Relationships, data modeling and the cops
My small suburban Ohio township police department went viral on Facebook. It wasn’t because of murder, police brutality or other heinous crime. David Oliver, the Brimfield Township Police Chief, has...
View ArticleConfessions of a relationship censorer
Managing relationships on a complex data model can challenge the most seasoned data architect. I hate crossing lines and lines with convoluted paths. That is why relationship lines put me, an anal...
View ArticleData Architects as Patternmakers
I was raised in an industrial Midwestern city in the midst of the steel and auto industries. My father owned a neighborhood bar in the shadows of the foundries. Many of his patrons were patternmakers....
View ArticleFive things you may think you are not doing
It’s easy to fall into a comfortable repeatable work life. It is ingrained in my work philosophy to structure, standardize, componentize and reuse as much as possible. That seems a logical thought...
View ArticleIf I only knew then what I know now
I see myself as a pretty forward thinking person. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think about the past. My life experiences have taught me valuable lessons. The occasional flashback to the past is a good...
View ArticleThe shift of the data architect’s paradigm
If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.– Stephen Covey Reflecting back on last week’s Enterprise Data World, the...
View ArticleThe 5 in 15 Data Model Challenge
I have an interesting challenge for my readers today. You have fifteen minutes to explain a data model to a non-data architect. You must choose five key points about data models and explain each of...
View ArticleThoughts on the evolving role of data architects
The evolution of data over my career fascinates me. The volume of data continues to increase exponentially. Data is becoming more accessible to more diverse audiences. Data has moved to the forefront...
View ArticleTom’s top 10 ERD peeves
An outsider’s view of data modeling is the Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). It is the data architect’s deliverable that finds itself on team member walls. This graphical presentation is the snapshot...
View Article5 important data modeling questions
I was one of those kids. Grade school teachers more than once had a talk with my mother about Tom asking too many questions. Things remain unchanged today. When I need to know something, I ask...
View ArticleHard data management
Data management is hard. Don’t let any vendor tell you they have tools that will set you free to life on a beach while your data program magically runs itself. Tools can automate pieces of your data...
View ArticleHard Metadata Management
I cringe when I hear “metadata is data about data”. It is true at a high level, but the reality is that metadata is much more compressive than that. It is hard. In my last two posts, I spoke about hard...
View ArticleWhat I learned as a data architect
One of the things I like most about data is the challenges that it presents. From my early school days, I have loved math, analyzing everyday things, and finding creative solutions. I love and thrive...
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