What to ask your agency about streaming data

It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. If you are briefing an agency or a freelancer on streaming data, these questions are worth asking early.

Data outlives the applications built on top of it, which is why the model deserves more thought than the screens. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

Questions worth asking

• Who will actually do this work, and have they done it before?
• How will we know afterwards whether it worked?
• What happens if it needs changing in a year?
• What are you assuming that we have not confirmed?

What a good answer sounds like

Streaming is worth it when the delay costs money. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

Batch is simpler and usually enough. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.

What this looks like day to day

Most data problems are ownership problems that turned into technical ones. Three things worth confirming about streaming data before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Batch is simpler and usually enough — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.