In this episode, I sit down with Ole to discuss his new book, "Fundamentals of Metadata Management." We move past the simple definition of "data about data" to a more nuanced view of metadata as something that exists in two places at once , serving as a pointer to find information elsewhere.

Ole introduces his core concept of the "MetaGrid"—the interconnected, yet siloed, web of metadata repositories that already exists within every large organization across various teams and technologies. He argues that the key to better metadata management is not to build a new monolithic system but to recognize, document, and integrate the MetaGrid that's already there, hiding in plain sight.

The conversation also covers the impact of the AI hype cycle , the lessons learned from the Data Mesh movement , the sociological incentives that help or hinder metadata projects , and the cultural clash between the worlds of data engineering and library science.