Editor's Note: Work in Progress

I'm a list-maker, and the favorite of all I compile is my to-do list. A day's worth of productivity is measured by how many things I can cross off, and I take great satisfaction in reviewing it at the end of each day to reflect on what I've accomplished and to begin thinking about how to prioritize what's left. I find two main problems with this: 1) despite how much work I've done, the list always seems longer at the end of the day than at the beginning, and 2) long-term projects don't get crossed off nearly as quickly as I'd like for the satisfaction of a job completed. But I think the sense of accomplishment outweighs these two negatives.

I must not be the only person perpetually plowing through a to-do list, because many of our authors this month discuss a work in progress and/or how to push through to success in a reasonably efficient and effective manner. 

In our cover story on Coca-Cola Enterprises, Information Management Editorial Director Jim Ericson discusses how the company is betting on business intelligence to help manage unpredictable markets (page 14). Jim added this comment about why CCE's midstream story is worth sharing. "What strikes me especially about CCE is how consistently they communicate their goals and intentions," he says. "They don't plod but they don't run in a dozen directions at once either. I've seen or heard five or six senior CCE execs speak over the last few years and their message about information efficiency at a high level is always aligned straight to the business model they put on the table."

Nancy Northrup shares her adventure in her role as a customer master data governance leader (see page 24). She takes a unique approach, employing Lean Six Sigma principles to tackle a daunting data quality task that her colleagues didn't think could be resolved.

In the Subset section this month, Patrick McCollum outlines the structure of a data integration competency center to gain and continue momentum in integration projects (page 35). Jonathan Geiger instructs us on setting up a formal BI charter to be able to adapt when the BI program changes how information is provided and consumed (page 37). And Don Steffen shares tactics to encourage people to buy into a new program so the hard work invested pays off (page 38).

For those of you who aren't mid-project or frantically seeking ways to cross items off your to-do lists, Steve Hoberman opens a conversation about how to keep professional skills sharp (page 31). 

Sending this issue to press has earned me one more checkmark, so it's back to work and today's to-do list.

Enjoy the issue,

Julie Langenkamp