GOOD STRATEGY REBELLION

Tag: Requirements management

  • DATA WORLD: Requirements – Building the Data Warehouse – Part I

    The Good Strat Masterclasses

    Masterclass Mode Engaged

    Martyn Rhisiart Jones

    Madrid, Sunday 1st February 2026

    PART I

    PART II

    Happy Sunday to one and all. As many of you will know, I have been intimately involved in designing, building, and delivering data warehousing and advanced analytics initiatives for more than 35 years.

    Today, I will take a deep dive into requirements gathering for a new iteration of an enterprise data warehouse and a new data mart.

    Establishing a case for a new data warehouse iteration is part of the requirements-gathering phase of a project. This must always be at the forefront of the exercise and a continuous question we must ask ourselves. We must always consider the answer to the question “To what ends?”

    First, before diving into the core aspects of the iteration, we will examine the legitimate drivers and objectives for data warehouse initiatives. The prerequisite skills, knowledge, and experience needed to carry out this activity successfully, and, after that, we will look at the preparation required to align the personal, business, and technological effectiveness and success of the initiative.

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  • Mugged in Data Hell – Summary – На Бо́га наде́йся, а сам не плоша́й

    Mugged in Data Hell – Summary – На Бо́га наде́йся, а сам не плоша́й

    Martyn Richard Jones

    I wrote a piece titled “Mugged in Data Hell.”

    INTRO

    It told the story of a CIO who was hoodwinked, cajoled, bullied, bribed and patronised into doing the wrong things, continuously.

    As my mate Bill said, “It packs big punches, and doesn’t hold back with the shit-kicking truth”.

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  • Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 2 – 2026

    Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 2 – 2026

    Written by Martyn Richard Jones

    Continued from Part 1: Crème Continues…

    Part 1 can be found here -> Part 1

    “We had recently acquired a media news and entertainments business – Media Macaroni International, and we were planning on integrating their general ledger into the corporate IT landscape. One morning I received a call from the CIO of the newly acquired company, inviting me to their site for a meet and greet event.”

    “So I moseyed on down to Tinsel Town and got a briefing from not only the CIO, but the full board of directors of Media Macaroni.”

    “To cut a long story short, they basically put me on the spot. Either I integrated the entire Data Warehousing across the corporate in 9 months, or we would have serious problems of convergence. The message couldn’t have been clearer. Either I got my act together and made this acquisition work, or what looked like a humongous hot potato could be burning my mouth anytime soon.”

    “I told the directors there and then that the mission was going to be incredibly difficult to fulfil. However, the mood changed.”

    “Their CIO looks across the table and tells me that he can help me out of the hole. You see, we have employed a service company that does most of our IT work for us, and according to us at Media Macaroni they are the bee’s knees.”

    “So ‘who are these guys’, I ask. Back comes the ominous response: The Taffia Connection”

    “So, back home, I call all of my business managers together to discuss the next steps, and despite the misgivings of most of my department heads, and indeed my gut instincts, I become convinced that we should give The Taffia Connection a chance to tell us what they can do for us”.

    “So, to cut a long story short, I bring in The Taffia, they give me a dog and pony show on what they can do for us… full data integration, enterprise application integration, enterprise data warehousing, business intelligence, MDM, CRM, Data Quality, Total Quality, IT Business Alignment up the wazoo, and I find the message so compelling that we initiate contractual discussions with The Taffia Connection”.

    “As a result, and against all the best advice of my own best staff, I decide to outsource a large chunk of the integration, CRM, EAI, EDW and BI work to The Taffia Connection, work which I am assured will be carried out very cost-effectively by the offshore sister company Bogartsys (whose unofficial slogan at the time was ‘powered by gerbils, motivated by greed’) To be honest, I thought it was great; hell, my board thought it was great. You have to understand the mood of the times. It was all crazy. We were all crazy”.

    “Then over the following two years I lost all my friends, my staff who once worshipped the ground I walked on, loathed me, my cat Lucky died of loneliness and depression, my family refused to talk to me, and every now and then a stray dog would pee on the alloy rims of my two year old beamer”.

    Part 3 can be found here -> Part 3

    Many thanks for reading.

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

  • 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…)

  • Why IT Must Speak the Language of Business – Remaster 2026

    Why IT Must Speak the Language of Business – Remaster 2026

    Extract taken from the draft work-in-progress provisionally titled Assess! Choose! Act! Data Warehousing and Strategy by Martyn Jones, Chief Strategist at Cambriano Energy.

    For more than 34 years I have been trying to convince IT organisations that it is not in their best interests to play Santa Claus, especially when it comes to strategy and data management.

    Peace. Tranquility. Mastery.
    Peace. Tranquility. Mastery.

    I have tried – again and again, to make people pay attention to this advice, because I think that acting upon this take-away in an intelligent manner is absolutely central for the success of IT, for the benefit of business, and ultimately for the effective realization of Information Management; whether that is Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, Decision Support, Data Analytics, Big Data or MDM.

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  • 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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