The Joe Reis Show

We see a lot of hype cycles in our industry - Data mesh. Generative AI. Agents. Now context.
Every cycle brings a new label and a familiar promise: this will finally make your organization’s data useful.
The technology has improved enormously. So why do the same problems keep coming back?
In this episode, I explore how communication, incentives, and organizational politics shape what our tools actually deliver. Will context finally deliver the silver bullet to solve our problems? Is buying the next platform easier than resolving the messy organizational problems we all deal with? Listen to get my thoughts.

Hannes Mühleisen (co-creator of DuckDB) joins me to chat about the past, present, and future of DuckDB, Ducklabs (recently acquired by AWS), and more.

Note - parts edited due to AWS's request.

Former Gartner VP Analyst and principal at SanjMo, Sanjeev Mohan, joins me to break down the reality of AI adoption, data foundations, and why enterprises are hitting roadblocks with agents and LLMs. From comparing the current AI boom to the dot-com era to unpacking his new concept, ECL (Extract, Context, Link), Sanjeev explains why moving data around is no longer viable and why "there is no AI stack, only one stack." We also dive into capability overhang, artificial guardrails, the race to standardize semantic context, and why writing books and understanding core primitives still matter in the age of generative models

This week at dbt Summit, Tristan Handy (co-founder of dbt) asked me why I write books. It's a good question, especially today when reading is declining and any answer is seemingly at your fingertips.

In this Freestyle Friday, I discuss why I write books, why they still matter, and much more. If you're interested in writing a book, this episode is definitely a must-listen.

I talk to executives and practitioners around the world about AI and what comes next. Everyone has predictions and pontifications, and everyone seems to think someone else has the answers.
But the more conversations I have, the clearer it gets that nobody knows what's next.
In this episode, I explore that uncertainty and how we move forward anyway.
Because in the end, nobody knows...