Starlight Data Framework

Welcome to the Starlight Data Framework, a comprehensive guide for building and managing modern data platforms. This framework is designed to help data teams, organizations, and stakeholders align on best practices, decisions, and technical setups required to create a scalable, maintainable, and efficient data ecosystem. Whether you're just starting out with your data platform or looking to refine your existing processes, the Starlight Data Framework offers actionable insights, clear ownership guidelines, and strategic decisions to streamline your operations.

Data platforms are essential in enabling organizations to harness the full potential of their data. However, building a robust platform involves a series of decisions, careful planning, and ongoing management. Teams often face challenges around communication, ownership, and scalability. The Starlight Data Framework addresses these issues head-on, providing a structured approach that emphasizes clarity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

The framework is broken down into key areas that are crucial to the success of any data platform. Each area focuses on fundamental principles that help avoid common pitfalls and improve your team's ability to deliver valuable insights consistently.

Data Contracts are the foundation of a well-organized data platform. They define the roles, responsibilities, and expectations between teams, ensuring consistent data handling and processing across the organization. Each contract outlines the specific details of data sources, models, and reporting, providing a shared understanding that reduces errors and miscommunication. Establishing robust data contracts ensures that all parties—from data engineers to business stakeholders—are on the same page.

Ownership is a cornerstone of a successful data platform. Each process, project, and decision must have a clearly defined owner. This owner is not always the person doing the work but is responsible for overseeing the task, ensuring its completion, and communicating with relevant stakeholders. By assigning clear ownership, organizations can drive accountability, avoid confusion, and maintain momentum on critical projects.

Meetings are key to keeping your data platform aligned with business objectives and technical progress. Meetings should be purposeful and focused, with daily check-ins for tracking ongoing work, weekly reviews for larger updates, and feature meetings to address upcoming changes. In addition, stakeholder meetings ensure that the broader business context is aligned with the data platform's evolving capabilities.

A few important decisions made from the outset can have a significant impact on the direction of your data platform. These include setting standards for time zones, currencies, security, and legal responsibilities. Defining these elements at the start helps avoid ambiguity and confusion later, ensuring that the data platform is aligned with both business operations and compliance requirements.

Building a successful data team requires a well-rounded set of people and capabilities. While technical roles like data engineers and modelers are critical, having individuals who understand the business context, product management, and analysis is equally important. The Starlight Data Framework emphasizes the need for cross-functional capabilities within the team to ensure smooth collaboration and a holistic approach to data-driven decision-making.

Adopting and enforcing best practices helps create a sustainable, agile, and adaptable data platform. The Starlight framework encourages teams to regularly delete outdated data, focus on adding only what is necessary, and remain cautious about long-term projects. By prioritizing temporary, incremental work, your team can stay flexible and respond quickly to changing requirements.

Data migrations are often complex and prone to error. The Starlight Data Framework provides practical advice on managing migrations effectively, starting with assembling the right team and ensuring that migrations are only done when necessary. Avoid one-to-one migrations and instead focus on improving and refining the system during the process, much like paying down debt in a financially responsible way.

Consistency in coding and documentation is crucial for long-term maintainability. The Starlight Style Guide recommends using tools like sqlfluff, markdownlint, and yamllint to ensure that your data platform adheres to industry standards and internal guidelines. A well-defined style guide fosters collaboration, improves readability, and minimizes errors.

Finally, the framework provides a practical, open-source setup for integrating Snowflake, DBT, and GitHub Actions. This setup offers the technical foundation for building a scalable data platform with modern cloud infrastructure and automation tools. By following this setup, your team can accelerate development, streamline CI/CD pipelines, and ensure secure access and permissions.

The Starlight Data Framework is designed to guide you through every step of building a robust and scalable data platform. From initial decisions and team structuring to technical setup and continuous improvement, this framework provides the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed in today's data-driven world. Dive into each section to explore actionable strategies and practical advice that will help you build a data platform tailored to your organization's needs.