The Great "Data Product" Mix-up: A Tale of Extraction and Confusion

Once upon a time in the land of IT, where buzzwords bloom like flowers in spring and acronyms fly like bees, there was a great hullabaloo about a mystical entity known as the "Data Product." Now, gather around, dear readers, as I recount a tale of confusion, revelation, and the quest for clarity in the ever-twisting corridors of data management.

The Buzzword Bonanza

In the bustling marketplace of IT concepts, where vendors shout their wares and experts debate the merits of the latest trends, the term "Data Product" emerged like a shiny new toy. "Behold the Data Product!" proclaimed the town criers, heralding it as the panacea for all data woes. But what was this magical artifact? Was it a potion? A scroll, perhaps? The townsfolk were bemused, their curiosity piqued by this enigmatic newcomer.

The System of Record Saga

To unravel this mystery, we must venture into the dungeons of applications, where Systems of Record (SoRs) dwell. These ancient repositories, carved into the bedrock of RDBMS, hold the sacred texts of data—the holy grails of truth for each application. Picture vast halls lined with towering shelves, each cradling countless tomes of data, from the Chronicles of Customer Contacts to the Ledger of Labyrinthine Transactions.

Chapter 3: The Great Extraction

Our tale takes a turn when a band of intrepid adventurers, known as Data Engineers, embarked on a quest to distill the essence of these sacred texts. With tools forged in the fires of Kafka Connectors and streams of changes extracted from the sources, replacing archaic spells of ETL, they delved into the depths of SoRs, extracting precious nuggets of data. Their mission? To create a concoction that could be easily consumed by the masses—a potion for insight, if you will.

Chapter 4: The Birth of Data Products

Lo and behold, from the cauldrons of extraction emerged the Data Products! Not potions, nor scrolls, but crystallized extracts of wisdom, drawn from the founts of multiple SoRs. Each Data Product was a tapestry of information, woven with threads of context, time-stamped for posterity, and annotated with tales of its origins. These artifacts were designed to be indelible, their truths immutable, safeguarded within the infinite vaults of cloud storage.

Chapter 5: The Revelations of Simplicity

As the fog of confusion lifted, the townsfolk marveled at the simplicity of the Data Products. What once seemed like arcane relics were now revealed as mere extracts, distilled essences of the vast data oceans locked away in application dungeons. The townsfolk danced with joy, for they could now sip from the chalice of insights without venturing into the daunting depths of SoRs.

Epilogue: The Dawn of Clarity

And so, the great mix-up about Data Products was resolved. With laughter and light-hearted jests, the people of IT Land realized that these prized artifacts were simply well-crafted extracts from their trusted Systems of Record, made accessible and useful for all. The moral of our tale? In the realm of IT, where complexity reigns and buzzwords befuddle, sometimes the answers lie in the simplicity of extraction and the clarity of understanding.

As the sun sets on our story, let us remember the adventures of the Data Engineers and the legend of the Data Products—a reminder that in the world of data, clarity often comes cloaked in the guise of simplicity.

And they all lived a data-centric ever after. The end.

Annexure:

Principles of a Data Product according to the String Theory of Streams:

1. Liberation of Data Streams: Data Products can be seen as a way to liberate data from the confines of the SoR to the free flowing prepetual streams of the shadow land. By organizing and packaging these streams into accessible and usable formats, Data Products help in making the hidden or siloed data SoR visible and actionable for organizations.
2. Structured and Meaningful Data: Data Products is made up of continuous flow of data streams which are structured, meaningful collections of data that are contextually relevant and time-bound. This structuring is akin to navigating through the shadow land and extracting valuable insights from the obscured SoR Prisons.
3. Discoverability and Accessibility: One of the challenges with data in the SoR is their inaccessibility and fragmentation. Data Products extracted into the streams in the shadow land address this by making data streams discoverable through business language descriptions and ensuring that they are easily accessible to authorized consumers.
4. Indelibility and Traceability: Data streams in the shadow land are continuous and unalterable, Data Products ensure that the data they encapsulate is indelible, maintaining the integrity of the data over time. They also provide clear traceability back to the original data streams, ensuring transparency in data transformations and combinations in near real time.
5. Forward Compatibility: The concept of forward compatibility, where data lives usefully beyond the lifespan of applications, aligns with the essence of Data Products. Data Products are designed to be independent of specific technologies or applications, ensuring that the data remains valuable and usable as technology evolves.
6. Realization of Data Stream Centricity: Adopting a data stream-centric approach, as advocated in navigating the shadow land, is embodied in the creation of Data Products. These products place data streams at the center of organizational strategy, enabling near real-time decision-making, agility, and enhanced customer experiences.

In summary, Data Products can be viewed as tangible outcomes of successfully navigating the shadow land of data streams. They encapsulate the principles of making hidden data streams accessible, actionable, and perpetually valuable, thus reflecting a strategic move towards data centricity and the effective utilization of continuous data flows in business operations.