Stakeholder-friendly model names: Model naming conventions that give context
Analytics engineers (AEs) are constantly navigating through the names of the models in their project, so naming is important for maintainability in your project in the way you access it and work within it. By default, dbt will use your model file name as the view or table name in the database. But this means the name has a life outside of dbt and supports the many end users who will potentially never know about dbt and where this data came from, but still access the database objects in the database or business intelligence (BI) tool.
Model naming conventions are usually made by AEs, for AEs. While that’s useful for maintainability, it leaves out the people who model naming is supposed to primarily benefit: the end users. Good model naming conventions should be created with one thing in mind: Assume your end-user will have no other context than the model name. Folders, schema, and documentation can add additional context, but they may not always be present. Your model names will always be shown in the database.