In this episode, Neil Strange and Alex Higgs dive into the real-world pain of working with XML. From legacy systems and unreadable schemas to bloated file sizes and broken audit trails, Alex shares the kind of problems that don’t show up in the docs—but definitely show up in your project timelines.

✅ What you'll learn:
Why XML still shows up in modern data pipelines
The key differences between XML and JSON
How XSD helps (and hurts) when validating XML
Common XML mistakes that break audits and slow down delivery
When to fight for JSON instead

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Intro
00:14 – Why XML is a “necessary evil”
01:00 – XML vs JSON: key differences
01:18 – When you're forced to use XML
02:08 – Why JSON is usually easier to work with
02:22 – What is XSD and why does it matter?
03:10 – Hidden pitfalls: empty tags and missing elements
04:05 – Why XML breaks in production
05:00 – Real-world XML horror stories
06:01 – Data quality and governance issues
06:44 – Missing keys and broken audit trails
07:12 – Should you always choose JSON?
07:30 – Final thoughts + join the debate

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