Skip to content
Vol. I · No. 251
Mon · 8 Jun
A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data
The Lexicon

005·75

business logic drift

/ˈbɪz.nɪs ˈlɒdʒ.ɪk drɪft/ - n.

1 [colloq.] The slow distance between what the query computes and what anyone still means by it, measured in pull requests no one reviewed.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. The gradual divergence between the rules encoded in a transformation and the current definitions the business actually uses, accumulating as logic is copied without review.

Filed
See also
  • data contractA written agreement about what the source will send, honored until the source has a deadline.
  • dbt modelA SQL file that turned a folder of opinions about 'revenue' into a folder of opinions under version control.
  • schema driftThe source renamed a column and told no one, in the same spirit it once promised the contract was stable.
  • transformationWhere the business logic lives, defined by whoever happened to write the join and unavailable for comment.