Catalog & Cocktails: The Honest, No-BS Data Podcast

Juan Gorricho, a data and analytics executive with 25+ years leading strategy at companies like TD Bank and Disney, breaks down practical priorities. He urges counting real dollar impact over AI hype. Discussion hits trust and data literacy, cutting vanity metrics, focusing on a few critical data columns, and shifting reporting into decision-intelligence with product thinking.

Two friends unwind over beers while unpacking the biggest takeaways from Data Day Texas. They discuss practitioner-focused talks, the rise of agentic coding, and the librarian-style curiosity AI agents could adopt. Governance, context over models, and the push for interoperable semantics come up. Casual conference moments and debates about semantic layers and AI-ready data round out the conversation.

Dr. Irina Steenbeek, data practitioner and author focused on data lineage and aligning data and AI governance. She breaks down lineage at business, conceptual, logical and physical levels. Short practical takes on scoping lineage for value, when full technical lineage is unrealistic, and how lineage and governance share foundations like catalogs and metadata.

Practical realities of implementing data lineage, from when it helps and when it is overkill. How lineage untangles spaghetti systems to aid impact analysis and root-cause work. The overlap between data, lineage, and AI governance and why organizational factors often trump technical ones. Advice on focusing lineage efforts around use cases and necessary quality.

In this engaging discussion, Professor Oscar Corcho, an expert in ontology engineering at the Technical University of Madrid, unveils the rich history and evolution of ontologies. He traces their roots in AI from the 1990s, emphasizes the transition from prototypes to practical applications, and showcases their role in semantic interoperability, like harmonizing railway data across Europe. Oscar also shares insights on starting ontology projects and how using LLMs can enhance the ontology development process, urging teams to treat ontologies as vital software products.

Discover the fascinating history of ontologies, tracing back to the 1990s and expert systems. Learn how they are applied to complex systems like data centers and railways to streamline processes. The importance of human agreement in ontology work is highlighted, showcasing its challenges. Explore the role of governance and how modern software practices can enhance ontology development. With LLMs aiding in ontology generation, find out how they can minimize hallucinations and improve outputs, treating ontologies as crucial software artifacts.

Juan and Tim dive into the buzz around context graphs, questioning their trendiness and the reactions from executives skeptical of the hype. They argue that context management will likely become an integrated feature in broader platforms. The duo emphasizes the importance of capturing knowledge and processes, steering clear of the pitfalls seen during the big data hype. They classify companies into three archetypes based on their data strategies and advocate for a focus on industry-specific solutions, pushing data teams to drive real business impact.

Tony Baer, an esteemed industry analyst known for his insights into data and AI, teams up with Matt Housley, host of 'It's About Data' and a seasoned data practitioner. They dive into the rise of agentic architectures and the vital role of semantics in AI, emphasizing the importance of a shared understanding. The conversation tackles the pitfalls of 'magic' thinking around LLMs, the potential of graphs in analytics, and the historical cycles of data architectures. Tony and Matt also offer practical advice for navigating the evolving data landscape.

This is the takeaway episode about the chat that Tim and Juan have with Tony Baer and Matt Housley, hosts of the “It’s About Data” podcast about what are the trends they are seeing with the start of 2026. We talked about AI magical thinking, Agentic architectures, Graphs, careers and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this lively discussion, Juan and Tim reflect on the dramatic shifts in the data landscape throughout 2025, focusing on AI's evolution from hype to practical application. They dive into the importance of semantics and ontologies for enterprise AI, while also addressing the notable trend of tool consolidation among vendors. Tim emphasizes the need for data teams to become proactive partners in driving value, and they enthusiastically predict that ontology adoption will grow in 2026. Expect insights into balancing governance with practical action and a touch of humor along the way!