Reflection on the “modern data stack” hype cycle and a call for a return to simply using “analytics” to describe the data infrastructure that supports decision making.
This is also an example of an argument I like to make: if something is everything, then it’s nothing. If everything is modern stack, it is no longer modern stack.
𝘥𝘣𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘐. 𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦) 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬.
𝘚𝘦𝘦? 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥! 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬” 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯; 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘓𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴—𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘮 𝘰𝘧 “𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵-𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘦𝘳𝘢.”