The expression Garbage In, Garbage Out or GIGO is older than I am!  It dates back to the days of punched cards (which I just missed when I started my IT career in 1984) and first appeared in the OED in 1964; nonetheless it’s as true today as it was then.

What occurs to me is that, with regards to Data Quality, the expression works equally well in reverse: Garbage Out, Garbage In.  I’d be a very wealthy man if I had a penny for every time a user decided that it didn’t much matter what they entered in a computer system because “it’s full of rubbish already”.  And many’s the time that I’ve met people who feel that it’s pointless doing anything about information quality because the users will just screw it up again in the future.

Data quality software has a role to play in helping organisations understand, improve, protect and control the quality of the information they hold – but it’s not a silver bullet.  These activities have to extend beyond the technology into the processes and ethos of the organisation and it’s not at all easy to change attitudes in many environments.

I have been privileged to meet some amazing people who have done wonders by evangelising and championing data quality in their organisations.  But for every one of them, there’s a bunch or people with a GOGI mentality that say “what’s the point”.

Every organisation seems to have a bunch of people with a GOGI mentality saying there’s no point in trying to do anything about data quality.  Thankfully, I nearly always find someone (often a lone voice) who has been willing to stick their neck out and evangelise and champion data quality.  If you’re one of those people you have my admiration and respect: you’re doing the right thing.