Why are spreadsheets created by business development teams always messy? The answer is not carelessness or poor data literacy. It is a structural disconnect between the BD mindset and the standardisation required by data engineering.
For BD professionals, a spreadsheet is ascratchpad, not a structured database. Their core work logic is: chase clients, record information, track progress. The spreadsheet is just a tool for getting the job done, not a data asset that needs managing. This usage context means they will not spend time maintaining data standards, because the benefit they get from it is too small and the effort required is too large.
From a data asset perspective, this points to a deeper problem: when an organisation core data assets depend entirely on frontline employees self-discipline to maintain, the decline in data quality is inevitable. It is not a question of employee quality. It is a question of incentive structure. Maintaining data standards is a cost to employees and a benefit to the organisation. This mismatch between cost and benefit leads to the universal failure of data governance.
The solution is not to train employees on how to fill in spreadsheets properly. It is to change the way data is collected. Either automate the data collection process to reduce manual entry at source, or make the benefit of standardised entry flow back directly to the person filling in the form, instead ofall flow to the organisation.
Data asset awareness is never built through training. It is built through system design.