Playbook
Start small.
Keep the evidence.
A practical path for a first data product. These are working recommendations to adapt with the people accountable for your context.
THE DATA JOURNEY
From a useful question
to a useful data product.
Start small. Define a purpose, follow the four stages and use feedback to improve the next iteration.
Cultivate
Prepare with purpose.
- Entry condition
- A defined use case and identified source.
- Accountable participants
- Product owner + data engineering
- Working practices
- Connect sources; document provenance; prepare data; establish reproducible delivery.
- Evidence to keep
- Source inventory, transformation record and initial quality checks.
- Decision gate
- The source is authorised and the output can be explained.
- Example measures
- Source coverage and delivery failures.
Govern
Make trust actionable.
- Entry condition
- Prepared data with a proposed meaning and use.
- Accountable participants
- Steward + product owner + domain owner
- Working practices
- Agree definitions, classification, quality thresholds, permitted uses and decision rights.
- Evidence to keep
- Glossary, versioned contract, quality results and policy decisions.
- Decision gate
- Ownership, terms and quality expectations have been reviewed.
- Example measures
- Ownership coverage and quality exceptions.
Share
Publish an agreement.
- Entry condition
- An approved product and a clear audience.
- Accountable participants
- Product owner + steward + technical custodian
- Working practices
- Publish metadata and terms; review access requests; apply controls; communicate changes.
- Evidence to keep
- Published contract, approval record, access policy and version history.
- Decision gate
- The intended consumer can discover and access the authorised version.
- Example measures
- Access lead time and contract adoption.
Activate
Observe the value.
- Entry condition
- An authorised consumer and an agreed purpose.
- Accountable participants
- Consumer + product owner
- Working practices
- Use the product in analytics, applications or AI; monitor outcomes; report issues; review continued use.
- Evidence to keep
- Usage record, outcome indicator, issue log and improvement decision.
- Decision gate
- Value and limitations are reviewed; improvement or retirement is decided.
- Example measures
- Use against purpose, incidents and value indicator.
Original KDV interpretation
One decision, end to end.
Example: granting access to an existing product. A request only becomes access after review, approval and implementation.
- 01
Consumer
Requests a version and states the intended use.
- 02
Steward
Checks purpose, meaning, classification and fit.
- 03
Owner
Approves, rejects or escalates with a recorded reason.
- 04
Custodian
Implements the authorised policy and verifies access.
- 05
Consumer + owner
Review use, expiry, exceptions and continued need.
Turn governance into a rhythm.
At each publication
Review contract, ownership, quality and access terms before release.
Weekly, as a starting point
Triage issues, access requests and contract changes with the delivery team.
Monthly, as a starting point
Review outcomes, exceptions and policy improvements with the governance forum.
Playbook
A conversation starter,
not a maturity score.
Use this checklist to find the next concrete action. It stays in this page’s memory and is not submitted or saved.