Entity resolution sounds tidy until real records arrive. Names are misspelled. Companies use aliases. Addresses drift. Two records look identical until one field quietly proves they are different, and two messy records sometimes point to the same real thing.
The tempting mistake is to make the system too confident too early. Merge first, explain later. But resolution work should start with doubt. Every match needs a reason, every reason needs a source, and every source has a quality level.
That lesson travels outside the database. People, teams, and products all get misread when we flatten partial evidence into certainty. Better systems keep the trail of why they believe something, not just the final belief.