Laughing@Data.Com (often discussed alongside The 2030 Data Agenda essays and writings) is a satirical and polemical book by veteran data architect and consultant Martyn Rhisiart Jones.
Part memoir, part industry autopsy, and part manifesto, the book takes a witty and sharp look at the absurdity of the IT and enterprise data world. Rather than being another standard tech guide, it functions as a survival manual for anyone dealing with corporate tech hype cycles.
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Martyn Richard Jones
Our man in Spain.
A Coruña, 13th December 2025
As 2025 winds down, the tinsel comes out. It’s tempting to imagine a quieter, saner digital ecosystem on the horizon. Call it festive optimism or a data professional’s annual catharsis. Here are twelve wishes for 2026. They are equal parts hard-edged realism, FT Weekend reflection, and Wired-grade futurism.
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Why Data Warehousing Is the Boring, Brutal, Beautiful Future of Data
Martyn Rhisiart Jones
A Coruña, 5/12/2025
The modern enterprise data stack looks less like technology and more like cyberpunk plumbing. Pipes are rerouted through pipes. Valves are attached to valves. Layers are placed on top of each other until the whole thing resembles a drawing. It’s like a creation made by a caffeinated child let loose on a whiteboard. Data lakes are here. A data mesh is over there. A lakehouse is balanced precariously on top. It resembles a loft extension built by someone who learnt carpentry from TikTok.
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The challenges facing information today are closely related to the complexity of data management, technology and social factors. Here are some of the biggest challenges:
Narrator: To know data, you must know the grammar of data, information and knowledge. Depending on the language and its precision, accuracy, and richness, we will have a reasonable idea of approaching data and information modelling issues. To know data and information, you must understand the business well. People with a technical background and little or no business knowledge are often oblivious to their ignorance regarding business data and information. When you have a technician in the industry who doesn’t understand this, it’s a problem. If your technician is located thousands of kilometres from your company, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Let’s listen to Pete and Dud wax lyrical about the importance of language and grammar.
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