I've been brewing beer for almost three years, and I'm finally hitting my stride, even doing well in competitions. It's a craft that I've come to love, but I can't help but notice how brewing can be glamorized. You see it in social media posts and brewing shows: the image of a brewer as a creative genius, a visionary who crafts the perfect brew with just the right combination of ingredients. The reality, though, is a bit different.

Yes, I enjoy experimenting with different yeasts and discovering the unique flavors they produce. But the truth is, the most important part of brewing—and the thing I spend the most time on—is cleaning and sanitizing. From scrubbing down equipment to ensuring that every line, bottle, and keg is free of contaminants, this unglamorous work is essential to producing a good beer. Professional brewers often joke that they’re really just professional cleaners, and I completely understand why.

This experience got me thinking about my work in data management and being a data architect. There's a similar contrast between the glamorized image and the reality of the job. Data management is often portrayed as a field where you’re a creative visionary, an influential leader, always at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and innovation. While these aspects are certainly part of the job, they aren’t the whole story.

One of the most vital parts of data management is something far less glamorous: documentation and organization. Just as a clean brewing environment is essential to producing good beer, detailed and organized documentation is crucial to the success of a data project. No matter how advanced the tools or how innovative the ideas, a project can quickly go off the rails if the documentation is neglected.

I can often tell how a project is going just by looking at the documentation. Is it thorough? Is it organized? If the answer is no, then the project is likely in trouble. There are plenty of tools out there to help with documentation, but they’re only effective if the data architect embraces this part of the job.

To summarize, I’ve learned that success in brewing, data management, and life often comes down to falling in love with the boring things. Just as a golfer needs to focus on their short game rather than just the big drives, we need to focus on the unglamorous but essential tasks that make everything else possible. Whether it’s scrubbing equipment with Star San sanitizer in brewing or meticulously organizing documentation in data management, it’s the boring work that lays the foundation for success.

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