The Old and the New in Data Management - Told Through a Walk in Gdańsk

I’ve been travelling and decided to wander (well cruise actually) up to the Baltic, and Gdańsk absolutely floored me.

Gdansk was flattened during World War 2 but with effort and care was reconstructed using the fallen bricks and mortar. But, in addition it was redeveloped to embrace modern methods and designs. 

And, that’s the perfect analogy for where we are in Data Management as AI becomes central to how organisations can work - Blending Old Foundations with New Capabilities

Sitting on Poland’s northern coast where the Motława River meets the Baltic Sea, Gdansk is a city shaped by centuries of trade, conflict, and reinvention. Knowing it was almost destroyed during the Second World War is one thing — standing in the middle of its beautifully rebuilt streets is another.

One moment that really stayed with me was walking through the Green Gate. It looks centuries old — and technically it is — but what you see now is a careful reconstruction, crafted stone by stone to honour its original 16th‑century design. It stands proudly at the end of the Royal Route, acting as a bridge between the historic heart of the city and the modern waterfront. Old brick, new glass, all in harmony.

Walking through the Old Town, you feel the weight of what was lost — but you also see the pride in what’s been rebuilt. The Green Gate is a symbol of that philosophy: don’t erase the past, don’t cling to it blindly either. Rebuild what matters, modernise what must evolve, and make sure everything connects seamlessly.

Data Management needs that same mindset.

Most organisations have decades of data decisions behind them — warehouses, lakes, marts, legacy systems, prolific spreadsheets. And now AI arrives, not quietly, but like an enthusiastic intruder who wants to reorganise your entire house.

The instinct is to bulldoze the old and build shiny new systems. But Gdańsk teaches a better lesson: respect the foundations, modernise with intention, and make sure every part of the data ecosystem can talk to the others.

What should we focus on?

• Data Quality: AI doesn’t fix bad data; it amplifies it. Reliable data matters
• Governance:  smart guidance, not heavy bureaucracy, to keep outputs trustworthy.
• Interoperability:  systems should blend like Gdańsk’s architecture, not exist as disconnected suburbs.
• Metadata: the street signs that help AI understand what it’s looking at.
• Ethics and security: the lighting and safe pathways of the modern data city.

Blend these well and AI becomes a natural extension of your organisation’s existing knowledge, just as the reconstructed Green Gate feels like a natural part of Gdańsk’s modern waterfront.

The short takeaway: to make the most of AI, we need to blend our existing data foundations with modern practices — just as Gdańsk blended reconstructed heritage with modern innovative architecture.