Rebecka Storm

Data work has evolved significantly in the past decade, leaving traditional orchestrators struggling to keep pace. In this talk, I’ll explore five key shifts reshaping how data teams approach orchestration:

1. Standardization: Modern tools like dbt and Fivetran require orchestrators to go beyond running custom scripts, focusing instead on seamless tool integration and clear data lineage.
2. Less DAG Code: Reference-based scheduling has reduced the need for complex orchestration code, simplifying big DAG management.
3. Reactive Scheduling: Real-world data changes dynamically, requiring jobs to run when data arrives, enabling low-latency pipelines without streaming complexity.
4. Data Products: As data powers customer-facing and business-critical products, traditional analytics-focused tools fall short of essential software engineering practices like testing and CI/CD.
5. Bundling: Companies are consolidating their tool stacks to cut costs, reduce complexity, and streamline workflows.

I will discuss how to design orchestration systems that embrace these trends, regardless of the tools you use, and share how we’re building Twirl to support these shifts natively.

Rebecka Storm has a background in machine learning and has held data leadership roles as ML Lead at iZettle and Head of Data at Tink. She is now co-founder and CPO of data orchestration startup Twirl, where she is dedicated to simplifying how data applications are built.

In 2018, Rebecka co-founded Women in Data Science Sweden, an organization that promotes inclusivity through conferences, mentorship programs, a speaker database and more to inspire and support women working in data.