Lance Walter

Marketer, Engineer, Dad. Analytics, AI, cloud, and open source fanboy. Tweets are my own.

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Huge news! Congrats to both teams. Smart move and great for customers….

[Emil Eifrem @emileifrem]

Folks, today we're announcing the acquisition of @graph_aware, moving up to the stack, and taking on black-box intelligence tools like Palantir Gotham. Let's go! 🚀

For 10+ years GraphAware has been our partner. They're a leader in mission-critical intelligence analysis. Together, as one organization, we're building an open-standards alternative to black-box intelligence tools.

1️⃣ The database belongs to them
2️⃣ The data belongs to them
3️⃣ Every choice they make with it belongs to them

Nothing important is hidden behind proprietary logic. They can see how data moves, understand how results are produced, and trust the system they rely on. This is not theory, this is not a vision, this is not hypothetical. What's so wonderful about GraphAware Hume is that it's already deployed by the Western Australia Police, the European Commission and government agencies across the US, UK, EU, and Australia.

Looking ahead, we're building the best possible open, AI-powered intelligence platform that agencies can deploy on their own terms, own their data on, and build on for years to come. One open-standards stack. Deeper querying. Better performance at scale. A tighter integration between analysis and data.

Welcome, GraphAware!

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Exclusive: LucidLink enables collaboration directly on object storage https://t.co/xwTsh9VEeU via @SiliconANGLE

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

You would know I was raised by U.S. midwesterners if you saw the “please” and “thank yous” that I occasionally reflexively put in my LLM prompts and responses… 😜

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

General joke not a comment on my workplace.

Valley CEO 2021: “I’m paying for these workshops because it’s essential for our business that you bring your whole self to work.” 🤗

Valley CEO 2025: “I’m embarrassed to tell my board that I still haven’t replaced you with AI.” 😠

😜

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Many good myths busted, including the "central data platform" and "one version of the truth" myths. -> Unlearning Data Architecture: 10 Myths Worth Killing by Bernd Wessely https://t.co/yV5fZuJj5x

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Quick, interesting read. Surprising with AI and tooling that SQL is still so in-demand. -> I Analyzed Job Descriptions from 100 Tech Companies — Here’s What Data Engineers Really Need to… by @sohail_saifii https://t.co/lp20U39qdF

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

This must be fake news. Politicians from both U.S. parties have assured me there’s no issue here 🙄…..-> Social Security on track to run out of money by 2034, trustees say - The Washington Post https://t.co/sAvluk0ZW8

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Predictable given 1) social media making us feel like we have direct access to celebs 2) explosion/promotion of sports gambling. -> Lance McCullers Jr. hires security: 'Have to' protect family - ESPN https://t.co/Xj0Djtihcb

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

New Databricks blog - > Prophecy integration with Databricks via OAUTH makes it easy to launch Prophecy from Databricks Partner Connect.
https://t.co/IyK7dUi2Yc

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

I don't agree with all of this, but it's true that there are way too many lightweight ChatGPT wrappers -> 99% of AI Startups Will Be Dead by 2026 — Here’s Why by @UnmistakableCEO https://t.co/wfyAPNg3KQ

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Wow. Interesting prediction "hidden" in new Gartner note about differentiating with packaging.
"By 2028, product differentiation based on new features or functions will provide, at most, a six-month competitive advantage, due to rapid AI innovation." not true, still useful imo.

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Best quote for back-end engineers: "Your job isn’t to make it work on your screen. Your job is to make it work at scale." -> I Almost Got Fired Because of Pandas on Databricks — Here’s What You Should Learn From My Mistake by Nnaemezue Obi-Eyisi https://t.co/YoS0JRc18O

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Good examples of AI extending/assisting engineers today vs. replacing. -> From ETL to AI Agents: How AI Is Transforming Data Engineering by RAKESH CHANDA https://t.co/Ln7yPK4IvP

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Data's value is lost in corporate verbal anarchy due to clashing team “languages.” Smart communication strategies bridge these critical gaps. https://t.co/xcoPUEpJ9G

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Would be interesting to see breakouts by industry. I see the opposite in tech and I’m sure it happens elsewhere - “you’re NOT using AI?!?!”
https://t.co/nqKHvoCe64

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

I’ll get over “potential life on other planets” after I get over “we detected the presence of a certain molecule 120 light years away(!)” 🤯
https://t.co/vftRU163Oo via ⁦@nytimes⁩

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

What I DON'T love about AI right now:
- Makes it way too easy for solo consultants to build lists of sales targets that includes me
- Now all kinds of lone wolves and mom & pops are offering "an AI black-box that will shoot you to top ratings on Google, or for AI search, or..."

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

Prophecy 4.0 brings self-service data prep to Databricks analysts https://t.co/4tsXjE7pbN via @BlocksandFiles

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

I’ve been in data for a long time and this is one of the more mindblowing stories I’ve ever heard. Replacing >1,000 SaaS apps with a graph/AI layer.-> Is Traditional SaaS Behind Us? The Graph + GenAI Revolution https://t.co/knn2ru9Lsl

[Lance Walter @lancewalter]

New silicon valley humble-brag. Have your prestigious notetaker agent (true example - "EXCLUSIVE UNIVERSITY Alumni Notetaker") join your meetings, and then it will send the notes to everyone in your meeting, and remind them you went to that exclusive university.... 😜