A data model is a shared language

I recently returned from a trip to New York City with my son. There were many amazing sights and experiences - especially for an 11-year-old who grew up in Michigan.

One specific thing that stood out to both of us was the number of languages we heard around us. Granted, we were in tourist-centric areas (Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Central Park, etc). If I ventured a guess, we overheard close to a dozen different languages being spoken around us. The diversity of languages and ethnicities surrounding us was astounding - especially for a 30-something who grew up in the Midwest.

It was enough that my son turned to me at one point and said “Dad, I feel like we aren’t in America anymore”.

It’s disorienting when the numerous voices around you are speaking a language you don’t understand.

Thankfully because we were in America, all the signs were in English, and if I needed to turn to another tourist around me to ask something we could speak in English just fine.

English provided shared concepts and vocabulary for people from around the world to connect.

A data model at your company is very similar.

The business teams speak their own languages

The data teams speak their own language.

“Customer”, “lead”, “revenue”, “orders”, and “account” —> Each team often has different words and phrases to describe these concepts.

A “customer” could be represented one way in a database, another way in the Marketing software, another way in Salesforce, and yet another way in financial reporting.

Which way is correct?

None of them. And all of them.

It’s like asking a crowd of people in Time Square the correct way to say “Hello”. You first have to ask “What language do you want to say ‘hello’ in?”. And more importantly “what language does the person you are speaking to understand?”

A core value of a data model is to create a shared language.

A shared way to communicate about core concepts.

A shared way to talk about “customer” or “orders”.

A shared way for business teams

to talk with data teams.

I’m here,

Sawyer

from The Data Shop