Pragmatism and Sacred Cows

Something happened to me today that has happened before. I thought I had filed the barb off the hook and that I wouldn't be snagged by this any more, but I was wrong.

I made the statement that my work would be done when people no longer talked about data governance having realized that all varieties of governance are "governance." The response was to remark that statements like that are blue sky and that people will turn me off and look for someone more pragmatic.

Knowing, as I do, that the statement represents the ultimate in pragmatism--the application of what is known to make sense of what is unknown--I proceed (very quickly) through several emotions. I guess I have blunted the hook to the extent that I recognize the emotions as they appear--which is good. Where I wound up, after passing through the "I don't need this" phase, was appreciating Galileo, Darwin and Einstein.

I'm not comparing my contribution to theirs. I am comparing my emotions to what they almost certainly experienced as they struggled to break through the thickest of all possible walls--common knowledge.

Sometimes we have other names for common knowledge. We say "everyone knows that..." or "best practice states..." or any of a host of other codewords for what amounts to a sacred cow.

I have learned that the words "practical" or "pragmatic" or even "heresy" are silver bullets most often applied to protect the sacred cows from attacks by, well, me. I just want you to know that if you want practical solutions, you should get as far from best practice proponents as possible. You might even want to venture out to the boundaries of your organization to see what pragmatic really looks like.