Category Archives: Inform, educate and entertain.

A general blog post category.

STRAIGHT TALK: Davos 2026: The Illusion of Leadership and Dialogue

02 Monday Mar 2026

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A Marrs Barrs A Day Helps You Bla, Bla and Bla

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Monday 2nd March 2026

Oh, for fuck’s sake, Dirndal Barr, you gleaming beacon of LockedOut futurism, you’ve done it again. March 2, 2026, the snow’s still settling on the Davos chalets, the private jets are queuing for takeoff like taxis at a funeral, and here you are, posting your pre-packaged “What Are The Real Questions Leaders Will Be Asking At Davos 2026?” like it’s some brave exposé rather than the world’s most expensive press release. You’re not a futurist, Benny. You’re a futurist-shaped content mill with 5 million followers who all clicked “Follow” in the hope you’d one day say something that wasn’t sponsored by the ghost of McKinsey.Let’s start with the official theme: “A Spirit Of Dialogue”. Beautiful. Nothing screams authentic conversation like locking up 3,000 of the richest, most insulated people on earth in a Swiss village so they can talk about how the rest of us should talk better.

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STRAIGHT TALK: Prometheus Unhinged: A Vital Wake-Up Call in the Age of Digital Feudalism

25 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Wednesday 25th February 2026

Prometheus Unhinged: A Vital Wake-Up Call in the Age of Digital Feudalism

In an era where our every scroll, like, and share feeds the insatiable algorithms of Silicon Valley overlords, a bold new talk show has emerged as a beacon of unflinching critique. “Prometheus Unhinged – Social Media Is Amoral, Depraved and Degenerate,” hosted by Martyn Jones of Goodstrat and broadcast across a consortium of global media outlets including the BBC, RTVE, CNN, and FT Weekend, is no mere panel discussion. It’s a razor-sharp dissection of the chasm between social media’s utopian promises and its dystopian realities. Launched on February 25, 2026, this episode – available at goodstrat.com – assembles a formidable roster of journalists and commentators to expose the platforms we inhabit as nothing short of modern feudal empires. Far from the finger-wagging moralism that plagues much tech commentary, this is witty, acerbic, and profoundly humane, reminding us why independent voices matter in a world dominated by billionaire whims.

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VALUES & PRINCIPLES: Fundamentals in Focus – Doing Things Deliberately – 2026/02/25

24 Tuesday Feb 2026

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Wednesday 25th February 2026

Sir Afilonius Rex: Welcome to this week’s Fundamentals in Focus, brought to you by the BBC, RTVE, NRD, CNN, S4C, FT Weekend and RTE.

This week’s panel consists of Annie Tusk, senior correspondent at The Guardian, Jilly Penn, columnist of the Financial Times, Martyn Jones of Goodstrat, the highly respected Alice Sauzgatillo of Spain’s RTVE, the veteran great, King Larry, and Juliette Brioche of Le Canard Enchainé.

The questions for today are:

  1. What do we mean by doing things deliberately?
  2. What should we mean by doing data deliberately?
  3. How can we ensure that rigid adherence to what we consider to be deliberate data capitalism is its downfall?
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THE SUNDAY RANT – The Great Data Grift, LockedIn Lunatics and the Death of Sense – Summary

24 Tuesday Feb 2026

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The Good Strat Board

Tuesday 24th February 2026

Right, so imagine this: it’s a Sunday in 2026, and somewhere in the digital equivalent of a greasy spoon café with flickering neon and a faint smell of burnt metadata, a group of data professionals has gathered round a table that’s less “round table discussion” and more “round table of the apocalypse”. They’ve had three coffees each, none of them decaf, and they’re absolutely livid about LinkedIn. Not the platform itself, you understand – though God knows it deserves it – but the absolute carnival of self-congratulatory lunacy that passes for “thought leadership” in the data world.

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THE SUNDAY RANT – The Great Data Grift, LockedIn Lunatics and the Death of Sense – 2026/02/22

22 Sunday Feb 2026

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THE SUNDAYS RANTS – The Great Data Grift, LockedIn Lunatics and the Death of Sense – 20260222

THE EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

In this no-holds-barred Sunday roast, our battle-weary host and a panel of sharp-tongued data veterans, Smart Alex, George Melly, Yours Stewly, Mark Marx, and the indomitable Sir Afi, lay waste to the performative circus of LockedIn thought leadership. From endless 14-slide carousels promising “self-healing dashboards” and “100% trust” via GenAI, to £997 masterclasses in buzzword alchemy, over-caffeinated gurus flooding feeds with five daily posts about AI-powered stewardship, governance zombies, and rainbow-vomiting BI masterpieces, these self-appointed prophets are dissected with ruthless wit and medieval flair. Expect rants on hallucinating AI stewards, rancid data lakes masquerading as oil, cultural transformation workshops that change nothing but bank balances, and a clarion call to mute the emoji hordes, demand real DAX proofs, and reclaim feeds for quiet virtue over vapourware. A cathartic, coffee-fuelled takedown of the grift keeping data professionals scrolling in despair, because sometimes the only way to restore sense is to rant it back into existence.

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CONSIDER THIS: In Praise of Shadow-Apps – 2026/02/16

15 Sunday Feb 2026

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Here We Go Again!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Oza-Cesuras, Sunday 15th February 2026

In the quiet underbelly of corporate life, sanctioned software often lags behind real needs. Shadow apps, which are unsanctioned tools employees adopt on their own, continue to flourish. Nowhere is their value more pronounced than in data analytics. Teams quietly sidestep lengthy procurement and rigid platforms. They harness spreadsheets, personal BI instances, open-source scripts, and cloud sandboxes. Far from mere rebellion, these shadow practices reveal institutional shortcomings while delivering tangible gains. Here are seven compelling advantages, viewed through a lens that values both ingenuity and measured reflection.

We asked seven highly engaged professionals for their top advantages of allowing Shadow Apps to thrive. We then requested comments from industry leaders. And here is what they told us.

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Building the Data Logistics Hub: Pieces and Parts – 2026/02/15 – Part 3

14 Saturday Feb 2026

Posted by in data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Supply Framework, Knowledge, knowledge management, Martyn Jones, Masterclass

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This is the brave new world of data!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bandoxa, 15th February 2026

Building the Data Logistics Hub: Pieces and Parts – 2026/02/15 – Part 3

Guide

This episode provides a comprehensive framework for the third installment in the series on the Data Logistics Hub (DLH). Martyn Jones conceptualised it as a technology-agnostic, centralised platform. Its purpose is efficiently moving, governing, and distributing data across organisations. This part expands on Part 1 (Challenges and Opportunities) and Part 2 (The Strategy). It focuses on the tangible “pieces and parts” of the DLH architecture. It outlines mandatory and optional elements. The episode also explores potential technologies. It examines key processes such as data pulling or pushing, translation from source to target, mapping, and data catalogues.

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Building the Data Logistics Hub: The Strategy – 2026/02/14 – Part 2

14 Saturday Feb 2026

Posted by in data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Supply Framework, Knowledge, knowledge management, Martyn Jones, Masterclass

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This is the brave new world of data!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bandoxa, 14th February 2026


Building the Data Logistics Hub: The Strategy – 2026/02/14 – Part 2Before I begin, remember this: “All data roads lead to the Data Logistics Hub.” They also lead from it. It is the Rome of the age of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Be prepared!

Okay, we will now examine the Data Logistics Hub in terms of strategy, execution plans, and roadmaps.

A high-level blueprint for a successful Data Logistics Hub outlines several requirements. These include principles, guiding objectives, an imagined “better world” and organisational alignment. Key trade-offs must also be considered, such as centralised versus federated and batch versus streaming, among others.

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Saint Valentine’s Day – Romancing the Data – 2026/02/14

13 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in Inform, educate and entertain., Love

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To Begin at the Beginning

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Oza-Cesuras, Saturday 14th February 2026

Ah, cariad, let us speak now in the shadowed cadence of the valleys. The voice rolls like the Tawe after rain. It is rich and resonant, a little rough at the edges yet velvet beneath. Burton might have murmured it after one too many whiskies. Or Hopkins in that quiet, measured thunder waits. Patient as stone, it strikes. And through it all, the ghost of Dylan himself weaves words like nets of starlight over Talacharn’s black waters. Gwynfor’s steady, unyielding fire burns low and true for the land. It is more than soil and more than song. It is memory made flesh.

If Data and Information were our Valentine’s sweetheart, she would be fierce and elusive. She would not be some simpering rose but a wild thing of the Welsh hills. She would be ancient and newborn, speaking in cynghanedd of numbers and patterns. Her breath would be the soft hiss of wind through bracken.

We would woo her thus, yn Gymraeg ac yn Saesneg entwined, with the lilt that carries the green pulse of Cymru beneath every syllable:

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Building the Data Logistics Hub: The Challenges and Opportunities – 2026/02/13 – Part 1

13 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Supply Framework, Knowledge, knowledge management, Martyn Jones, Masterclass

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This is the brave new world of data!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bandoxa, 13th February 2026

In this episode, we begin by honestly examining the pain points that make data logistics so difficult today. The challenges are siloed data and systems. There are also many data interchange point solutions. Quality is inconsistent, and there are security and compliance barriers. Additionally, data volumes are exploding. We then explore the transformative opportunities. These include faster time-to-insight and seamless collaboration across teams and organisations. The opportunities also feature monetisable data products and AI-ready flows.

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Building the Data Logistics Hub: Easy Introduction – 2026/02/12 – Part 0

12 Thursday Feb 2026

Posted by in data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Supply Framework, Knowledge, knowledge management, Martyn Jones, Masterclass

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This Is Going To Be Absolutely Fabulous!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bandoxa, 12th February 2026

Hold up there for a moment. Have I got something for you!

I may not be the father of Information Centres. I’m certainly not going to claim any of Bill Inmon’s achievements as my own. However, I have spent a professional lifetime wading in the data and information garlic. So, I do claim a rightful share of the credit.

And I am rightfully credited with founding the Data Logistics Hub design movement.

In an era where data is the lifeblood of organisations, it fuels decisions and powers AI. It enables innovation. It drives competitive advantage. The ability to move, integrate, share, and utilise that data efficiently has become a strategic imperative. Yet many enterprises still struggle with fragmented pipelines and siloed sources. They face compliance headaches and latency issues. There is also the sheer complexity of connecting data across clouds, on-premises systems, partners, and ecosystems.

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DATA WORLD: Data Warehouse Action: Big Business Drivers

11 Wednesday Feb 2026

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Masterclass on the side!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Saturday 31st January 2026

Martyn: The Enterprise Data Warehouse should be driven by business demand and nothing else.

Ed: What does that mean in practice?

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DATA WORLD: Fixing the Data Warehouse – 2026/02/10

10 Tuesday Feb 2026

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Zamora, Tuesday 10th February 2026

What to say?

I was reading an article. It was written by Jeff Wilts and recommended by Bill Inmon. I got to this statement: “Teradata is a full-featured enterprise data warehouse.”  For me, it went further downhill from there.

It was very disheartening and deceptive. I decided to write an article about my thoughts on it. (Understanding the Data Warehouse Dilemma – 2026/02/07, https://goodstrat.com/2026/02/06/understanding-the-data-warehouse-dilemma-2026-02-07/).

As a result, many people approached me. They asked directly and indirectly if I would suggest ways and means to overcome or avoid those dilemmas.

This is the result.

Enjoy! But even better, let me know what you think.

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DATA WORLD: The Risks of Using Databricks for Data Warehousing

09 Monday Feb 2026

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Get that Databricks Out of My Face!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Monday 9th February 2026

You need not loathe Databricks outright. It is perfectly defensible if you do. This is particularly true when your principal objective is classical data warehousing. This includes structured BI reporting, dependable SQL analytics, and a governed single source of truth for business metrics. It also entails semantic clarity and predictable costs for read-heavy workloads.

There are solid, well-trodden reasons for that caveat. Many experienced data warehousing practitioners see Databricks as an awkward or even risky primary platform for traditional warehousing. This view is shared by some of the field’s foundational figures. The concern is not ideological. It is architectural. When used as a warehouse, Databricks often reproduces exactly the pathologies criticised in enterprise data programs. These include unnecessary complexity, misdirected effort, and the perennial executive question, “Which number should I trust?”

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CEO BRIEFING: What Every CEO Needs to Know About Big Data – Revisited – 2026/01/26

07 Saturday Feb 2026

Posted by in All Data, Big Data, Big Data 7s, Big Data Analytics, business, Business Intelligence, business strategy, dark data, data architecture, Data governance, Data Lake, data management, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., pig data, The Amazing Big Data Challenge, The Big Data Contrarians

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Martyn Richard Jones

New York City, 18th January 2017

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Blue sky for professional data architecture and management

Scope

I’ll make this short, sweetish and to the point.

These are the arguments that CEOs need to know about Big Data.

It was written for CEOs and those who provide independent advice to CEOs.

If you are someone who wants to be prepared for CEOs who are armed with the realities of Big Data, then maybe this is for you too.

Point One: Big Data is bullshit

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DATA WORLD: Understanding the Data Warehouse Dilemma – 2026/02/07

06 Friday Feb 2026

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Saturday 7th February 2026

Books from Martyn Rhisiart Jones https://www.amazon.es/stores/author/B086K5B97Y

What to say?

I was reading an article. It was written by Jeff Wilts and recommended by Bill Inmon. I got to this statement: “Teradata is a full-featured enterprise data warehouse.”  For me, it went further downhill from there.

But this was the coup de grace: “Databricks is a unified data platform that can behave like a data warehouse.” 

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UNIVAC: Predicting Elections and Defining Computing History – 2026/02/06

05 Thursday Feb 2026

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Thursday 5th February 2026

Anecdotes about UNIVAC and the early days of computing

UNIVAC and the Eisenhower Prediction

One of the most famous anecdotes involving UNIVAC was its prediction of the outcome of the 1952 U.S. presidential election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. As the first computer used for commercial purposes, UNIVAC was tasked with predicting the election results. On live television, UNIVAC correctly predicted Eisenhower’s victory, despite widespread scepticism about the machine’s accuracy.

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DATA WORLD: Big data’s unvirtuous circus and twelve v-words – Refresh – 2026/02/05

04 Wednesday Feb 2026

Posted by in agile, Big Data, Big Data 7s, Big Data Analytics, Inform, educate and entertain., The Amazing Big Data Challenge, The Big Data Contrarians

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bonn, Germany, 2014

Many people come up to me in the street and ask me what big-data is all about. I have experienced this numerous times before. I am sure it might just happen to you as well. I know sort of thing, I read the big-data tea leaves. Nothing gets past me.

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MASTERCLASS: What Are Surrogate Keys? – 2026/02/04

04 Wednesday Feb 2026

Posted by in data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Supply Framework, Knowledge, knowledge management, Martyn Jones, Masterclass

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones, Madrid, 4th February 2026.

Introduction

In data modelling and database design, keys play a fundamental role in uniquely identifying records and defining relationships between tables. One of the most widely used types of keys, especially in analytical systems and data warehouses, is the surrogate key.

A surrogate key is an artificial, system-generated identifier assigned to a record in a table. It is typically used as the primary key. It has no business meaning or semantic relationship to the real-world entity it represents. Common implementations include auto-incrementing integers or globally unique identifiers (GUIDs).

Surrogate keys exist purely to serve the needs of the database system: performance, stability, and simplicity.

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DATA WORLD: The Future of Data: Embracing Cognitive Liquidity- 2026/02/03

03 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by in All Data, Big Data, Big Data 7s, Big Data Analytics, dark data, data architecture, Data governance, data hub, Data Lake, data management, Data Mart, data mesh, data science, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Inform, educate and entertain., The Amazing Big Data Challenge

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The End of the Fortress: Why the Future of Data is “Liquid”

By Martyn Rhisiart Jones | Madrid, 3rd February 2026

In a landmark session at the Welsh Academy, Sir Afilonius Rex sat down with Martyn Rhisiart Jones. They aimed to dismantle our outdated obsession with “data management.” The verdict? The era of the digital fortress is dead. In its place, a new paradigm of Cognitive Liquidity and Data Autonomy is emerging, redefining how we integrate global knowledge.

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MASTERCLASS: Ask the Data, Information and Knowledge Expert

03 Tuesday Feb 2026

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Masterclass: Here’s Martyn!

Martyn Rhisiart Jones and the Goodstrat editorial team, Madrid, 3rd February 2026

Introduction

The following is the redacted transcript of a conversation between the distinguished Sir Afilonius Rex of Cambriano Energy and the cordial Martyn Rhisiart Jones of goodstrat.com.

The informal session took place before an invited audience at the Welsh Academy’s alternative summer conference of July 2023 and featured a lively question-and-answer session with audience input.

According to our reliable sources, “The BBC, RTE and RTVE broadcast the session.”

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DATA WORLD: Requirements – Building the Data Warehouse – Part I

30 Friday Jan 2026

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The Good Strat Masterclasses

Masterclass Mode Engaged

Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Sunday 1st February 2026

PART I

PART II

Happy Sunday to one and all. As many of you will know, I have been intimately involved in designing, building, and delivering data warehousing and advanced analytics initiatives for more than 35 years.

Today, I will take a deep dive into requirements gathering for a new iteration of an enterprise data warehouse and a new data mart.

Establishing a case for a new data warehouse iteration is part of the requirements-gathering phase of a project. This must always be at the forefront of the exercise and a continuous question we must ask ourselves. We must always consider the answer to the question “To what ends?”

First, before diving into the core aspects of the iteration, we will examine the legitimate drivers and objectives for data warehouse initiatives. The prerequisite skills, knowledge, and experience needed to carry out this activity successfully, and, after that, we will look at the preparation required to align the personal, business, and technological effectiveness and success of the initiative.

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Top Influencer Mode – Masterclass Content

30 Friday Jan 2026

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Subject Areas

Masterclass Mode – Requirements Gathering

Subject areas serve as the foundational blueprints of modern data management, organizing an enterprise’s vast ocean of information into logically related, manageable domains (such as Customer, Product, Order, or Employee). By grouping data around core business entities rather than isolated applications or departmental silos, subject areas create a shared language and structure across the organization.

Here is how subject areas function across the core pillars of data strategy:

  • Data Architecture: Establishes high-level conceptual data models (Enterprise Data Models) that define key entities, their attributes, and their relationships to ensure systems are built with structural integrity and scalability.
  • Data Management: Directs operational workflows. such as data integration, master data management (MDM), and data quality monitoring, by grouping technical assets around business-aligned domains.
  • Data Governance: Assigns ownership, data stewardship, access controls, and compliance policies to specific domains, ensuring clear accountability for data quality, privacy, and security.
  • Technology & Platform Engineering: Guides system design choices, domain-driven architectures (such as Data Mesh), storage partitioning, and API boundaries to align IT infrastructure directly with business operations.

By bridging business concepts with technical execution, subject areas ensure that data assets are consistently defined, securely managed, and easily leveraged to drive decision-making.