Data is a Team Sport with Paul Grobler

A rugby scrum only works when every forward does their job, and the same is true of data. In this session, Paul uses the eight forwards of a rugby pack to explain how the four architecture layers depend on each other.

Business architecture is the front row, application architecture the locks,
data architecture the eighth man and technology architecture the flankers. Dependency flows down through the layers, and value flows back up.

He then applies the analogy to a recent engagement with a large private hospital group. The team had to make sense of a complex data provisioning landscape and turn technical drawings into a decision the business could act on.

Along the way, Paul looks at why a formal modelling language is more than a nice-to-have, why consistent terminology matters, and why data modellers and architects are often the unsung heroes of any data initiative.

AI was part of the team on this engagement, but it was not the captain.

Paul shares the roles AI played well, what it could not do on its own, and why people stay accountable for the work whether AI helped or not. Expect practical lessons and a few of Grandma Kate’s sayings.

We are using the springboks rugby team as an anaolgy. keep design simple