Fundamentals of Metadata Management

Afterword

I originally wanted to open this book with only one quote, the passage from the Persian scholar Rumi in Fihi Ma Fihi (It Is What It Is):

The truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.

These words from the 13th century perfectly reflect the reality I have lived throughout most of my professional life. I have seen so many architects, engineers, leaders, and executives hold their little piece of the mirror, their distinct metadata repository, and say, “This is the truth.” And let me be clear: I have held my piece of the mirror as well. I too have said, “This is the truth,” pointing at that small piece, with a feeling of uncertainty that I tried to ignore. Only later in life did I understand what was at play.

I would have loved to claim that this book is the glue that put Rumi’s divine mirror back together. But that is not the case. This book is not a promise of rediscovered divine perfection. Because something else happened to Rumi’s puzzle of all the broken pieces from the ultimate truth. People not only said their pieces were the truth but also began using the pieces. They glued them on walls, tables, and wallets to mirror themselves in the course of all kinds of actions. And only the possibility of explaining how the pieces once related, in a pattern that can no longer be re-created because each part has morphed into something of its own, is what exists: ...