Run History: Solving the Validation Chaos for Data Practitioners

Karen Hsieh
In the Pipeline
Published in
4 min readDec 27, 2024

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Solving the Validation Chaos for Data Practitioners

Meet Alex, a data engineer who, like many of us, is tasked with ensuring the accuracy and impact of data changes. It’s a job that demands precision, focus, and a clear story to share with reviewers. Yet, despite Alex’s best efforts, the process often feels anything but smooth.

The Problem: Forgetting and Repeating Work

Every time Alex develops data changes, he writes custom queries and perform spot checks to validate the impact. But there’s a recurring issue:

“I just wrote this custom query yesterday to validate the impact on customers metrics… but where did I save it?”

Alex sighs, frustrated by the time wasted recreating queries or double-checking validations.

The problems don’t end there. After completing checks during development, Alex often struggles to recall the details when preparing evidence for reviewers. The result? Repeated work and mounting frustration.

“I’m sure I checked these downstream tables during development,” Alex mutters, scrolling through an endless list of saved queries. “But what were the results?”

The Struggles: Why This Problem Matters

Alex’s challenges aren’t unique. Many data engineers face similar inefficiencies:

  • Pauses Add Friction: Whether it’s a meeting or a mental block, each pause means Alex spends time retracing steps and trying to remember what’s already been done.
  • Repeating Work: Alex often repeats checks they’ve already completed, eroding their focus and energy.
  • Frequent Context Switching: Alex constantly switches between the Lineage and Query pages on the Recce instance to track the impact of changes.

The situation becomes even more chaotic during the review phase. Reviewers ask for evidence, and Alex realizes the checks aren’t well-documented. Preparing a clear narrative becomes a scramble, with re-checks and last-minute fixes.

Turning Point: A New Approach with Run History

See history at Lineage

At Recce, we hear you. We’ve spoken to countless data practitioners like Alex, and we understand the frustration of losing track, repeating work, and struggling to tell a clear story of your changes. We’re with you in this challenge, and we’re committed to making your workflow smoother and more efficient.

That’s why we introduced Run History, a feature designed to address these pain points head-on. With Run History, you canan

  1. Automatically Track Your Work: Every custom query, spot check, and result is logged, so nothing gets lost or forgotten.
  2. Easily Pick Up Where You Left Off: Whether you’re interrupted by a meeting or need to pause for another task, you can quickly resume without retracing steps.
  3. Prepare for Reviews with Confidence: In Run History, you can effortlessly add each check to a checklist with just one click, ensuring nothing gets overlooked. Organize your checks into a clear, compelling narrative, saving time and making approvals faster.

We built Run History to help data practitioners like Alex focus on what matters most — delivering impactful, high-quality work without unnecessary friction. Let us help you do the same.

See history at Query

That’s why we introduced Run History, a feature designed to address these pain points head-on. With Run History, you can — and this is how Alex does:

  1. During Development: With Run History, every custom query, spot check, and validation is logged automatically. Alex writes and runs queries without worrying about losing track of progress. If interrupted by a meeting or another task, Alex picks up exactly where he left off without second-guessing or retracing steps.
  2. Easy Recall and Review Preparation: In Run History, Alex effortlessly adds each check to a checklist with just one click, ensuring nothing is overlooked. When it’s time to prepare for reviews, Alex doesn’t scramble or re-run validations.
  3. Building Confidence and Trust: Knowing every step is documented allows Alex to approach reviews with clarity and focus. The feature logs runs into a clear and organized format, making it easy for Alex to pick and add relevant checks to a checklist, ensuring nothing is overlooked and saving time while building confidence.

We built Run History to help data practitioners like Alex focus on what matters most — delivering impactful, high-quality work without unnecessary friction. Let us help you do the same.

Your Turn to Experience Run History

If Alex’s story sounds like yours, it’s time to try Run History. Log in to Recce today and discover how it can transform your workflow.

We’d love to hear your feedback and continue improving — because every feature we build starts with a story like Alex’s.

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Karen Hsieh
Karen Hsieh

Written by Karen Hsieh

Data📊 Empower 🙌 Product 💜

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