Beyond Monoliths: Thrivent's Lessons in Building a Modern Integration Architecture

Explore Thrivent's journey in modernizing their data architecture in this 31-minute conference talk. Learn about breaking down monoliths to create a more distributed and flexible data infrastructure, addressing both technological and human challenges. Discover strategies, patterns, and techniques developed during the process of abstracting multiple internal systems into a unified data integration platform. Gain insights into technical aspects such as choosing JSON Schema over Avro for data contracts, automating OpenTelemetry integration to enhance quality and trust, and implementing automated governance with Terraform and Sentinel without limiting developer independence. Understand the human side of transformation, including the importance of culture and a product-focused mindset for adoption, strategies for building trust and strong team brands, and leveraging Conway's Law in team-building. Learn from Thrivent's successes and failures, and acquire practical solutions to apply to your own data modernization efforts.