Data Mesh

Chapter 6. The Inflection Point

A strategic inflection point is a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end.¹

Andrew S. Grove

Data mesh is what comes after an inflection point, shifting our approach, attitude, and technology toward data. Mathematically, an inflection point is a magic moment at which a curve stops bending one way and starts curving in the other direction. It’s a point that the old picture dissolves, giving way to a new one.

This won’t be the first or the last inflection point in the evolution of data management. However, it is the one that is most relevant now. There are drivers and empirical signals that point us in a new direction. I personally found myself at this turning point in 2018, when many companies were seeking a new data architecture that could respond to the scale, complexity, and data aspirations of their business. After reading this chapter, I hope you also arrive at this critical point, where you feel the urge for change, to wash away some of the fundamental assumptions made about data and imagine something new.

Figure 6-1 is a simplistic demonstration of the inflection point in question. The x-axis represents the trend of macro drivers that have pushed us to this inflection point. The drivers include ever-increasing business complexity combined with uncertainty, diversity of data expectations ...