Data Platform

A question I received on a LinkedIn post about change management with data contracts asked (lightly edited for clarity):

I was asked on LinkedIn how I might approach data contracts with dbt.

I have thought a little about how to apply data contracts to dbt targets, but not a lot and I haven’t done this in practice yet.

The whole point of data mesh is to make data in an organisation more accessible.

To build reliable data products we need a data platform that provides us capabilities to do so.

When you’ve successfully built an autonomous, contract-driven data platform, you’ll find the number of data contracts explode.

One of the many benefits of a contract-based data platform is that it ensures consistency over how data is created, managed, and consumed across your organisation.

Platforms in general, and data platforms in particular, can be a powerful enabler for an organisation.

It can be tempting to provide a range of tools for your data platform users - tools that fill every niche, so there’s always the “right tool for the job”.

Great data platforms reduce organisational complexity.

They:

• Establish standards, such as processes, interfaces and guidelines, by providing a golden path for teams across the organisation to follow
• Automate tasks, particularly around data governance, allowing users of the platform to focus on what they do best - delivering value
• Ease integration, allowing data to flow between different systems, applications and users seamlessly, preventing silos

Building a platform on data contracts enables each of these.

When delivering on a large project (data contracts, data mesh, or any large project) you need to realise value early and often.