Five patterns
we recognise.
Engagements take a small number of recognisable shapes when the discipline holds. Each pattern below names a situation that recurs, the discipline that meets it, and the foundations it exercises.
Extension over modification.
A business runs into the limits of what its core platform can do for a specific local market or capability. The temptation is to modify the core; the discipline is to extend instead.
Clean the core before the migration.
An enterprise carries years of accumulated customisations into an upcoming platform migration. The default is to lift and shift; the discipline is to do the painful cleanup first.
Route the routine to systems.
Skilled people spending most of their day on routine queries that a system could answer. The temptation is to staff up; the discipline is to redesign the workflow so the routine self-serves.
Many sources, one consumption view.
A data estate accumulated through years of growth and acquisition has fragmented into a tangle that buries the data team in maintenance and leaves business teams arguing about which number is right.
Federated services on a shared hub.
A community-sized environment runs many services that each serve the same population badly because no shared layer exists between them. The temptation is a "smart everything" big bang; the discipline is a shared hub that compounds as more services join.