Data Mesh Live & Meetup: reflections & takeaways on real Data Mesh conversations

The spark: 5th Data Mesh Belgium Meetup

It all began on the evening of June 4th at the 5th Data Mesh Belgium Meetup, expertly hosted by our own Tom De Wolf in partnership with Aardling and ACA Group. With insightful talks from Arif Wider and Jacek Majchrzak, the community dove headfirst into key questions:

• How do we effectively share data products across organizations?
• Why should strategy always precede architecture?

It wasn’t just a warm-up, it was ignition. The meetup was a space for candid reflection, sharp insights, and the type of conversations that get everyone nodding in recognition. And from there, momentum only built.

Main event: Data Mesh Live conference

On June 5 & 6, Data Mesh Live took over the beautiful location of the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp.

Curated with precision and passion by Tom De Wolf, the conference drew data leaders, product managers, engineers, architects, and data mesh practitioners in general. No fluffy vendor pitches. No silver-bullet nonsense. Just clear, real, often deep conversations about making Data Mesh work in practice.

We started with an inspiring interview between Tom De Wolf and Zhamak Dehghani, creator of Data Mesh. Data Mesh is more relevant than ever and the foundation for data and (Gen)AI strategies. She thanked Tom for his commitment to the community and making this milestone event happen. 

The real gold happened between the talks, in hallway exchanges, during the conference, over coffee, and deep into post-session chats. People weren’t just there to listen. They came to share, challenge, connect.

What we took home

We left with more than just stickers and tote bags. These were the takeaways that stuck with us:

• There are different types of Data Products, but the ‘pure’ or ‘autonomous’ are key for Data Mesh.
  Without it, you’re just moving data around in circles. They form the foundational mesh for data driven companies and data and AI strategies.
  
  
• Contracts aren’t scary.
  They're the glue that holds your mesh together and they’re doable.
  
  
• Product thinking is essential, even for the data itself.
  Only then value can be delivered in a sustainable way.
  
  
• Governance doesn’t have to be boring.
  It can be invisible through embedding feedback loops in the socio-technical system. It can be supported by AI to make governance computational and detect issues.
  
  
• Mesh doesn't run without metadata.
  Carefully design different facets of ‘metadata’, going from data contracts, data product specifications, ontologies, knowledge graphs, etc.  They all enable interoperability all the way up into the Knowledge Mesh for semantic interoperability.
  
  

Our personal highlight? 

Watching people realise Data Mesh isn’t about tooling alone.

It’s about people. About agreements. About domain teams that finally feel ownership. And, let’s be honest, about asking better questions instead of just building faster pipelines.

The atmosphere was honest and energising, from sharp talks to lively side conversations to shared “aha-moments” that made you want to go home and re-architect everything.

And yes, credit where credit’s due: our very own Tom De Wolf made sure the program hit that sweet spot between concept and pragmatism. Calm, curated, community-driven.

Tom De Wolf: “The Data Mesh community has found its home to meet and align in-person. Data Mesh Live is finally that event with focus on the topic, resulting in more thorough discussions and exchange of ideas that go beyond the basics”

What we help our clients do differently

At ACA Group, we don’t just talk about Data Mesh, we help teams make it work, day-to-day, in real-life complexity. We’re guiding organisations towards:

• Data Mesh Platform thinking and engineering that empowers, not controls
  because technology should support the way you work, not slow it down.
  
  
• Real domain ownership
  so ownership isn’t a philosophical debate but a working agreement.
  
  
• Data and Platform as a Product Thinking
  making sure consumers of data products, and data product developers using the platform are happy and energized.
  
  
• Lightweight but effective governance
  think autonomy with guardrails, not a thousand-page rulebook.

Every organisation is different, but the need for clarity, autonomy and collaboration? That’s universal. And that’s where we come in.

Want to talk Data Mesh, Data Products, Metadata, Governance or how to become as zen as Tom during a three-day conference?

👉 Check our Data Mesh services

See you next time. 

We’ll be there.