1 The what and why of Data Mesh

Chapter 1 from Data Mesh in Action by Jacek Majchrzak, Sven Balnojan, and Marian Siwiak

The Data Mesh is a decentralization paradigm. It decentralizes the ownership for data, its transformation into information as well as its serving. It aims to increase the value extraction from data by removing bottlenecks in the data value stream by these means.

The Data Mesh paradigm is disrupting the data space. Large and small companies are racing to showcase “their Data Mesh-like journey” all over the internet. It’s becoming the new “thing” to try out for any company that wants to extract more value from their data. This book describes the Data Mesh paradigm as a socio-technical architecture with an emphasis on the socio. The main focus is on people, processes, and organization, not technology. Data Meshes can, but don’t have to, be implemented using the same technologies most current data systems run on.

But as a topic of ongoing debate and only slowly emerging best practices and standards, we found the need for an in-depth book that covers both the key principles that make Data Meshes work and examples and variations needed to adapt this to any company.

1.1 Data Mesh 101

1.2 Why the Data Mesh?

1.2.1 Alternatives

1.2.2 Data Warehouses & Data Lakes Inside the Data Mesh

1.2.3 Data Mesh benefits

1.3 Use Case: The Snow Shoveling Business

1.4 Data Mesh principles

1.4.1 Domain-oriented decentralized data ownership and architecture

1.4.2 Data as a product

1.4.3 Federated computational governance

1.4.4 Self-serve data infrastructure as a platform

1.5 Back to Snow Shoveling

1.6 Socio-technical architecture

1.6.1 Conway’s law

1.6.2 Team Topologies

1.6.3 Cognitive Load

1.7 Data Mesh challenges

1.7.1 Technological challenge

1.7.2 Data Management challenge

1.7.3 Organizational challenge