A data platform always exists in this tension

You want a stable and robust data platform.

It should produce predictable results and remain resilient through change.

But

The organization, economic environment, leadership, customer needs, and team members are constantly changing.

Data has to respond, interact, and flex with the changes that are inevitable and constant.

You are always making trade-offs between these two extremes.

Excel is the ultimate form of flexibility with an effortless and dynamic ability to respond to changes.

Rigid pipelines that fail at a schema change are the other extreme.

All of your data products and platform elements exist somewhere between those two. That dashboard, those database tables, that graph database, those JSON APIs, and even those GoogleSheets that manages your whole warehouse inventory.

A data platform always exists in this tension.

Here is why you should care.

If you design for stability, predictability, and a structured platform, you will face constant frustrations by the ever-changing environment of the world around you.

If you rely on flexible and dynamic data designs, you will encounter headaches of scalability, reliability, and trust.

The point isn’t to pick one or the other. The goal is to acknowledge the tradeoffs when making choices about your data products.

Great mental health for data leaders is a commitment to reality at all costs. This is one of those realities you can’t ignore.

I’m here,

Sawyer