Data Matas

Our host, Meltano Founder & CEO, Aaron Phethean speaks with Ian Pudney, who leads data at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), about building data practices that fit an organisation’s real needs. They explore why software and data create ongoing costs and risks, why data teams shouldn’t blindly copy large-tech approaches, and how AI is helping a small team work faster and deliver more tailored insights.

The conversation covers practical choices around data minimisation, architecture, semantic layers, dashboards, and source control. Ian’s central message: focus on the value a tool or activity delivers and be thoughtful about the maintenance burden it brings.

What is Data Matas?

A show to explore all data matters.

From small to big, every company on the market, irrespective of their industry, is a data merchant. How they choose to keep, interrogate and understand their data is now mission critical. 30 years of spaghetti-tech, data tech debt, or rapid growth challenges are the reality in most companies.

Join Aaron Phethean, veteran intrapreneur-come-entrepreneur with hundreds of lived examples of wins and losses in the data space, as he embarques on a journey of discovering what matters most in data nowadays by speaking to other technologists and business leaders who tackle their own data challenges every day.

Learn from their mistakes and be inspired by their stories of how they've made their data make sense and work for them.

This podcast brought to you by Meltano.