My take on building a data culture

I gave a talk on Data Mesh and Data Products last September 25, 2025.
As usual, we ended with a Q&A—and one person raised their hand:

"Thanks for the presentation. It seems you’re doing really great at SumUp. How did you build the data culture there?"

Back then, my answer was spontaneous and spur-of-the-moment reply. I said something along the lines of:
"Make sure the business is part of the discussion. When we brought them in early to set expectations of what Data Mesh would bring, things got better."

Looking back, here’s how I’d really answer that question.

A data culture isn’t built by frameworks, diagrams, or fancy roadmaps. It’s built by people.
When my teammates joined me at that event, it reminded me: they are the culture.

Culture happens when people believe in the same goal—whether that’s about data or not.
If my teammates and colleagues didn’t believe that we could succeed, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
But it wasn’t just belief. They acted on it.

Here’s the thing: if I was just preaching what “good data quality” looks like, but not actually doing it, no one would follow.
If my teammate just wrote “DBT Best Practices” copied from a blog, but never validated them in real life, no one would take it seriously.

Culture is built by people who walk the talk.
If you want to change your data culture, don’t start with posters or slogans.
Find people who do the work, who model the behavior.

Because actions will always speak louder than words.