2025 Year In Review
You and I have a problem with content saturation. There’s no way you want to spend your evening reading articles about data after working with it all day. I get it; too much information overwhelms you.
Yet we need something to lift our thoughts above the mundane. Your boss, the ever-present ticket queue, and the tidal wave of technology news don’t encourage imagination.
GK Chesterton said, “The moment you step into the world of facts, you step into a world of limits.” We step into that world every day, and it erodes our ability to appreciate mystery in the world. Beautiful art, he said, opens your imagination instead of answering every question.
Did you know that 1980s New Wave bands can open your imagination about data?
“Yes, Frictionless Data showed me that!”
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this connection through my Substack. Here’s my Top Ten from the 2025 Frictionless Data Playlist:
See The Lights
By Simple Minds (from “Visibility Can’t Wait“)
Understanding data requires more than good eyesight. This song can help you remember the urgency of good visibility. It’s also got one of the coolest guitar riffs I remember from the 80s. Enjoy this hidden gem from Simple Minds - it’s my favorite find of the year.
Helpless Automation
By Men at Work (from Smaller Teams, Better Results)
If you think there’s reason to worry about out-of-control automation, you’re not wrong. Eighties rock bands had something to say about that.
Are Friends Electric?
By Gary Numan, (from “How to Outsmart the Robot Coming For Your Job“)
Gary Numan was afraid he’d wake up one day and find that the friends he’d grown to know and trust were really robots. Now do you believe the 80s gave us the most important music?
Voices Carry
By ‘Til Tuesday, “The Matching Principle“
This dark, one-hit-wonder stuck in the mind of almost every high-schooler in my day. Let it remind you of the importance of connecting conversations.
Why Me?
By Planet P, “Wisdom for Data Projects“
The story in the song (a failed interplanetary rocket journey) offers a metaphor for the epic failure of massive data transformation projects. If you think eighties music was formulaic, you haven’t listened to new wave!
Private Idaho
By The B-52s, from Frictionless Data
A good book helps you get out of the state you’re in; it jolts your mind into action. In Frictionless Data, we try to give you that jolt right from the start.
Love Plus One
By Haircut 100, from Frictionless Data
These lyrics perfectly capture the experience of a data leader: without a plan, everyone goes different directions. One of the smartest data engineers I know says that if the data doesn’t make you move, it’s not good data.
Walking in LA
By Missing Persons, from Frictionless Data
Why do IT people think everyone uses data the same way? Every user looks like a cardboard cut-out, and one-size-fits-all solutions make perfect sense. It’s like walking through LA.
The Sun Always Shines on TV
By A-ha, (upcoming article)
We use technologies to understand what’s happening in the real world. That’s what you do every day: explain the world to decision makers with reports and dashboards. Don’t forget that the medium is the metaphor.
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
By The Police, (upcoming article)
Slowly, you realize the most critical decisions in your company don’t happen because of good reports or even great data solutions. It’s the conversations that change things.
Listen to the entire Frictionless Dataplaylist on Spotify.