Enter Product-Oriented Data Engineering and Management (PODEM), a modern approach to data that blends engineering discipline with product agility. At its

core, PODEM builds on the Holy Data Trinity:

• Data Contracts are the blueprints and tolerances, just like early 20th-century factory specs, ensuring components fit and function together.

• Data Products are the output of your data factory, engineered assets that, unlike Ford’s black-only Model T, allow for controlled customization, self-service discovery, and domain ownership.

• Data Mesh is the transport infrastructure, your data highway system connecting domains with the speed and autonomy needed for today’s decentralized enterprise.

While Taylorism focused on consistency and throughput, PODEM adapts its rigor

for a world that demands flexibility, explainability, and reuse. It’s about moving

from monolithic pipelines to modular, reliable, and self-serve data experiences,

and it scales.

In this session, Jean-Georges “jgp” Perrin, chair of the Bitol project at the Linux

Foundation, will connect Detroit’s industrial DNA with today’s data strategy,

showing how PODEM and open standards like ODCS and ODPS can guide your

journey from raw data to AI-ready platforms.