Who decides how to collect the metadata your data scientists need from the lab?
The data is defined by the instruments. Collecting it is a technical problem.
The metadata - experiment parameters, protocols, biological context - is another matter.
The wet lab team doesn’t know what metadata and what form the data team needs.
The data team doesn’t know how lab protocols can be modified to collect it.
In fact, any one wet lab team probably doesn’t understand this for all the others.
Everyone involved understands that this is a problem.
Everyone wants someone to just make a decision.
But no one thinks they know enough to make it.
What’s happening?
Each team has a mental model centered around their expertise and fuzzier at the edges.
The authority to make the decision lives in the gap between these models.
The good news is there are ways to fix this.
Identify the gap. Decide who needs to sign off on the decision. Assign someone to construct a proposal.
Deliberately fill your authority gaps. They won’t fix themselves.