Data products and data contracts

Data contracts underpin data products.

With data contracts we are explicitly saying data should be treated as a product by those teams who produce the data. That data is then provided through a stable interface.

But that’s just the technical side of a data product.

There’s also the people/culture side where data producing teams (particular product engineering teams) are treating their data as a product.

They understand why the data is important, for who, and for what reasons.

They offer a migration path as the data evolves, and deprecate previous versions of the product.

Data contracts on its own can’t make teams treat data as a product.

They can’t change the culture.

Only people can.