What my WorkIQ Persona Sketch taught me about Data Governance

Like most people who have spent years working in data, governance and technology, I am occasionally asked a surprisingly difficult question.

"So, what is it that you actually do?"

It sounds simple enough. After all, I spend my days helping organisations improve the way they govern data and AI. I work with executives, data leaders, governance teams and technology specialists. I write, speak, advise, mentor, and occasionally disappear down a rabbit hole researching some obscure aspect of metadata or organisational complexity. Yet whenever somebody outside the industry asks the question, the answer rarely feels satisfactory.

You can talk about Microsoft Purview, governance operating models, stewardship, responsible AI, data quality, business glossaries and metadata management. You can explain frameworks, programmes and organisational change. Most people are polite enough to listen, but somewhere around the mention of lineage or compliance controls their eyes begin to glaze over.

Recently I decided to create one of the increasingly popular WorkIQ Persona Sketches. I expected it would be an interesting visual exercise and perhaps a useful profile graphic for social media. What I did not expect was that it would force me to reflect on what my work is really about. When the first version appeared, it looked impressive enough. It showed technology platforms, governance activities, speaking engagements, research interests and community involvement. It included the various things I spend time doing and many of the topics I am associated with professionally.

The problem was that it still did not quite feel like me. It described my activities, but not my purpose. As I refined the sketch, removing some elements and emphasising others, a pattern began to emerge. The technology became smaller. The governance themes became larger. The focus shifted away from products and towards outcomes. Instead of listing tools, the sketch started telling a story.

The story was not really about Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI or SQL Server, despite all of them appearing on the page. It was about helping organisations build confidence. That may sound like a subtle distinction, but I think it matters.

Many organisations still think of governance as an exercise in control. Policies need writing, roles assigning, rules enforcing and technology deploying. Those things are certainly part of governance, but they are rarely the reason governance exists.

The organisations making the most progress with data and AI are not trying to govern for the sake of governing. They are trying to make better decisions, reduce uncertainty and trying to understand their information well enough to trust it. Increasingly, they are trying to ensure the foundations beneath their AI ambitions are solid enough to support what comes next. Governance is simply the mechanism that helps create that confidence and trust. Looking at the sketch, I realised that almost every part of my career has revolved around that idea.

My doctoral research explored the complexity of database systems and resulted in the development of the CODEX Framework. At the time, I was trying to understand how organisations could make sense of increasingly complex data environments. Years later, those same themes continue to appear in conversations about governance, AI readiness and organisational trust.

My work as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP has never really been about technology advocacy. It has been about helping people understand how technology can support better outcomes.

The conferences, community events, blogs and mentoring activities all stem from the same belief. If we help people understand data better, we help organisations make better decisions. If we improve governance, we improve confidence and the likelihood that data and AI initiatives deliver meaningful value.

The sketch made something else visible too. Many people see specialists through the lens of tools. We become the Purview person, the SQL Server person or the governance person. The reality is usually much broader. The most valuable work often happens between disciplines rather than within them. Good governance sits between business strategy and technology. It sits between risk, innovation, people, processes, culture and platforms. Success rarely comes from solving a technical challenge in isolation. It comes from helping organisations connect those pieces together in a way that makes sense.

That is why the final version of the sketch ended up with a simple statement at its centre:

Helping shape how organisations think strategically about Data & AI Governance and Microsoft Purview.

Microsoft Purview is a powerful accelerator for governance, but it is not the answer to every governance challenge on its own. Organisations still need to make governance decisions with purpose, coherence, and accountability. Governance remains the most important discipline in an organisation because it connects technology, behaviour, and business outcomes.

As I reflected on this, the sketch I was creating shifted. It became less of a personal profile and more of a map of the ideas I care about, the communities I contribute to, and the research, technology, and leadership themes that have shaped my career. Most importantly, it became a reminder that roles are easier to understand when viewed through purpose rather than activity. The common thread running through my work is the ability to connect governance, technology, and business outcomes in a way that creates integrity, clarity, and direction.

The next time somebody asks what I do, I might still mention governance, AI and Microsoft technologies.,  but I suspect I will start with something simpler. I help organisations build confidence in their data and AI so they can make better decisions. Everything else is just how that happens.

Reference 

https://github.com/pnp/copilot-prompts/tree/main/samples/prompts/m365-workiq-persona-sketch