An architect’s working notebook

Data deserves a seat at the design table.

Field notes on data products, meaning, contracts, governance and the organisational work of making data a first-class citizen.

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01 / THE QUESTION

What changes when we treat data as part of the product we are building, rather than the exhaust it leaves behind?

Architecture · Semantics · Delivery

From the diary / 25 September 2026

Where does a KPI live?

When every report answers the same question differently, the argument is rarely just about the formula. Follow the question back to grain, process facts and ownership of meaning.

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A QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY
01Process factsWhat happened, at the right grain
02Governed meaningShared measures and definitions
03Many usesReports, APIs and AI

One problem at a time

The argument

Each chapter starts with a problem you may recognise. Every idea unfolds the same way: problem, consequence, idea, picture, example, detail.

  1. Prologue Data as a first-class citizen What changes when data is part of the product we build, rather than the exhaust it leaves behind? 1 idea
  2. Chapter 1 Why the numbers disagree Why do two reports answer the same business question with two different numbers? 5 ideas
  3. Chapter 2 Meaning starts at the source Where should the meaning of data be decided, and by whom? 5 ideas
  4. Chapter 3 Data as products with promises What turns a table someone can query into something another team can depend on? 4 ideas
  5. Chapter 4 Who answers for it Who is accountable for data, and what happens when a team copies it to avoid depending on anyone? In preparation
  6. Chapter 5 Promises meet intent How does a producer's promise meet a consumer's purpose without either side pretending to control the other? 3 ideas
  7. Chapter 6 Making it executable How do meaning, policy and promises move through delivery instead of sitting in documents? 3 ideas
  8. Chapter 7 The platform as a product How do you give teams ownership without handing them all of the complexity? In preparation
  9. Chapter 8 Meaning at scale How do many bounded contexts understand one another without a single universal model? 4 ideas
  10. Chapter 9 AI and analytics What should an AI assistant be trusted to decide, and what should it only ask for? In preparation
  11. Chapter 10 An architecture of authorities If every concern has one authority, what does the whole architecture look like? In preparation
  12. Epilogue Rehearse, don't assert How would we know any of this works? In preparation
The working premise

People author intent.
Machines compile consequences.

Data architecture becomes useful when meaning, policy and product promises can move through an engineering lifecycle and produce evidence at runtime. The details remain open to challenge.

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FIELD NOTES, NOT FINAL ANSWERS

Ideas here have different levels of maturity. Exploratory entries, evolving definitions and proposed directions are labelled so you can see what is being argued and what remains unresolved.

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