Data analysis and the organization

Data is heavy. It wants to go down, not up in an organization.
-Clayton Christensen

This quote has been sticking with me for a long time and may be one of the most insightful management comments that you will hear about data management. Who is doing the work to generate data? How is the data created? Who forms the graphics and presentation of data? Who is writing the text around data? When a question is asked and someone has to get the "facts", who is doing the digging. All data work is done down in the organization with conclusions send up to the top. Top management does not get involved with really looking at data.

Even in money management, data is heavy with more junior analysts first doing the data work. The success of hedge fund may be clearly based on its ability to work with data throughout the organization. If the manager does not do some of his own quantitative work, beware.