Last week was about AI and being brave enough to fail forward and fail fast.  This week is about AI, metadata, and doing the foundational things well.

I started in my current role about 2 years ago.  Before then, I didn’t spend much time thinking about metadata, how clean a data set was, or how a data set was structured and formatted.  I never thought about those things, because they weren’t particularly shiny or exciting. 

As I’ve learned more about AI and partnered to build solutions, I’ve come to appreciate how those foundational things can make or break an AI tool.  For example, having the right metadata can mean the difference between the AI giving you a great answer, a bad answer, or a bad answer.  I think about metadata a lot now, more than I ever thought I would.  I’ve dedicated entire afternoons to creating metadata strategies and tagging approaches, because foundational things like this matter.

Let’s make a couple connections.  First, if you’re working with any kind of data, understand that one day that will be fed to some AI tool.  The more you can intentionally build the foundations now, the better off you’ll be.  I wish you the best of luck when it comes to metadata tagging and data hygiene.  Second, even if you’re not working with data or AI, take a moment and reflect on how well you are doing the non-shiny unexciting foundational things.  At work when you are communicating, how much time do you invest in making a totally unsexy plan and outline for what you are about to communicate.  When you are facing a challenge, how much time do you invest in the boring task of defining the problem before rushing to create solutions?  If you’re trying to be a good human, how much time do you invest in boring building blocks like sleep, moving your body, nurturing relationships, and taking time to rest?

The challenge: Whether it’s AI or something else, will you invest in doing the foundational things well?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry