Are you “data mesh ready”?

Data mesh is the hottest trend right now. Everyone is talking about it and trying to find ways to implement it in their organization. If you are an executive evaluating whether to invest time and money in this new approach, or an architect designing the data mesh strategy or someone trying to understand what this fuzz is all about, then this article is for you. In this article, I will explain what data mesh is, why it is a good concept, why it may not be suitable for your company and what to do if you are not “data mesh ready”?

What is Data mesh?

Data Mesh is an architectural pattern for building and scaling microservices-based systems that aim to move away from the traditional monolithic data management approach. It encourages teams to own the data they produce & consume and use domain-driven design to define the boundaries of their services. It can lead to improved scalability, resiliency, and flexibility, as well as better alignment between the needs of the business and design of the system.

There are a lot of buzzwords above. Let me simplify it. Data mesh is an architectural pattern based on four underlying principles:

• Domain Ownership: This principle requires that data be composed around business domains, and the domain teams(for example- finance, marketing or sales department) should be responsible for managing it. In other words, Data management should be decentralized and handled by the teams that own the data rather than being centralized in a monolithic data layer.