Discuss

In a vacuum, analysis and insight amounts to little. But when those results are discussed and debated, they have the potential to be acted upon. Data must get mixed with people.

The best data ecosystems don’t simply assume discussions will occur. They encourage discussions through mechanisms for sharing, capturing, and saving information and insights. The discoveries found in the data are treated as precious assets—after all, they are the purpose of all the effort put into creating data products. Finally, the ecosystem should encourage people to take action when the discussion is complete.

Some organizations consider data products a one-way information broadcast. They implicitly assume that a dashboard is intended to deliver an information result, not drive an action.

Consider the evolution of television and its audiences as an analogy. Before the pervasiveness of social media, television was a powerful medium for telling a story, but there was little room for engaging...