Free Pack · Data Engineering
Databricks Engineering Pack
Get a Databricks estate under control: a 24-question engineering assessment, a 20-point operations checklist, a platform decision matrix, a remediation project plan, and a validation plan — covering Unity Catalog, Delta performance, jobs, and FinOps.
01 — Inside the pack
What’s inside
Four working artifacts. The checklist and the architecture diagram download instantly; the questionnaire and the decision workbook — the high-value bundle — are free with a work email.
PDF · multi-page
Discovery questionnaire
24 scored discovery questions across 6 sections with evidence prompts, response scales, and a scoring guide — the workshop instrument for honest scoping.
XLSX · 4 sheets
Decision workbook
Excel workbook: decision matrix with auto-weighted scoring and 1–5 rating validation, phased project plan with owners and deliverables, and a validation test plan with result tracking.
PDF · 20 checks
Readiness checklist
20-point readiness checklist across 5 categories with sign-off blocks — use as phase entry criteria and go/no-go gates.
SVG · one page
Architecture diagram
One-page blueprint-style architecture diagram — print it for the workshop wall or drop it into your deck.
02 — Architecture at a glance
Databricks lakehouse flow
Governed ingestion to curated serving, orchestrated and observed — with Unity Catalog as the control plane.
03 — Who it’s for
Built for the people doing the work
- Data platform teams running Databricks workspaces that grew faster than their governance
- Engineers fighting slow Delta jobs, runaway DBU spend, or Unity Catalog migration dread
- Architects standardizing lakehouse engineering across teams
04 — How to use it
Run it like a program, not a download
- Assess across all six areas
The questionnaire covers workspace/governance, workloads, Delta performance, orchestration, cost, and security. Score with the platform team and one heavy workspace admin.
- Triage: governance, then performance, then cost
Unity Catalog and access hygiene come first (they gate everything else), then the top Delta performance wins, then FinOps. Reversing the order wastes the savings.
- Decide the platform questions explicitly
Use the decision matrix for the big calls: Unity Catalog migration scope, medallion rebuild vs. optimize, photon/serverless adoption.
- Fix in waves with measured deltas
The project plan sequences the work; every change carries a before/after metric (job runtime, DBU per run, failed-run rate).
- Lock in with the validation plan
Re-run validation monthly for a quarter. Databricks estates regress without guardrails.
05 — Get the full pack
Unlock the questionnaire + decision workbook
Free for practitioners. We ask for a work email so an architect — not a drip campaign — can follow up if your scores raise flags.
06 — Keep going
Pair the pack with an assessment
Recommended next step
Data Platform Health Assessment
Run the interactive assessment, then compare its output against your pack scores — the two together scope an engagement honestly.
Talk to an Architect
Bring a completed pack to your discovery call
It compresses weeks of fact-finding into one working session — and the scoring shows us both where the risks are.