Reflecting on the past year

Taking some time today to reflect on the past year.

I think that creating new knowledge drives me the most, and of course, not keeping it for myself. And that was a bit of today’s reflection.

Looking back at Data Mesh and our successful implementation with Kim Thies, with the inspiration of Zhamak Dehghani and Scott Hirleman, I wonder if it’s an ideal that few will only reach and unleash the true potential. My first article on Data Mesh, although a little older than a year, is still very popular and relevant (and in PayPal’s top five tech blog articles). Writing our book with Eric Broda goes directly on those lines.

Nick Tune invited me to contribute to his great architecture modernization book. Jacek Majchrzak and Manning were kind enough to publish my foreword on the Data Mesh in Action book, which is a great read. Of course, Data Mesh for all ages has been a lot of fun, and I met many people. The sale of this little book allowed me to contribute financially (modestly) to Girls Who Code and Black Girls CODE, whom I met through my contribution to Call for Code.

Even if the promise of Data Mesh is not for everyone, the rise of the Data Contract and its energy is phenomenal. I published this piece recently, and it is already getting much traction. I love to see the passion of Andrew Jones, Jochen Christ, and Simon Harrer. Great things will come this year, for sure.

This week, I finally released some work I have worked on over several years around Data QoS, thanks to ProfitOptics.

This reflection would not be complete without thinking of my great board at AIDA User Group: Heather Cole, Stuart Litel, Jens Bäumler, Rikke Jacobsen, Ryan Dolley, Paul Mendelson, Paul Cortellesi, Martin Otto, Mark Lack, and, of course, Ralf Roeber! Our AI on Pi Day event was one of the first events where IBM and Hugging Face were mentioned in the same conversation, thanks to Bill Higgins and my friend, Rob Thomas. Speaking of IBM, I feel blessed every day to be a Lifetime IBM Champion (Thanks, Libby Ingrassia, for managing this program brilliantly).

My blog, which you are reading now at https://jgp.ai/, has more than doubled its traffic this calendar year (and the year is not finished).

I am so grateful to many people and organizations (I will not make a list!). I am excited about going back to France after six years. I am finally getting this 1979 LEGO spaceship. There’s nothing like waiting over 40 years for a childhood dream, right?

On this day, I’ll also want to remember Ron Flannery, a friend of more than 20 years who passed away two days ago. Ron, you were fun. You are and will be missed.

Thank you everybody. I am grateful. This has been an amazing year; onto the next one!