How to frame data contracts

Hello 👋

In this week’s newsletter I write about how to frame data contracts to different audiences.

There’s also links to articles on graphs in practice at Netflix, ODCS v3.2.0 and ODPS v1.1.0 release, and asking is the data catalog finally dead.

How to frame data contracts

Peter Baumann asked this question on Substack yesterday, and it got me thinking about how I pitch data contracts:

Just discussed about Data Contracts and if it’s “just” a data infrastructure artefact or something we can even “pitch” as an asset and advantage for governance and quality of data, compared to traditional approaches

How I pitch data contracts depends entirely on who I’m talking to.

If I’m talking to a Chief Data Officer, a Data Governance Lead, a Data Protection Officer, or similar, I’ll talk about the benefits of data contracts for what they care about, i.e. the governance and management of data.

For example, I’d explain how a data contract enables data owners to categorise their data (shifting that left), and how we can then use that to automate the implementation of our governance policies throughout the data platform, for example data retention, data access, data quality, and so on.

To a data owner, conversely, I’d pitch data contracts as a tool that helps them produce and share the data their consumers and colleagues across the organisation need, and do so without becoming experts in data management, without setting up their own data orchestration and running their own data quality checks, and so on.

They simply provide a bit of context for their data, and the platform will ensure it is managed correctly.

The features I’m building around data contracts are the same, but the way I frame it is different depending on who I talk to and what they care about most.

Interesting links

How and Why Netflix Built a Real-Time Distributed Graph: Part 3 by Nilesh Mishra and Ajit Koti (Netlix)

Really interesting look at how Netflix use graphs in practice and the queries they run.

ODCS v3.2.0 and ODPS v1.1.0 released by Jean-Georges Perrin

Now capturing more context for your AI.

Is the data catalog finally dead? by Prukalpa (Atlan)

A bit of bias towards their products, but interesting arguments nonetheless.

Being punny 😅

I bought my kids a book called ‘Spot the Dog’. What a waste of money. The dog was the main picture on every page.

My four-year-old enjoys Spot’s Birthday Party!

Upcoming events

🆕 Compass AI & Tech Summit, 1-2 October, Budapest. Use the code AndrewSentMe for 20% off!

Thanks! If you’d like to support my work…

Thanks for reading this weeks newsletter — always appreciated!

If you’d like to support my work consider buying my book, Driving Data Quality with Data Contracts, or if you have it already please leave a review on Amazon.

Enjoy your weekend.

Andrew