself in a more casual, even improvisational guise. A growing number of senior executives, technology directors and indeed practitioners themselves confess to a mounting discomfort with the quality, and at times the sheer quantity, of self-proclaimed experts who populate the field.
     

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  • A Brief History of Data Warehousing – 2026/01/07 – Includes Podcast

    A Brief History of Data Warehousing – 2026/01/07 – Includes Podcast

    Martyn Rhisiart Jones

    Madrid, 7th January 2026

    The origins of data warehousing are often pinned to the late 1980s, when the term “business data warehouse” first appeared in an influential IBM Systems Journal article by researchers Barry Devlin and Paul Murphy. I was based in Birmingham at that time, and I also wrote a similar foundational document on Information Centres for Sperry Univac.

    Yet, as with many technological breakthroughs, the story is far richer and older than the conventional narrative suggests. The foundational components of what we now recognise as a data warehouse were quietly taking shape as early as the 1960s, driven by the need to organise, integrate, and analyse growing volumes of business information in an era of punch cards, magnetic tape, and the first mainframes.

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  • Big Data: And it’s all gone quiet over there!

    Big Data: And it’s all gone quiet over there!

    Big Data is all pervasive, all seeing and all knowing.

    Everyone is doing Big Data, and if they aren’t then they will.  It’s inevitable.

    Big Data will revolutionise the worlds of data, decision making and business.

    Am I right, or am I right?

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  • CONSIDER THIS: Big Data Inertia

    CONSIDER THIS: Big Data Inertia

    “Half the time she did things not simply, not for themselves; but to make people think this or that; perfect idiocy she knew for no one was ever for a second taken in.”  Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

    It’s all very well for the blithering Big Data bullshitter savants to now claim, after a massive exercise in u-turning, that Big Data isn’t after all about data volumes, velocities and varieties, but about some minor variation on the theme of data architecture, management and processing.

    But, look at the mess! (more…)

  • Too Much Information

    Too Much Information

    Martyn Richard Jones

    I have questions about data.

    Most of us who have more than a cursory knowledge of the English language have heard of the phrase ‘too much information’. We know what it means, even if we don’t always know when to apply it.

    For those who don’t know, or are unsure, the Urban Dictionary describes ‘too much information’ as “An expression of exasperation and disgust when a person is divulging personal details of his sex life, toilet habits, or anything the listener finds disgusting, uninteresting, and unwelcome.”[1]

    Sum, sum. Just because we know it, doesn’t mean we should share it or even try and remember it, never mind go about analysing the hell out of it.

    This is where Big Data comes in. (more…)

  • Overcoming Mediocrity in Data Warehousing and Analytics – 2026 Vibes

    Overcoming Mediocrity in Data Warehousing and Analytics – 2026 Vibes

    “Anger is the enemy of nonviolence, and pride is a monster that swallows it up.”

    Mohandas Gandhi

    Martyn Richard Jones

    Aspirational trends

    The predominance of strength and innocence, better known as ignorance and arrogance, is undermining Information Management, and in turn is ensuring that many Data Warehousing and Decision Support initiatives are disappointments.

    2015 will again give IM professionals the opportunity to regain some dignity and professional integrity.

    First, by recognising that there are grave problems within IM; then, by slowing down and halting the toxic trends, carelessness and bad practices; and, subsequently, by reversing, through intelligence, perseverance and integrity, the ingrained and decrepit habits that still trouble the profession.

    Present indications

    In the rush to the bottom, we throw excellence in analysis, architecture, engineering and business understanding, under the bus. In IM as well as in many other branches of IT (Information Technology), mediocrity has become the new excellent, regular the new exceptional, and shoddiness the new normal.

    Whether it is in Data Warehousing, Big Data, Business Intelligence, Analytics, Decision Support or Data Integration, we see that professional integrity and ethical behaviour – already enough of a rarity in IT – is being repeatedly trumped by short-term expediency, wilful witlessness, and the cultivation and perpetuation of dogmas, dysfunctional behaviour and dubious doings.

    The Information Management sector is rife with elaborate charlatanry, partisan expediency and wilful self-deception. There is not a day that goes by in which we are not subjected to an avalanche of contemptible claims from rogue IM evangelists, DW neophytes and unsophisticated opportunists, who choose to simply make things up as they go along.

    Manifest requisites

    It is in the best interests of IM to raise the profession out of the ditch; to reform the profession from the inside; to drive sea-change improvements in knowledge, quality and professional integrity; to ensure a drastic reduction in destructive hype, deception and dogma, and to show the artless charlatans, chancers and snake-oil merchants the door.

    Data Warehousing and Decision Support – if done right, and for the right reasons – can deliver tangible benefits to many organisations. Simply stated, if business information has a value in the realm of business and strategy, then it should be treated as an asset; if it is an asset, then it should be managed and nurtured as such, which means aiming to do the right thing right, first time, every time, whilst focusing on maximising confidence, availability and agility.

    File under: Good Strat, Good Strategy, Martyn Richard Jones, Martyn Jones, Cambriano Energy, Iniciativa Consulting, Iniciativa para Data Warehouse, Tiki Taka Pro

  • Developing and Aligning IT Strat

    Developing and Aligning IT Strat

    Imagen3Written by Martyn Richard Jones

    “It’s not enough to give signals.” – Enzo Cucchi

    I wanted to call this piece ‘A random drive down Camino Real’.

    But that is an ‘in joke’ and no one would get it.

    So instead I called in ‘Developing and Aligning IT Strategy’. (more…)

  • Strategy and Market forces – Get your ducks lined up – 2026

    Strategy and Market forces – Get your ducks lined up

    Martyn Richard Jones – 2026 Revamp

    Let’s now take a brief look at my ‘nine competitive dimensions’  model.

    This model will be familiar to some who will readily connect with the inclusion of government as an environmental dimension.

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  • Nothing achievable is impossible: Challenges, Self-worth and Strategies – 2026 Replay

    Nothing achievable is impossible: Challenges, Self-worth and Strategies – 2026 Replay

    Martyn Richard Jones

    Remastered for 2026

    I came into IT at the tail end of the seventies, joining one of the original computing pioneers.

    It was a conservative company led by veterans, engineers, accountants, and sales professionals, with many ties to the US administration, the Department of Defence, and intelligence agencies.

    My interests at the time were in philosophy, politics and economics. I liked meeting people and talking, and I also enjoyed helping people solve real-life business problems, so I was always engaged with corporate staff and executive management rather than with the real hard-core technicians and engineers.

    The thing is, I had no idea what constrained IT, so I never had that baggage when thinking about solutions.

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  • Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 3

    Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 3

    Continued from Part 2 which can be found here -> Part 2

    I look over at Crème, who is now staring out the window watching the rain. I cough, theatrically, for effect. “So, Crème, would you like a rest, or do you want to tell us about what happened next?”

    “Oh, yes” Crème says, “Sorry, I was wandering there for a while”. She continues.

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  • Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 1 – Remaster 2026

    Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 1 – Remaster 2026

    Martyn ‘Rhysiart’ Jones

    Spain

    It’s Friday morning in Canary Wharf, and I have been asked to facilitate a meeting of a chapel of IT Dogma Suckers and Digital Snake-oil Victims, the self-help recovery chain for people who have fallen victim to the pernicious and debilitating effects of IT dogma and professional rip-offs. (more…)

  • Strategic Data Warehousing: A Smart Approach – REMASTER 2026

    Strategic Data Warehousing: A Smart Approach – REMASTER 2026

    HERE WE ARE!

    Extract taken from the draft work-in-progress provisionally titled Assess! Choose! Act! Data Warehousing and Strategy by Martyn Jones 

    It’s a fantastically chic restaurant. It’s one of the best, if not the best in town. It’s Catalan or Basque, for sure. A group of twelve people sit at a round table. Silver service, starched white linen, spotless polished lead crystal glass, the works. There is even a minimalist arrangement of seasonal flowers. The owner of the exquisite restaurant walks across to the table, accompanied by one of her impeccably uniformed staff, who holds a notepad and pen in readiness; “Good afternoon, and, what would our esteemed ladies and gentlemen like today?” she asks.

    Confused? If you haven’t seen this before then you should be. So just read on fellow traveller.

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  • Addressing Professionalism Issues in Data Warehousing

    Addressing Professionalism Issues in Data Warehousing

    People are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the quality and quantity of many self-styled data warehousing and business intelligence professionals, organisations, and individuals. The perceived and increasing degradation of professionalism and integrity in my own areas of specialisation also finds echo in other aspects of Information and Communication Technology practice, but for now, that is outside the scope of this piece.

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  • A Brief History of Data Warehousing

    A Brief History of Data Warehousing

    There is a general consensus that Data Warehousing first appeared in the 1980s. However, the components of Data Warehousing were being developed and implemented as early as the 1960s. Many individuals are credited with discovering Data Warehousing. Wikipedia has a great chronological timeline that provides a lot of context for the evolution of data warehousing methodologies.

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  • Understanding Building Scientific Value: A Homeowner’s Guide

    Understanding Building Scientific Value: A Homeowner’s Guide

    Twenty years ago, you wanted a new bathroom, so you hired a building contractor to come in and build a bathroom of your own design.

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  • Understanding IT Failures: A Path to Improvement – REMASTER 2026

    Understanding IT Failures: A Path to Improvement – REMASTER 2026

    My original intention was not to write a book on the decline and fall of so many projects, but rather to pen a short essay, a sort of hard-hitting criticism of the litany of IT failures. Of course, this is rarely enough; it wasn’t enough because it identified the issues without provoking debate, and it highlighted common issues without providing guideline suggestions, which meant that it appeared upon reflection to come across as too much like a hi-tech hit and run exercise, beating up on IT failures without actually offering tangible solutions.

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  • Transforming IT: A Guide for CEOs – REMASTER 2026

    Transforming IT: A Guide for CEOs – REMASTER 2026

    Far too few CEOs regularly think about IT on a habitual basis, and especially as something that is potentially integrated into everything their companies do and could do. This, however, is not at all surprising; there is a general lack of time for any CEO to be actively involved in what IT does, and they will generally have some degree of misunderstanding of both the historic roles and the relative successes and failures of IT.

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  • Transforming IT: Strategies for Business Success – REMASTER 2026

    Transforming IT: Strategies for Business Success – REMASTER 2026

    From banking to airlines, through communications businesses to pharmaceutical companies, the IT landscape is littered with failures of Homeric proportions, lost opportunities and profligate waste. Across the spectrum of commercial enterprise, the IT bottom line is inevitably familiar: in general, businesses expose themselves to unnecessary levels of disruption, and spend far too much time and money on IT projects, IT products and internal IT services that frankly suck.

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  • Aligning ICT with Business Strategy for Growth – REMASTER 2026

    Aligning ICT with Business Strategy for Growth – REMASTER 2026

    Martyn Rhisiart Jones

    As a CEO, CIO, or student of Business Management, you will understand this. Information and Communication Technology (ICT, also known as IT) has become essential. It is crucial. It is a pervasive element in the fabric of corporate life. What I mean by ICT encompasses three essential elements: Processes, Information and Technology. ICT should be seen as an important corporate asset. More importantly, Information, Processes, and their Management (IM) should be considered as such. They should be made to work as contemporary business enablers. They should bring about value-adding alignment in business. Thus, they should be managed as such. Although it does work that way, it typically doesn’t.

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