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Notes on dataarchitecture.

Short essays on architecture, cost, hiring and AI: one cartoon, one idea, most days of the week. No tutorials, no listicles.

May 13, 2026 Data Architecture

Software Modernization Is Not Architectural Modernization

Software modernization and architectural modernization are different problems with different fixes.

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May 12, 2026 Organizational Dynamics

Brent Is Your Data Engineer (Phoenix Project applied)

Every data team has a Brent. The person every ticket eventually routes through.

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May 11, 2026 Technical Debt & Economics

The Day Our Pipeline Became a Person's Full-Time Job

The day I realized our pipeline had become a person's full-time job.

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May 10, 2026 Technical Debt & Economics

FinOps for Data Audit Checklist (8 Cost Levers)

Your cloud data bill grew 40% last year. Your revenue didn't.

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May 9, 2026 Data Architecture

The Data Product Canvas (One-Page Definition)

An empty "consumers" field is the signal to deprecate the asset. Most teams ignore it.

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May 8, 2026 Organizational Dynamics

Blameless Post-Mortem Template for Data Incidents

Your data incident post-mortems end with "be more careful." That's not a fix.

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May 7, 2026 Data Architecture

Data Platform Maturity Model (5 Stages)

Your data platform is at stage 2. You're copying stage 5 patterns. That's why it's breaking.

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May 6, 2026 Data Architecture

When You Actually Need a Semantic Layer

Most teams buy a semantic layer the way they buy a data warehouse. Tool first, problem retrofitted.

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May 5, 2026 Uncategorized

Data mesh is an org design pattern. Here are the 5 things you need before you st

Data mesh is an org design pattern. Here are the 5 things you need before you start.

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May 4, 2026 Uncategorized

Everyone says "people, process, technology." Then they start by picking Snowflak

Everyone says "people, process, technology." Then they start by picking Snowflake.

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