Hero Image
The Competitive Moat That AI Can't Replicate

The Restaurant That Refused to Take Bookings Online Let me tell you a story about a restaurant owner who became obsessed with human connection. He didn’t want people booking online. He wanted them to call. He wanted the ritual of a human voice, the small exchange about an anniversary or a first date, the warmth of being recognised. His team thought he was losing his mind. Online bookings were standard. Everyone did it. Why make customers work harder?

Saturday, June 13, 2026 Read
Hero Image
Context Engineering: The New Must-Have Skill for Data Engineers

Last year I watched a colleague ask AI to help write a dbt model. The AI spit out perfectly functional SQL—clean syntax, proper CTEs, the works. Looked great. Then I noticed the table would eventually hold 800 million rows. No partitioning. No clustering. Just a raw, unoptimised heap waiting to turn into a query performance nightmare (that would likely become my nightmare to fix). The engineer wasn’t at fault. The AI wasn’t at fault either, really. The AI simply didn’t know that our environment clusters large tables by date. It didn’t know our team’s conventions around incremental models. It couldn’t know, because nobody had told it.

Saturday, January 31, 2026 Read
Hero Image
Data Industry Trends: What to Expect in 2025

Introduction The data industry has kicked off 2025 with transformative developments that are fundamentally reshaping our approach to data management and analytics. The landscape is witnessing seismic shifts - from Databricks’ historic funding round to Boomi’s strategic acquisition of Rivery, and the industry-shaking Iceberg buyout. Yet amid this technological evolution, a critical question emerges: how will these advancements translate into tangible value for organisations? As we navigate through this dynamic environment, the focus extends beyond identifying dominant technologies to understanding their practical impact on business outcomes. Let’s explore the key trends that are defining the data world in 2025, and more importantly, how they’re reshaping the way organisations leverage their data assets.

Saturday, January 18, 2025 Read