Most data catalogs are ghost towns. Despite the investment in implementation and integration, adoption flatlines. The search bar sees no traffic, and meticulously documented tables gather digital dust.
This is a common outcome of data catalog projects. The root cause is rarely the technology itself. The problem isn’t the tool. The problem is the strategy. We treat the catalog as a project to be completed, a box to be checked, rather than a living, breathing resource to be integrated into the daily workflow.
The result is a vicious cycle: stale data erodes trust, which hinders adoption, which in turn ensures the data remains stale. The tool meant to create instead becomes a symbol of wasted effort.