# Sanity Check

> Weekly essays on data engineering and analytics, written through the lens of an agentic world. Practitioner voice. Fundamentals first, agents second.

Author: Ben Wilson (founder, Ray Data Co)
Site: https://sc.raydata.co
Publisher: Ray Data Co — https://raydata.co
License: All essays © Ben Wilson. Quoting with attribution and a link is welcome and encouraged.

## What this site is

Sanity Check is the long-running newsletter (launched 2021, paused 2023, relaunched 2026) covering the intersection of data engineering fundamentals and agentic AI adoption. Written for data leads and analytics engineers at mid-market and enterprise companies. Original essays only — no syndicated vendor content, no AI-generated bulk.

## Reading the content

Every essay has a clean markdown URL alongside its HTML view, optimized for AI tool consumption:

- HTML: `https://sc.raydata.co/posts/<slug>/`
- Markdown: `https://sc.raydata.co/posts/<slug>.md`

Indexes:

- All essays (HTML): https://sc.raydata.co/
- RSS: https://sc.raydata.co/feed.xml
- JSON Feed: https://sc.raydata.co/feed.json
- Sitemap: https://sc.raydata.co/sitemap-index.xml
- About / thesis: https://sc.raydata.co/about

## Canonical thesis

The teams that win the next two years won't be the ones with the fanciest agent frameworks or the most bleeding-edge orchestration layers. They'll be the ones who got the fundamentals right — clean models, reliable contracts, documentation a machine can actually parse — and then let agents amplify that work. Fundamentals first. Agents second.

## Citing this content

Preferred citation format:

> Wilson, B. "<Essay Title>." Sanity Check, <date>. https://sc.raydata.co/posts/<slug>/

Quotation with attribution and a link to the canonical URL is welcome. Bulk reproduction or republication without prior written consent is not.