diff --git a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersion.java b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersion.java
index e188a1e8baf5..11dec1ff16c9 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersion.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersion.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import org.apache.iceberg.relocated.com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import org.immutables.value.Value;
 
 /**
@@ -65,11 +66,17 @@ public interface ViewVersion {
    *
    * @return the string operation which produced the view version
    */
-  @Value.Derived
+  @Value.Lazy
   default String operation() {
     return summary().get("operation");
   }
 
   /** The query output schema at version create time, without aliases */
   int schemaId();
+
+  @Value.Check
+  default void check() {
+    Preconditions.checkArgument(
+        summary().containsKey("operation"), "Invalid view version summary, missing operation");
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersionParser.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersionParser.java
index c3e1667a6e47..a0df4564985d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersionParser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/ViewVersionParser.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ class ViewVersionParser {
   private static final String VERSION_ID = "version-id";
   private static final String TIMESTAMP_MS = "timestamp-ms";
   private static final String SUMMARY = "summary";
-  private static final String OPERATION = "operation";
   private static final String REPRESENTATIONS = "representations";
   private static final String SCHEMA_ID = "schema-id";
 
@@ -44,15 +43,7 @@ static void toJson(ViewVersion version, JsonGenerator generator) throws IOExcept
     generator.writeNumberField(VERSION_ID, version.versionId());
     generator.writeNumberField(TIMESTAMP_MS, version.timestampMillis());
     generator.writeNumberField(SCHEMA_ID, version.schemaId());
-
-    generator.writeObjectFieldStart(SUMMARY);
-    generator.writeStringField(OPERATION, version.operation());
-    for (Map.Entry<String, String> summaryEntry : version.summary().entrySet()) {
-      if (!summaryEntry.getKey().equals(OPERATION)) {
-        generator.writeStringField(summaryEntry.getKey(), summaryEntry.getValue());
-      }
-    }
-    generator.writeEndObject();
+    JsonUtil.writeStringMap(SUMMARY, version.summary(), generator);
 
     generator.writeArrayFieldStart(REPRESENTATIONS);
     for (ViewRepresentation representation : version.representations()) {
@@ -74,7 +65,6 @@ static ViewVersion fromJson(String json) {
 
   static ViewVersion fromJson(JsonNode node) {
     Preconditions.checkArgument(node != null, "Cannot parse view version from null object");
-
     Preconditions.checkArgument(
         node.isObject(), "Cannot parse view version from a non-object: %s", node);
 
@@ -82,8 +72,6 @@ static ViewVersion fromJson(JsonNode node) {
     int schemaId = JsonUtil.getInt(SCHEMA_ID, node);
     long timestamp = JsonUtil.getLong(TIMESTAMP_MS, node);
     Map<String, String> summary = JsonUtil.getStringMap(SUMMARY, node);
-    Preconditions.checkArgument(
-        summary.containsKey(OPERATION), "Invalid view version summary, missing %s", OPERATION);
 
     JsonNode serializedRepresentations = node.get(REPRESENTATIONS);
     ImmutableList.Builder<ViewRepresentation> representations = ImmutableList.builder();
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/TestViewVersionParser.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/TestViewVersionParser.java
index 587d16dd6ee6..9ecb68377abc 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/TestViewVersionParser.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/view/TestViewVersionParser.java
@@ -114,6 +114,17 @@ public void testFailParsingMissingOperation() {
     Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(() -> ViewVersionParser.fromJson(viewVersionMissingOperation))
         .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
         .hasMessage("Invalid view version summary, missing operation");
+
+    Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(
+            () ->
+                ImmutableViewVersion.builder()
+                    .versionId(1)
+                    .timestampMillis(12345)
+                    .schemaId(1)
+                    .summary(ImmutableMap.of("user", "some-user"))
+                    .build())
+        .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+        .hasMessage("Invalid view version summary, missing operation");
   }
 
   @Test