Data Dinner: Data Contracts
Thursday, June 18th | 6:30 PM
The Dining Room at The Aubrey - Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
The second in a series of dinners bringing together Data & Engineering leaders to explore the trends reshaping our industry, not through theory, but through real experience.
Each session examines how leaders define and tackle critical challenges, the impact of getting it right (and the lessons from getting it wrong), and how they've scaled from pilots to production.
This Edition: Data Contracts, with a Twist
Data Contracts are having a moment. But between the theory and the reality lies a graveyard of failed implementations, checked-out stakeholders, and legal jargon that nobody asked for.
This edition, we are cutting through the noise with someone who has lived it.
We are honoured to welcome Pete Williams, renowned in the CDO community and former Director of Data at Penguin Random House, for an evening that trades polished frameworks for hard-won honesty.
Pete will share three hard-won lessons from the frontline:
Failure to launch. When data contracts are rolled out as rigid, formal documents, the business checks out. Nobody wants a contract, they want results.
Transparency as the foundation of trust. When data quality breaks down, trust flatlines fast. Owning failures openly became the turning point for rebuilding organisational trust.
Data contracts without data contracts. Stop selling contracts. Start selling friction-free operations and transparent accountability, baked into the workflows the business already lives in.
The Conversation
Where do data contracts work, and where do they fall apart?
How do you get cross-functional buy-in without the legal baggage?
How do you build accountability when trust breaks down?
What does data correctness look like in practice?
An intimate setting designed for candid exchange with peers navigating the same challenges. Seats are limited.