Company
Date Published
Author
Volker Janz Senior
Word count
1839
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Data engineering often faces the challenge of invisibility, where the efforts and value of the team remain unnoticed until a failure occurs, highlighting the importance of data products. These data products serve as measurable business assets, translating complex technical processes into visible business outcomes, thus aiding in securing resources and justifying efforts. For managers, data products represent clear ROI and accountability, while for data engineers, they are collections of interdependent tasks and resources crucial for business outputs. Patterns such as cross-domain dependencies, control Dags, and escalation indicators help identify data products within systems like Airflow. Tools like the Astro IDE and Astro Observe enhance the visibility and management of data products by offering observability, automatic lineage visualization, and proactive alerts, ensuring that data teams can demonstrate their value effectively. This approach not only aids in maintaining pipeline health but also helps in aligning data operations with business objectives, making the invisible work of data engineers both observable and valuable.