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Thinking Like a Data Architect

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Chapter 1 of Data Architect, Part 1: Becoming a Data Architect.

This chapter is where the course starts, before we touch a single object. It’s about one shift: from asking how do I build this? to asking should we build this, why this way, and what happens when it grows or fails? Seven modules take you through it, starting with what an architect actually does.

In a Bengaluru studio, a senior architect points to the whole plan on the table while colleagues hold their own parts of the drawings.

Image generated with AI.

The chapter in seven parts

Section titled “The chapter in seven parts”

Each part stands on its own, so read them in order or jump to the one you need.

  1. Thinking Like an Architect. The person holding the blueprint. Ask why, because a requirement often arrives disguised as a design. And nobody asks for the fire alarm: it’s up to the architect to put in what everyone expects without asking.
  2. The Data Model Is the Bones. Everything is built on the model. Three tests for any data model: Support. Grow. Perform. Be very careful designing the bones: changing existing structures can have cascading consequences.
  3. The Reversibility Test. How hard will this be to reverse, and how much will depend on it? That’s how you know a decision is architectural, and when to slow down and write down why.
  4. Architecture Is the Art of Trade-offs. There can be many ways to solve a problem. Many have issues from the start, some have issues when your data grows, and a few can support your needs going forward. Now the architect decides.
  5. Build for Today. Plan for Tomorrow. Plan for Failure. Three lenses for every design, and why one extra zero can change your architecture.
  6. Know Your Tools: The Nine Questions. The questions to ask about any tool, including the one Salesforce releases next month, worked through on Apex sharing.
  7. The Data Architect in the Time of AI. AI is a rocket booster. It doesn’t remove the architect; it changes where the architect creates value.

When you’ve finished, check yourself with the chapter study guide: a checklist for the exam, the habits beyond it, the words to know, and a few questions.

What you’ll be able to do

Section titled “What you’ll be able to do”
  • Tell an architectural decision from an ordinary one, and slow down for the expensive ones.
  • Judge a data model with three tests: does it support the business, can it grow, does it perform?
  • Lay out the options, name the trade-offs, recommend one, and explain why to a developer, the business and an executive.
  • Look at any design through three lenses: today, tomorrow and failure.
  • Evaluate any tool with nine questions, and verify what AI tells you about it.

Explore

Section titled “Explore”

Next: Modeling Data for Meaning