Data Lineage And Pull Requests
Client
Foundational
Focus Areas
Data engineering / Data management / Data governance
(01)
Client overview
Foundational is a platform built for data engineers. Their platform uses source code analysis to govern all the data and its code. Foundational’s product helps prevent incidents before any bad code is live, track all data and AI pipelines, and govern everything from upstream applications to downstream dashboards
(02)
Project Challenge
One of the most critical workflows that data engineers face is reviewing code changes (pull requests) that may impact downstream data quality. Even small code updates can propagate into large-scale data issues, making visibility into data dependencies essential.
(03)
Project Goal
To design a clear, reliable way for data engineers to understand how a pull request affects upstream and downstream assets, and to help them quickly identify high-impact changes before they take place.
(03)
Main Design Challenges
Visualizing complex, multi-layered data lineage at scale
Data engineers work with highly branched pipelines containing hundreds of upstream and downstream dependencies. The biggest challenge was designing a visualization system that could surface the right level of detail without overwhelming users, while still giving them the ability to dive into specific nodes, tables, or transformations during a pull request review.
Creating a new visual language for pull requests and data lineage
Most UX patterns in developer tools rely on familiar structures (tables, diffs, hierarchies). But Foundational required a new visual grammar, something that could express lineage, transformations, data contracts, and potential breakpoints in a readable, scannable way.
Designing Clear, Context-Aware CTAs That Integrate Into Engineer Workflows
Engineers don’t want “another tool” they want actionable, in-flow insights that tie directly into their existing processes. We needed to identify precisely what actions users take during PR review and design CTAs that map naturally to those moments.
(04 Projects)
