It is tempting to read a modernised data platform as proof of maturity. But the platform is plumbing. Maturity is whether you can answer, for any number that reaches a decision-maker, where it came from, what touched it, and whether it can be trusted.
Lineage is what turns infrastructure into governance. It is also what an auditor — and increasingly an AI system — depends on. Trace first; the throughput is only worth what its provenance can prove.
The full piece is on its way
This essay is being prepared for the new D Station site. In the meantime, the fastest way to see this thinking applied to your own data is the Quick Scan — a rapid maturity read with an instant audit-readiness report.