Data contracts are essential mechanisms that establish formal agreements between data producers and consumers, defining the structure, ownership, and expectations for data products to ensure predictable and reliable data flows. They function similarly to APIs in software, helping to prevent disruptions in data-driven decision-making across analytics, data science, and engineering domains. With the shift towards distributed data ownership, data contracts become crucial for maintaining data quality and fostering collaboration by aligning stakeholders on roles and responsibilities. The Open Data Contract Standard (ODCS), developed by PayPal and now part of the Linux Foundation's Bitol project, provides an open-source framework for defining these contracts, offering benefits like vendor lock-in prevention and compatibility with various tools. Effective implementation involves discovering data flows, documenting findings, adopting open standards, automating contract creation, and enforcing agreements through proactive and reactive measures. By adopting data contracts incrementally, organizations can enhance collaboration, reduce incidents, improve data reliability, and support complex modern data architectures.