Officially launched at Big Data London, this new real-world guide from DataOps.live lifts the lid on the world of data products—what they are and how you can benefit. What are the top 10 attributes of a data product? What does ‘good’ look like? How can you build and deploy successful data products, accelerating your journey from data projects to data products?
“Data products are the future for how organizations will organize, develop, and deploy data assets and data applications, using everything that works well about how data has operated until now plus the benefits of decades of innovation in the software world,” says co-author Sanjeev Mohan, former research VP data & advanced analytics at Gartner, and principal of data trend advisory and consulting firm SanjMo. “While this approach can drive a tenfold increase in developer productivity, getting started can also seem quite daunting. We felt current information about data products could be fragmented, complex, and confusing. That’s where this book comes in. It brings clarity, with practical tips and focused guidance to help you move forward.”
Written in partnership with Guy Adams, DataOps.live CTO and co-founder, and Justin Mullen, DataOps.live CEO and co-founder, Data Products For Dummies is a one-stop guide to help readers better understand the theory, then move beyond theory to pursue a pragmatic and practical approach to building high-value Data Products. “A key aspect of the book is the inclusion of relatable examples alongside a huge amount of learnings from real-world practitioners. We wanted to demystify data products, supporting practitioners in their efforts to unlock this powerful approach for their own organizations,” Sanjeev says.
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Unleashing the power of data products
“The starting point is understanding the difference between data products and data as a product,” says Justin Mullen. “This is fundamental to the concepts discussed in the book and the practical information and advice it gives you. We want to provide answers to important questions: How can you improve time to value, as well as reliability, security, and privacy? How can you deliver a superior customer experience through data products? And how can you better use resources to avoid waste and reduce your costs?”
Key topics covered in the book include:
- The current state of analytics: why it has to change and modernize
- What a data product is (and isn’t)—with examples
- The many benefits of data products for consumers, with real-life examples to inspire
- FAIR data principles: findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable
- How to build and deploy data products: the Data Product maturity model
- Getting started
Making the move from data projects to data products
“Successful data products should have two fundamental attributes: a great user experience and trustworthiness,” says Guy Adams. “They should also have an owner accountable for their quality and reliability. They should be a self-contained interface to get answers to all kinds of questions. And in most cases, users should be able to consume them via a self-service interface. If done properly, consumers get better answers to their questions to improve business decisions and outcomes. We also need to remember that this story is still unfolding. While the value of data products is already clear, and they’re here to stay, this whole area is still in its relative infancy.” As the book says:
"Before 2023, virtually no one had even heard of large language models, and now they’re everywhere! Can we really, confidently, say that we can forecast what the future for data products will look like in one or two years? No, of course not! However, what we can say with a high degree of confidence is that it’s very unlikely that something new will come up that can’t fit well into the model and approach that we outline in this book. The future isn’t certain, but the value of a flexible and future-proof approach is!”
By applying the concepts and approaches outlined in the book, Guy points out that global pharmaceutical company Roche has achieved four times faster development, cost savings of more than USD 40 million, and many other tangible benefits. He adds, “We hope this book is not only a fantastic waymarker for where we are now, it also points to the future—helping the state-of-the-art to continue developing in the right directions. Some organizations are already on this journey, but for many, while the value and benefits may be impossible to ignore, getting started can be really daunting. Data Products For Dummies provides a blueprint for success that’s easy to pick up, get into, digest, and apply in the real world.”
Get your free copy of the Data Products For Dummies ebook
Don’t forget: you can also download a free copy of the DataOps For Dummies ebook—We believe that to improve the governance, agility, and management of your data products, you also need to seriously consider adopting a true DataOps philosophy so you can effectively scale your efforts, just as Roche did.
