Unifying Business, Data, and Code

Chapter 3. Data-Centric Innovation: A Guide for Data Champions

Chapter 2 laid the groundwork for understanding the importance of data and how it can be structured and utilized effectively within an organization. We’ve introduced JSON as the lingua franca of data and described how it is an excellent choice to facilitate the management and exchange of data across different teams and systems.

In the context of our example company, Intelligence.AI, we want to see how data can be used to drive decision making and optimize business operations. Whether it’s understanding customer behavior, predicting sales, or evaluating the effectiveness of marketing channels, data plays a crucial role. However, data alone is not enough. It’s essential to have a clear understanding of the problems you’re trying to solve and develop a strategic approach to how data can help solve those problems. This is where tools like Agile, objectives and key results (OKRs), and key performance indicators (KPIs) from the fields of product management and data strategy can be valuable in ensuring that your data efforts are focused and effective.

This chapter delves deeper into these topics. We’ll explore how to think about data-centric products and innovation and how to align your data strategy with your business objectives. We’ll also discuss the importance of schemas in managing and understanding your data. Additionally, we’ll look at how JSON Schema can be used as part of a unifying data strategy, providing a structured ...