---
id: "prereq-machine-readable-data"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ Building the Platform: A Team of Digital Teams", "¶10"]
tags: ["data-engineering", "information-architecture"]
related: ["concept-brand-code", "concept-foundation-layer", "action-codify-brand-code"]
reason: "Without structured data, AI agents cannot reliably reference or interpret the foundational rules required to execute tasks autonomously."
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-tier1-02-agentic-marketing-org"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/redesigning-your-marketing-organization-for-the-agentic-age"
sourceTitle: "Redesigning Your Marketing Organization for the Agentic Age"
---
# Machine-Readable Data Structuring

**Prerequisite:** Implementing the [[concept-brand-code]] requires an organization to know how to translate qualitative, human-readable brand guidelines (tone of voice, visual identity) into **structured, machine-readable formats** such as taxonomies, decision trees, and tagged datasets.

**Why it matters:** Without structured data, AI agents cannot reliably reference or interpret the foundational rules required to execute tasks autonomously. This is the enabling capability for [[action-codify-brand-code]] and the [[concept-foundation-layer]].