I have dyslexia, what used to be called ‘word blindness’, and so I am dyslexic, or to be precise a ‘compensated dyslexic’. I used to find it very difficult to spell and to understand and remember the rules around spelling, but now I am much better at all of this. That’s because my teachers and I didn’t ignore the problem and hope that the spelling problem would just go away. I had to work hard to get round this disability; I use tools (spell checkers) to help me all the time and I took advice and training to combat dyslexia. Now I can spell (most of the time) and I don’t find it difficult to write; hence this blog (but you know, I still don’t get poetry).
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
The preconceptions about, and treatment for, dyslexia when I was a child were unpleasant and unproductive; “lazy” or even “stupid” were the usual diagnosis and endless spelling lessons and tests were the treatment. This was discouraging and, worse, pointless. You can’t cure dyslexia; you just learn to work round it. Similarly with dysdatia, it is wrong to think that those people who are “data blind” are lazy or stupid — obviously they are not. Additionally, endlessly pushing these people to read or write (draw) data models will not help them.
Dealing with dysdatia
It is the responsibility of those of us without dysdatia to help dysdatic colleagues. Dysdatia sufferers need our help to:
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
First published on the TM Forum Inform Portal on 7 Oct 2014
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
Dysdatia symptoms
Symptoms of dysdatia include:- working exclusively with business process models like Frameworx’s Business Process Framework without ever wondering what words like “Customer” and “Product” actually mean,
- thinking “Data models aren’t import because we use COTS”,
- believing that Enterprise Data Models have something to do with databases,
- ignoring the Class diagrams in any document because it makes you dizzy when you look at them,
- thinking that the line connecting two components is just a line,
- thinking that Data Architects are just pedantic
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
- complex application integration
- failed SOA and REST implementations/initiatives
- tight coupling between applications
- business change and innovation limited by IT throughput
- fragmented product catalogs
- complex provisioning and fulfilment flows
- significant customer dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies due to poor data quality.
The preconceptions about, and treatment for, dyslexia when I was a child were unpleasant and unproductive; “lazy” or even “stupid” were the usual diagnosis and endless spelling lessons and tests were the treatment. This was discouraging and, worse, pointless. You can’t cure dyslexia; you just learn to work round it. Similarly with dysdatia, it is wrong to think that those people who are “data blind” are lazy or stupid — obviously they are not. Additionally, endlessly pushing these people to read or write (draw) data models will not help them.
Dealing with dysdatia
It is the responsibility of those of us without dysdatia to help dysdatic colleagues. Dysdatia sufferers need our help to:
- make them aware that they are sufferers
- realise how this is impacting their work and
- know how to get support for their problem.
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Data appreciation
Sell this type of Information Framework training as “data appreciation” rather than a course in “data composing” – like the difference between music appreciation and music composition. Explain that like in music, where there are three classes of people – those that are tone deaf, those that enjoy music, and those that can write music, that there are three classes of people in IT – those that have dysdatia (and don’t know it), those that have compensated dysdatia and can read a data model, and those who don’t suffer from dysdatia and can draw data models.Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
First published on the TM Forum Inform Portal on 7 Oct 2014
I
have dyslexia, what used to be called ‘word blindness’, and so I am
dyslexic, or to be precise a ‘compensated dyslexic’. I used to find it
very difficult to spell and to understand and remember the rules around
spelling, but now I am much better at all of this. That’s because my
teachers and I didn’t ignore the problem and hope that the spelling
problem would just go away. I had to work hard to get round this
disability; I use tools (spell checkers) to help me all the time and I
took advice and training to combat dyslexia. Now I can spell (most of
the time) and I don’t find it difficult to write; hence this blog (but
you know, I still don’t get poetry).
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
Dysdatia symptoms
Symptoms of dysdatia include:- working exclusively with business process models like Frameworx’s Business Process Framework without ever wondering what words like “Customer” and “Product” actually mean,
- thinking “Data models aren’t import because we use COTS”,
- believing that Enterprise Data Models have something to do with databases,
- ignoring the Class diagrams in any document because it makes you dizzy when you look at them,
- thinking that the line connecting two components is just a line,
- thinking that Data Architects are just pedantic
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
- complex application integration
- failed SOA and REST implementations/initiatives
- tight coupling between applications
- business change and innovation limited by IT throughput
- fragmented product catalogs
- complex provisioning and fulfilment flows
- significant customer dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies due to poor data quality.
Dealing with dysdatia
It is the responsibility of those of us without dysdatia to help dysdatic colleagues. Dysdatia sufferers need our help to:- make them aware that they are sufferers
- realise how this is impacting their work and
- know how to get support for their problem.
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Data appreciation
Sell this type of Information Framework training as “data appreciation” rather than a course in “data composing” – like the difference between music appreciation and music composition. Explain that like in music, where there are three classes of people – those that are tone deaf, those that enjoy music, and those that can write music, that there are three classes of people in IT – those that have dysdatia (and don’t know it), those that have compensated dysdatia and can read a data model, and those who don’t suffer from dysdatia and can draw data models.Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
I
have dyslexia, what used to be called ‘word blindness’, and so I am
dyslexic, or to be precise a ‘compensated dyslexic’. I used to find it
very difficult to spell and to understand and remember the rules around
spelling, but now I am much better at all of this. That’s because my
teachers and I didn’t ignore the problem and hope that the spelling
problem would just go away. I had to work hard to get round this
disability; I use tools (spell checkers) to help me all the time and I
took advice and training to combat dyslexia. Now I can spell (most of
the time) and I don’t find it difficult to write; hence this blog (but
you know, I still don’t get poetry).
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
Dysdatia symptoms
Symptoms of dysdatia include:- working exclusively with business process models like Frameworx’s Business Process Framework without ever wondering what words like “Customer” and “Product” actually mean,
- thinking “Data models aren’t import because we use COTS”,
- believing that Enterprise Data Models have something to do with databases,
- ignoring the Class diagrams in any document because it makes you dizzy when you look at them,
- thinking that the line connecting two components is just a line,
- thinking that Data Architects are just pedantic
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
- complex application integration
- failed SOA and REST implementations/initiatives
- tight coupling between applications
- business change and innovation limited by IT throughput
- fragmented product catalogs
- complex provisioning and fulfilment flows
- significant customer dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies due to poor data quality.
Dealing with dysdatia
It is the responsibility of those of us without dysdatia to help dysdatic colleagues. Dysdatia sufferers need our help to:- make them aware that they are sufferers
- realise how this is impacting their work and
- know how to get support for their problem.
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Data appreciation
Sell this type of Information Framework training as “data appreciation” rather than a course in “data composing” – like the difference between music appreciation and music composition. Explain that like in music, where there are three classes of people – those that are tone deaf, those that enjoy music, and those that can write music, that there are three classes of people in IT – those that have dysdatia (and don’t know it), those that have compensated dysdatia and can read a data model, and those who don’t suffer from dysdatia and can draw data models.Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
I
have dyslexia, what used to be called ‘word blindness’, and so I am
dyslexic, or to be precise a ‘compensated dyslexic’. I used to find it
very difficult to spell and to understand and remember the rules around
spelling, but now I am much better at all of this. That’s because my
teachers and I didn’t ignore the problem and hope that the spelling
problem would just go away. I had to work hard to get round this
disability; I use tools (spell checkers) to help me all the time and I
took advice and training to combat dyslexia. Now I can spell (most of
the time) and I don’t find it difficult to write; hence this blog (but
you know, I still don’t get poetry).
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
“Very interesting, Andrew, but so what?”, I hear you say. Well I believe there is a problem that I call Dysdatia, or “data blindness”, that is affecting many individuals and as a result the organizations they work for. Unlike dyslexia which affects only the small minority, many people have dysdatia, even seasoned IT professionals.
Dysdatia symptoms
Symptoms of dysdatia include:- working exclusively with business process models like Frameworx’s Business Process Framework without ever wondering what words like “Customer” and “Product” actually mean,
- thinking “Data models aren’t import because we use COTS”,
- believing that Enterprise Data Models have something to do with databases,
- ignoring the Class diagrams in any document because it makes you dizzy when you look at them,
- thinking that the line connecting two components is just a line,
- thinking that Data Architects are just pedantic
The prognosis for untreated dysdatia is not good and long-term effects include:
- complex application integration
- failed SOA and REST implementations/initiatives
- tight coupling between applications
- business change and innovation limited by IT throughput
- fragmented product catalogs
- complex provisioning and fulfilment flows
- significant customer dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies due to poor data quality.
Dealing with dysdatia
It is the responsibility of those of us without dysdatia to help dysdatic colleagues. Dysdatia sufferers need our help to:- make them aware that they are sufferers
- realise how this is impacting their work and
- know how to get support for their problem.
After the training the attendee won’t be expected to be able to draw class models, but they will understand that the vocabulary used in the rest of Frameworx comes from the Information Framework. They may even be able to look at a class diagram without getting dizzy and possibly, if they are only mildly affected by dysdatia, even understand it. You are going to have to trick your colleagues into attending this training. Call it “vocabulary training” and even avoid showing class diagrams! Instead focus on the meaning of the classes and their definitions, rather than the class diagram structures.
Data appreciation
Sell this type of Information Framework training as “data appreciation” rather than a course in “data composing” – like the difference between music appreciation and music composition. Explain that like in music, where there are three classes of people – those that are tone deaf, those that enjoy music, and those that can write music, that there are three classes of people in IT – those that have dysdatia (and don’t know it), those that have compensated dysdatia and can read a data model, and those who don’t suffer from dysdatia and can draw data models.Encourage the dysdatic sufferers — tell them that by becoming a compensated dysdatic they will have the basic tools to work around the problem and avoid many of the difficulties they had in the past with integration and data quality. However, you must explain to them that sadly they can never be fully cured of dysdatia; they still will need an Enterprise Data Architect who is by definition non-dysdatic and can draw class diagrams and even make changes to the business’s Information Framework based Enterprise Data Model.
My current boss at least acknowledges he is dysdatic. The other day he said to me “I know data is important, but I still don’t get it, which is why I hired you”.
It is going to be hard work fellow non-dysdatics but in the long run it will be worth it!
- See more at: http://inform.tmforum.org/strategic-programs-2/customer-centricity/2014/10/dysdatia/#sthash.S798IGzL.dpuf
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