Strategic Workshops & Goals – Ep. 283

Workshops are the moment your Power BI strategy stops being opinion and starts being evidence. In Episode 283, Mike, Tommy, and Seth walk through how to plan and run strategic workshops that uncover what the business actually needs, what constraints are real, and which decisions must be made before you scale reporting and Fabric investments.

News & Announcements

• Power BI Theme Generator (Tips+) — A quick way to standardize report styling across teams so you can focus on modeling and storytelling instead of manual formatting.

• Submit a topic idea — Send the crew your questions or scenarios and they’ll work them into a future episode.

Main Discussion

This episode continues the BI Strategy series by zooming in on Step 2 of Microsoft’s implementation planning guidance:

• Power BI implementation planning: BI strategic planning (Step 2) — Use this as the baseline structure for planning workshops and capturing what you learn.

Instead of treating workshops like status meetings, the goal is to produce decisions and artifacts you can execute against. A few actionable takeaways:

• Design workshops around decisions. Write down the decisions you need (metrics, definitions, data ownership, tool boundaries) and work backward into the agenda.

• Invite the right mix of people. You need business owners, data owners, report builders, and someone who can represent platform constraints—otherwise you’ll only get opinions, not commitments.

• Capture pain points and desired outcomes. “This report is slow” is a symptom; the workshop should uncover what decisions the report supports and what ‘good’ looks like.

• Leave with named owners. If no one owns a KPI definition, dataset, or refresh process, the roadmap will collapse into rework.

• Translate notes into a backlog. Convert findings into epics and work items (data sources, modeling, governance, training, rollout) with rough sizing so the plan is believable.

• Surface constraints early. Data availability, security, refresh windows, licensing, and team capacity all shape what you can deliver—get those into the open before you promise dates.

• Avoid strategy theater. The workshop’s success metric is ‘we can take the next step tomorrow’—not ‘we had a productive conversation.’

Looking Forward

If you only do one thing this week, run a 60-minute workshop focused on one high-value business process and end it with agreed metrics, top constraints, and clear owners.

Episode Transcript

0:29 good morning and welcome back to the explicit measures podcast with Tommy Seth and Seth and Mike Mike hello happy Tuesday gentlemen or or is it Tomy still is for now right for now for now for now we’ve already we’ve already had a bumpy morning getting going here so we we’re sorry we’re apologizing for those who like to listen on live we are a little bit late Tommy’s desk literally imploded Michael’s computer is crashing it’s it’s snowing outside we’re we’re supposed to be getting tons of snow right now it’s

0:59 be getting tons of snow right now it’s just a crazy day today so we’re it’s one of those oh boy I hope it’s I hope the rest of the day isn’t isn’t indicative of what we’ve just experienced this morning so here’s one thing I know in the digital world I’m great at engineering I I things make sense to me I’m excellent it but the physical world trying to put stuff together not so much try to extend the desk and challenge that’s a challenge challenge accepted it’s a challenge no it’s just a challenge just a challenge okay no exception it’s Challen so today’s topic

1:30 exception it’s Challen so today’s topic today’s main topic is going to be talking more about our wonderful article that’s coming out from the bi strategy talking specifically around bi strategic planning for your powerbi organization and we’ve been going through this every Tuesday we going through some more strategic efforts initiatives things you should be thinking about as an organization and today we’re talking about section I think maybe more like two and three section two which is talking or step two talking about conducting your workshops and how to use these workshops to

2:00 and how to use these workshops to acquire information about your business what’s important what’s not and then step three which is run those workshops and then completing your assessments of your organization so thinking through deeper about how do you engage the business strategically to get them on board for this roll out of powerbi okay that’s our main topic for today let’s talk about news and announcements here and I want to bring up one I think Tommy you’ve got a topic here as well and I’ll see if I can grab the link here and put it in the chat window

2:30 and put it in the chat window link I’ll say it this way linkedin’s algorithm knows me really really well It it is good it must know on mean it it is good it must know on Tuesdays there are podcasts and it knows to bring me the Articles or things that I like to look at on the morning on Tuesdays and wednes and Thursdays I don’t know what it because I I set my alarm I’m so groggy I grab my phone I start looking at it trying to wake myself up and so usually one almost always there’s a message on LinkedIn someone’s trying to sell me something well then I always like hey we’re a team

3:00 well then I always like hey we’re a team over here in wherever you are in the world and we have a team of developers ready to help you out let’s take your money something like I don’t need that thank you but I appreciate you reaching out on LinkedIn however that first list of algorithm articles comes up and today and and I want to bring this topic up there has been some updates to the the slicer inside PBI desktop the slicer has gotten much more capable recently so for one that’s awesome and what I’m

3:32 for one that’s awesome and what I’m seeing now is I’m seeing a lot more people using that slicer to do some really incredible things with powerbi and one such example and this is again like let me get her name here real quick her name is Freda Freda Daniel and just doing a just a very simple hey I used figma I grabbed some watches from Amazon here’s the top 10 best selling SmartWatches on Amazon and a little

4:02 SmartWatches on Amazon and a little powerbi report around that and she published the report on novie Pro which is a great place to put your published reports for for free if you want to publish report and share it out to the world so here’s the link I’ll put the link here below it’s it’s from LinkedIn so it’s a little bit I don’t know it’s it’s your mileage will vary on LinkedIn you have to be signed in to see all this stuff and anything anyways but here’s the report and if you click into the report there’s

4:32 and if you click into the report there’s some really interesting slicer effects that they’re using now to make it look a lot like an Amazon advertisement and it’s it’s pretty slick what’s happening now so I put the link in the chat window here you can go check out the report yourself go play around this report but people are building some really neat things with the new slicer and it’s it’s becoming quite in my opinion quite compelling now to use this new slicer images and formatting of text it’s

5:02 images and formatting of text it’s pretty nice so I think this report incorporates that but in my my announcement here in general is just I see a lot more reports coming out with very enhanced uses of this new slicer so it seems like people are liking this new feature yeah this is a really good example of like using product image oh totally prodct images for different and and the assortments and all the different oh man that’s a really good idea isn’t a cool yeah it is beautiful too though and I could tell I

5:32 beautiful too though and I could tell I beautiful too though and I could tell right away I can already say like mean right away I can already say like there’s figma involved here right so if you’re not learning figma if you’re not building good backgrounds this this report doesn’t just exist just because RBI does this for you it takes a lot of work to make it this polished and this is where I think Tommy and I and Seth for you we’ve all argued about this like how much time should be spent to make a looking this pretty and and it’s debatable like what what are you trying to do with the report is it a is

6:02 trying to do with the report is it a is it a showcase like it like this example I just sent yeah spend a lot of time learn stuff you spend time to learn how it works so really a really neat report even the font that’s an image that’s not a RBI no there’s no F in RBI that does that 100% yeah I listen I love this but I think it still goes back to our biggest cont I don’t want to say contention but is really the conflict when it comes to this type of thing is the real estate that filter is taking is works for the data store

6:34 taking is works for the data store gallery or works for from that great point what and like you’re still taking up a ton of real estate I actually that might be just the image but it’s cool it’s really cool but that still may not be for your internal things that what you need it’s and I still think it goes back to to your point Mike with from the figma design know your audience and what are you trying to deliver and if it is maybe something more client facing if it’s more for a presentation like this looks really nice yes you may not

7:05 this looks really nice yes you may not need all of that for every report let let me I agree to some respect but like there there’s a use case here where what what this is doing is providing an experience where the slicer is giving you a smaller image to capture your eye yes and then you’re like oh hey I I’m looking for oh oh I like that like because it pops the full image with with a few details on the right hand side as far as

7:35 on the right hand side as far as like some of the specs of the watch so I like some of the specs of the watch so you’re right from a full analysis mean you’re right from a full analysis perspective it’s like okay well if I want to look at all my watches and but this is byproduct for reviews I I I I like the use case I think it’s very well put together but yeah I would agree it’s more it’s more enduser or consumer focused than heavy analysis but it’s just use case listen I just hope McDonald’s adopts this so when I need to order

8:05 adopts this so when I need to order online they’re using power there you go great there you go just scroll down through the menu it’s like oh yeah McDonald’s fries and they’re using the new slicer and then the slicer shows you extra large medium small you’re like slicer slers go big go home I’m gonna be so bold as to say what I’m going to present to you right now is anyone who’s listening this is a million dooll idea potentially for free there you go all right so here’s the million dollar idea these reports can be made and embedded

8:36 these reports can be made and embedded into a separate web page you can like there’s all this Amazon Dropship you can go find products on Amazon you can be a reseller it’s fairly easy to get that stuff started if you can find top 10 lists of things on Amazon things that sell well and you can produce reports like this and then have just literally a website with just report after report like just pages of reports so each report page gets a a very well docu here’s the reviews here’s the things

9:08 here’s the reviews here’s the things here’s the images all the information is there for you and then all you have to do is provide here’s a buy now button and it takes you right to the Amazon product you could make with I think relatively ease without costing you a lot of money really beautiful looking reports that are interactive that help customers pick the top 10 some products off of Amazon you could really sell some things I think here I think you could really make this go somewhere if you actually spent some time designing some good

9:38 spent some time designing some good reports or you had a product series of products that you were actually really passionate about and you could you could build some good stuff here anyways just found that to be very interesting yeah I think that’s that is my that’s my big that’s my one big idea that’s it I’ve often thought about doing this with my kids to try and teach them some like hey what do you guys guys like to do like what products do you like like what’s what’s hot in your world right now let’s let’s go on to Amazon let’s scrape some images let’s build a report let’s put a little something together okay let’s make a website about it like

10:09 okay let’s make a website about it like it it’s very easy now with almost no cost you can do all this stuff and doesn’t Minecraft have like a ton of data too and you I know you guys were talking your kids were into it I think I’ve even seen someone build a powerb report with all like the different materials in Minecraft so I’m not I would not doubt it because there there’s a ton of information that comes now where you find the information from I don’t I don’t know there’s probably websites that have it all listed out for you but yeah you could build incredible reports around that as well your games things like that yeah there’s

10:39 your games things like that yeah there’s probably a really interesting number of places where you can collect a lot of information I was just thinking of how can you how can you turn this free embedded RBI into a website product into something that generates Revenue like how how could could that actually be something I think I think it could excellent Tommy you have another a little quick opener here talk around some use cases for lake houses yeah so this is super quick but

11:11 houses yeah so this is super quick but just exploring a few things and I think the way we’ve always talked about lak houses so far has been part of the normal workflow of the data set which is going to be for a lot for a wider audience we’re going to build multiple data sets off of and there’s been a few things I’ve been trying to do that need an API and it was just tough to do in power query not that it can’t be done but it’s like man this is really frustrating I only need to pull a table right or in a sense create

11:36 pull a table right or in a sense create a table and but it’s paginated and Mike you’ve seen my power query for getting our anchor and YouTube I have it can be done can be done yeah right but I I would agree with you doing power query with a paginated or paging table that’s somewhere on a website it it is not easy to figure out how that all works 100% can do it but I don’t want to anymore like so and so I was like well I have a notebook and I have python so let me just pull the API yeah and I just put

12:08 just pull the API yeah and I just put basically pushed this super easy into a lake house as a table and it’s just like this standard method because I’m like I just want to store this data correct yeah I don’t want to store it in powerbi I like to have it in other places too and I think that’s always been the thing with any other tooling is like well it’s just in a data set and if I delete the data set it’s gone yes correct so now I have this in a lake house and now I can actually do a lot of the things that I’ve been in a sense like really trying to do because it’s stored data and it’s

12:38 to do because it’s stored data and it’s not in from it’s not built to be like in part of already an analysis engine and like well that’s really interesting because this is what opens up immensely for someone who’s just been powerbi what data you can pull in and again I’m not necessarily building a Tabler model off of this but because I did a SE cool connection to this too so I don’t have to do directly I like this part a lot about the new world this correspond this corresponds to our previous conversation where what

13:10 previous conversation where what lever trying to leverage well maybe maybe it does or doesn’t leverage the model as a data source right like simar but Tommy like well welcome right like this is one of my biggest things with models as a representative reporting layer I don’t want data just in that place place and it’s specifically for this reason because of what you just said man my mind exploded because now I can use it here or use it here like work around and do something else with it I think I

13:41 do something else with it I think I think this example also shows what I think you were also saying I agree with is the power of fabric in this ecosystem where it it is going to open up options for powerbi specific users to this data engineering world right like the only reason I’m I’m spending this copious amount of time in power query to get this API to work is because that’s the only way I can do it versus what you’re

14:12 only way I can do it versus what you’re describing which is there’s this new thing I may know not may not know out of right out of the box how to do it but I have the capability to so if I look at a little Python and I look at a little notebook and I pull this into a lake house and oh my goodness lo and behold I have a better solution and that’s where I think I’m excited about that fabric integration because essentially pulling all these Services into that interface for any user to explore and

14:43 interface for any user to explore and build better Solutions is a very powerful powerful thing 100% agree and now it feels I’ll say it again because I’ve said it since I saw fabric come out fabric is for a data engineer right now there’s definitely some data science stories there’s some streaming analytics things in here as well there’s some good things that are coming but right now the business user is getting a new tool that has like the were you a kid when you had did you ever

15:13 were you a kid when you had did you ever get a Swiss army knife when you were a kid no my dad did you ever buy one I I I distinctly remember when I was a kid there was a red Swiss army knife and when I was a kid I wanted to get the really big one the really big one the one that was like super wide has like know it’s it’s like really it’s like really wide but I didn’t have enough money cuz that was like $100 to get that Swiss army knife so I remember buying one that was like medium size because I could afford it but I needed more tools like I didn’t have the saw blade I

15:43 like I didn’t have the saw blade I didn’t have the cork screw opener I didn’t have I don’t know the magnifying glass it has a million things it could do anything it could do your homework if you wanted to like it’s just was so versatile but I wanted the bigger Swiss army knife I never got it but to me it feels like what we’ve done here is we’ve got everyone had a Swiss army knife and what we’ve just been given is here’s the big Swiss army knife and so now it’s like okay I got to open up all the tools and figure out which ones which and what’s the best one to use where and so really it feels more like a Leatherman nowadays but okay all

16:13 like a Leatherman nowadays but okay all right you’re going straight to the Leatherman’s yes that’s that’s some veteran experience there that’s some veteran experience right there because it’s much easier to hold in the hand there and you get you get much better pliers with that one as well geez that’s what they’re known for exactly but yeah this is our argument we we’ve brought something that traditionally was very ID and it’s now coming more Centric to powerbi so I’m I’m very pleased to see it do that and I think this is a great example Tommy of I why I think I

16:44 great example Tommy of I why I think I think it’s it’s the thing that we’ve we’ve I think accurately pointed out and Ginger is pointing out too that some of her clients are confused by Fabric and and rightfully so right like we’re you you’re trying to smash together some really heavy duty engineering services with what was a very front-end tool and while we love the story you tool and while we love the story yeah there’s there’s a long way to know yeah there’s there’s a long way to go I think in either businesses

17:14 go I think in either businesses merging teams or like Skilling people up but I just don’t I don’t see I don’t see people making that those Leaps and Bounds to to the levels that to fully to fully fabric right out of theate right like this is evolution of time where I think we adjust how like there are a lot more opportunities for us to adjust how we interact with the business and that’s what I’m excited about like like does that mean we’re we’re bringing more technical into business units does that

17:45 technical into business units does that mean we’re bringing more business into technical units or is it just now we’ve created this new environment where there’s a lot of different things we can do yes and and we want to make sure that we administer it and understand understand what we’re building in that ecosystem while we’re doing that Discovery together so I I would I would agree 100% on this one and I I would like you on this one and I I would like I think another here another know I think another here another example of this I’m giving you another tangible examples why fabric is really changing the game for companies I’m

18:16 changing the game for companies I’m hearing organizations and particularly teams in the business say man our data is just a mess we need to get a better we get need to get more hands around our data and like we we’re going to go ask it for a SQL Server so we can tables like so they know they realize we’re making databases of information where we think we’re at a place where we have some skill that will be able to make these databases for themselves and so in doing that the needs of the business are we need a better way to structure and store and maintain our information I

18:48 store and maintain our information I would 100% agree with you and instead of letting them just go down asking it for the SQL Server I’m actually pushing them more for hey you guys should just go ask ask for for fabric you’re you’re already paying for premium try to get a a preview workspace or something around fabric because now you can control it now there’s no infrastructure management required literally clicking the button you can get a data Mart which is your SQL Server if you want to go use that if you want to go load data in from all over the place because this is what

19:19 over the place because this is what they’re doing they’re grabbing data from various thirdparty tools and trying to land it to tables shape those tables and present it back to their business that’s this is very simple common process but the the challenge here becomes when you start doing this at scale with lots of people and lots of things changing all at the same time you now start losing the ability to be able to do this quickly and you’re now beholden to a single team potentially it that is only up to them to get it done and and they don’t know or understand all the

19:49 don’t know or understand all the business logic and I think this is why part of strategic planning and this is our topic for today this fits very well with the topic is very important here here because these needs I think need to be communicated and and thought about because as we have just talked about we’re talking about PBI initially but there’s probably also functional needs here as well in scope that are more about here’s where our data comes from here’s the pipelines we need here’s how how do we

20:19 pipelines we need here’s how how do we get the data into our hands that’s why this is required that’s why strategic planning is so important here because it’s you need more thought around What’s Happening Here Here AR yeah sorry you say something I was GNA go into the main topic now no I think we should I always have more stuff to say Fabric and other things but going into the topic but to that point a lot of this same strategy and

20:49 strategy and implementation when when under the scope of bi right also has a huge data component and in many respects I think this drives a lot of the data engineering or data needs components within an organization as well so they’re very similar albeit I think the data engineering and backend are much more on the technical side of things because but it it’s intertwined that that’s my point is there’s there’s a lot of cohesion

21:19 there’s there’s a lot of cohesion between those two topics and driving the same sorts of initiatives from the frontend perspective you’re also carrying up building out the the need for the that organization to support the the data engineering levels of things as well Kurt who I’m going to also call out for a heavy writer in this article again I can’t see I don’t know how much Kurt has has spent time on writing this article as well but Kurt

21:49 writing this article as well but Kurt thank you for writing part of this article and working with the Microsoft team to to produce this so we love that you’re here but Kurt makes the comment here I I would just love for things to work my clients want to buy a tool that just works and I 100% agree with you and I agree I think fabric will get there I think just in general the the fabric space is good to explore right now it’s definitely there are pieces of it that are getting more robust easier to use and they’re

22:21 robust easier to use and they’re they’re working for me reliably and stay stay tuned because I think Microsoft’s going to continue making it better and better and more reliable adding more features and capabilities so anyways really good topic I think this is great for for sitting into strategic planning let’s transition over to our main topic now and let’s talk about step number two going to go through that one four step last week yeah step two is last week let’s do three and four which three is running your workshops completing

22:51 running your workshops completing your assessments and then section four is I’m TR to get down in schit a lot of data there focusing on goals all right so give us some initial thoughts section three focusing on running the workshops let’s talk

23:09 on running the workshops let’s talk about how that goes so this to me goes a little to our last week and I love that we’re already on part three and we’re still only on one article right to be fair I’m it too and I think we already had that conversation after the first time like yeah this is going to be a long one because these are things that are not discussed I think are commonly overlooked both from bi but trying to

23:39 overlooked both from bi but trying to convince the business we’re gonna spend a lot more time just implementing a technology and we’re need your input we’re going to need the right people and we’re gonna need you’re gonna have some responsibilities here that’s harder sale that’s a harder sale depending on your culture because it’s not really d done unless you’re not just changing a technology but usually if you’re changing entire process and to the point I just want bi to just work it doesn’t just work it may have an incredible tool

24:10 just work it may have an incredible tool here we have an incredible technology but you need the right people involved you need to understand again data is only as good as how people perceive it to an extent much TR trust so how are you GNA gain that trust it’s not just I that bar chart looks right that if you if you’re trying to gain trust there we’re way behind the eight ball there so the idea of these Workshops the I’ve called them Discovery in the past but understanding H what’s going on in your department or team

24:40 going on in your department or team where are the barriers where is your current state of getting data and then trying to align not just their data needs but truly their business needs and trying to make them say outside of bi what are you guys trying to achieve then aligning that with what bi is trying to do what tech technology do we need what resources do we need that’s really the key here and I that’s a big part of the article yeah I I’ll go ahead Seth no I agree and this is already presumptive if you want to talk about like the other

25:11 if you want to talk about like the other two parts are completely different podcasts so go go check those out if you’re a little lost where we’re at but we already have established a working team right and that’s comprised of the Coe the business security Etc we have a plan of Engagement and and that’s what we’re starting to do here there there’s a call out right before this section that I want to just hang on here for a second because there’s a warning about the right type of stakeholder the right stakeholder what what what do you guys for for people who are going to engage

25:41 for for people who are going to engage in workshops right what do we what what do you think it means by that I have my opinion but like what are what are your thoughts around like we want to be talking to the right individual why like who is that and maybe and why I like it when you ask these questions Seth because you already have the right answer and you’re now fishing for information I have unanswer I have un I have right I want to make sure if you have the right answer exactly this this is what our listeners say because everyone’s like Seth is always Seth is

26:13 everyone’s like Seth is always Seth is always so quiet until the very end he asks a question and then he’s like well actually it should be this way and we’re like yeah that’s a good point question know TR question I know that it’s not the right answer that’s where I trap questions are where I pause true that’s true too no and I get real close to the mic yep I go Tommy what do you mean by that’s a trap true where I’m like oh like oh really he’s got you got a few strategies

26:43 really he’s got you got a few strategies That’s Entertainment that’s listen gu I’ve done this for 280 episodes I know know so let’s go back to your questions because I derailed there a little bit but the warning is make sure you have the right stakeholders in these meetings and making sure that what does that look like for your your question to us was does that how does that impact what do about the who who is the right type of stakeholder like whether that’s a role or person like why is that important why are they calling that out

27:15 important why are they calling that out specifically like in your experience when you’re doing this right yeah so I I think part of this is and let me I’m going to jump into this section called doing the introductory session because I think this is going to illuminate some of those why which people need to be there in the introduction session it talks about you need to be able to have the right stakeholders and the executive sponsor in that initial kind executive sponsor in that initial launch meeting so people of launch meeting so people agree that this is the direction we’re heading but in that meeting it

27:47 heading but in that meeting it introduces what are your initiatives why are we trying to do this it clarifies your your scope the definition of your your your timeline your main objectives and the deliverables because I think sometimes we we walk into powerbi and there’s many different to your point set there’s there’s when stakeholders show up or subject business matter experts show up and they’re in this meeting potentially getting these initial workshops you’re going to have everyone

28:17 workshops you’re going to have everyone telling you to do a thousand things and so without that executive sponsor narrowing in and focusing in on that that central idea that Central d direction that we’re trying to head the organization with part of part we’re talking about people process and Technology people are going to be in your organization they just have to be to get things done the processes will probably vary widely across different departments just is what it is that they’ve developed how they get things done whether that’s documented or not who knows but then the tech what we’re

28:47 who knows but then the tech what we’re doing now is we’re saying okay across the organization we’re going to try to use this technology best to help everyone out so I I I think if you have the wrong people in these meetings you you find yourself going down a tangent or building something that is useful to a smaller group of people but not necessarily implementing or taking care of the needs of the broader part of the organization for example if you don’t get enough engagement from the business side you

29:18 engagement from the business side you tend to walk more towards an it centered an IT focused only non they call it self-service but the of self-service is not self-service they don’t want to give out data models to people they only want to have pre-built reports given to everyone and yes that may neet meet some of the needs but it potentially creates bottlenecks inside that it organization can you actually service the hundreds if not thousands of reports that the act the organization is asking for about the data so I think in

29:50 asking for about the data so I think in some in some ways if you don’t Define or you don’t bring the right needs or the right people in the into this team with these initial meetings you lose some of the the needs and the data sources and the and the business side of things that are missing sorry I’ll pause there Tommy what do you think well I was gonna say not even that it’s thinking the long term what that stakeholder is they’re going to be responsible they have leadership in the sense of they can get things done on their team or Department okay and I think it’s a really critical

30:20 okay and I think it’s a really critical part because whatever comes out of these workshops has to be implemented both from bi but also people trusting in following that process on that teamer Department that’s true there’s that buying as well in knowledge because you may have someone who’s great person they really want to be a part of this but they have no idea what their either kpis are or their data they just know there’s needs so we’re looking for I would call more closer to an ambassador like if you think of an ambassador to whatever country is there are going to be this liaison between bi and their Department

30:53 liaison between bi and their Department understanding having a relationship with bi having a relationship with you or whoever on your team but obviously part of that department and know the pains the areas and the needs there so but they have to be able to make things move they have to have the knowledge and they have to be able to make things go forward after these goals you may have someone who’s super excited but they don’t have the ability to push an entire team towards the direction that bi is saying or that that Workshop does so I think there’s a big part there of that

31:24 think there’s a big part there of that leadership but also that part of the knowledge knowledge I would I would argue that you just described the SME that’s part of the team the working session team I think the SME is more oper I would call them more operations they’re going to be involved on I don’t I don’t think so like if I’m gonna include somebody from the business on the working team the expectation is that whatever we’re suing out in the workshop they’re driving those initiatives within that business unit because that’s going to change per

31:55 unit because that’s going to change per business unit I don’t have a business me that covers multiple business units that mover and Shaker to me is on on the team running the workshop and I’m one of the things I’m thinking here is let me let me just talk very candidly around a team that needs a lot of help it’s usually Finance Finance seems to be a team that and what I feel like I find when I walk into things with powerbi one one person that needs to be

32:25 powerbi one one person that needs to be on this team or in these workshops is someone who really knows powerbi very very well not someone who’s guessing like oh we can make these reports oh I heard about this thing called paginated you need someone on this team that has studied understands and has either implemented or it feels to me like you need some knowledge around how you can use this tool and shape it into what your team needs so that’s one Persona whether that’s a hired consultant whether that’s someone who’s already in your company doing this already because you already have powerbi running that person needs to be part of this

32:56 person needs to be part of this conversation also to your point Seth this team is also or particularly these these workshops is I think it’s as a mix of I agree with Tommy to some level but I also agree with you Seth as well like this me these workshops are discovery of tell me what’s going on tell me where your pain points are we as a company we’re doing powerbi and these are like you’re trying to also align people in that direction so I think I think you’re looking for pain points but I I also agree I don’t think that

33:27 agree I don’t think that in their Department always knows the best way to get things done I think they know how to get things done with the current tools they have and you find find challenges that if you don’t know there’s a better way you just keep doing things and this is why we we land in Excel and we stay building databases in Excel because we don’t know there’s a better way and so we’re so resistant to change that we don’t explore faster and

33:57 change that we don’t explore faster and better automation which is what powerbi now fabric gives us and let me clarify a little too just I think that distinction between the SME and the stakeholder you’re called a stakeholder because you actually have skin in the game and that’s because you can also get things done you may not be doing it but you have authority because you have responsibility for your team doesn’t necessarily mean around business intelligence but you are playing some active role for your team on what the whatever the goals are business goals

34:27 whatever the goals are business goals are and you have the authority to carry those out to some degree so if you’re gonna be a stakeholder you have skin in the game both ways yeah I I guess so it’s it’s open I I don’t I’m not saying there’s like a right or wrong in here right but

34:44 like a right or wrong in here right but like like on Mike you you mentioned executive sponsor in here I don’t I don’t think they’re part of this conversation they’re driving I think the highlevel initiatives that give us a lot of context in independent research before we’re engaging right like we have to align to what the Strategic objectives of the organization are but they’re identifying that working team member I think as well within there to help guide what happens in these engagements

35:14 guide what happens in these engagements and Tommy where I don’t think the stakeholder in this context is that person that’s getting things done is that description right like underneath involve the correct stakeholders the working team should identify key stakeholders who have sufficent knowledge and credibility to represent their business area in each Workshop the role of these stakeholders is to participate in discussions that are led by the working team stakeholders need to describe the business objectives and data needs for their areas and the current state of data and analytics initiatives to support the business objectives identifying the right

35:45 objectives identifying the right stakeholders is essential in order to run successful workshops and gain an accurate understanding of the business areas and scope what that describes to me is not somebody who’s taking responsibility for enacting any of this what it describes to me is what I think I agree 100% with is the right a stakeholder is what are the problems you guys are having with reporting in data or how do you guys operate in this world to deliver for the

36:15 operate in this world to deliver for the business and this is where we sus out what the what the Tactical or technical problems that exist in a business unit and most of the time it’s inefficiencies what are the big big rocks that they’re moving around manually or don’t have visibility into that the stakeholder is identifying and I think Mike nailed it at least I agree with is if you don’t get the right stakeholder to describe the right problems in that context you

36:47 the right problems in that context you are going to go down a rabbit hole and those rabbit holes are okay guys this is the biggest problem we have yes I’ve got this Excel process right and they will spend the entire working session talking about their process that they spend eight hours a week on yep right manually building and then at the end of it hopefully right if you’re running the workshop wrong and this is the the

37:17 workshop wrong and this is the the warning around this is if you if you don’t catch right in the beginning like what is the outcome what is the impact of all this work that you’re doing yes that stakeholder comes in is like okay and then we get to the value prop of having gone through all this and they’re like okay and then I report this to my my my leader and and they look at it once once a quarter like are you

37:47 once once a quarter like are you describing a completely inefficient process that you’re doing manually and wasting a bunch of time doing for some Metric yes but the impact of the business is like infantes smal so we’re not going to step in and invest A month’s worth of work to automate a process that has little to no value to the business and that’s that is what I wanted to like lean into here yeah because it is so easy to do that because you don’t know you don’t know the business area and just because you have

38:18 business area and just because you have a subject matter expert from a logic perspective or understanding how the business works if you pull somebody into this meeting that’s like you guys are going to save me you guys are going to do this stuff for me like woohoo and then they take over a conversation it’s a bad day I’ll just say that it’s a lot of wasted time yeah and that’s I there’s really an integral split or divide in terms of the conversations you’re having here and depending on what people the business goals and the objectives towards those

38:49 goals and the objectives towards those goals should not focus around what Excel files are you using and how does that data come in those conversations are truly around what are the key metrics you’re looking at how do you look at that how do you guys make your decisions again that’s business that is not Excel or whatever notebook or whatever Quil book that we’re using and really the first bullet point of if we’re going to complete fulfilled assessments the business needs and the process and initiatives that their objective that doesn’t necessarily mean where their

39:20 doesn’t necessarily mean where their date is coming from that’s why you need if there you have that person who’s saying we need that Excel file hopefully the job of the workshop leader to say that’s great but right now we’re only talking about the business goals but so I think these are but I think those are one in the same it’s not as easy as you’re defining like you don’t know where these people are coming from you multiple people coming in to this working session where you’re trying to figure out like what are what are the big things in here that we can we can

39:50 big things in here that we can we can make an impact on they they don’t know the context of like and you can’t just turn off like like if you guys have an Excel process we don’t we don’t want to talk about that because you very well might want to talk about that then that’s probably the wrong person if they’re you’re going back if they’re talking immediately about Excel they’re not understanding the needs of the business they’re talking about themselves disagree that with you okay how do you think how do you think the vast majority of Finance teams work business goals business goals we’re not

40:22 business goals business goals we’re not talking about their proc their their operation our business one of our business one of our strategic business goals is to ensure that our financial reporting and how our finance people report all is consistent all comes through the same metrics all the all the same kpis and is there two days after the the close is that un that is a massive I’m just saying it’s a massive business goal that many Financial teams are running through in in Excel so how can you say Excel is not part of this conversation

40:53 Excel is not part of this conversation it’s a technology it’s a part of a process that they’re manually doing stuff to get to a point that you absolutely would want to solve as probably one of the biggest things a business intelligence team could do said but you didn’t say Excel yet you were just talking about their initiatives and goals we’ll get to the Excel side but if we’re starting off with the technology I think we’ve lost Focus well I would agree but I want to I want to come I think we’re talking about the same thing I do want to be very clear about the difference there’s a number terms we’re using here different teams different

41:24 using here different teams different people stakeholders I think there’s a there’s a sequence of these assessment meetings right so I’m going to pull back just a bit and I’m going to come back into your conversation around Tommy and SE around the tools the technology piece because I think there’s a good summary in the output of this section that says what are the outputs of these meetings what they should look like because the tooling is part of that conversation albeit it should not be the only part of the the conversation so I think at minimum there’s two maybe two or two plus meetings that this is talking about one

41:55 meetings that this is talking about one is the initial kickoff meeting making sure we align on goals and expectations and Seth when I said earlier the executive sponsor should be part of this they should be a part of that first meeting that’s just like here’s what we’re doing we’re defining how this is we’re defining strategic areas actionable things in our company that Define where data lives and how we do things with data to me the theme that’s coming up in this is treat data as an asset that’s what it feels like I’m I’m hearing in the back of my head all this is alluding to me is that we’re

42:25 all this is alluding to me is that we’re going to be strategic about it and we’re going to think of data as this is a valued asset inside our company so after that initial Workshop I don’t I I would agree with you Seth there is no executive sponsor they don’t need to be available for the rest of this they’re only they only get brought in or informed of things outside of this meeting to like if there’s blockers someone’s not showing up this team’s not playing well with us so that we keep reaching out to finance and they don’t want to come participate in these workshops that’s when they get involved but I think at least the initial meeting they’re there then I think it talks a

42:57 they’re there then I think it talks a lot about the stakeholder and then they’re calling this thing the working team which has been defined earlier in the article and I I agree with you Seth here on this one as well I think the stakeholders are those key data leaders across the different business units the finance business data person because you who that is there is that person the buck stops there with this person whether it’s the the manager of that department or there’s someone in that department who’s been there forever and knows all the things and when everyone goes to problems they go to

43:27 everyone goes to problems they go to that person for for the needs of that that team so that that stakeholder I agree with you Seth that’s a person who needs to be able to voice the challenges the process the goals and be able to articulate that but also should have working understanding of okay what are we using and this is and this is where I want to bring it back together here with Tommy what you’re saying and Seth you’re saying as well I think it’s a good blend of we can’t focus solely on the tools but they do inform part of the strategy and what’s going on here on the other

43:58 and what’s going on here on the other hand we do also look at what let’s make sure we’re working on things that are aligned directionally to the to the business where are we going what are the big milestones we need to move and if I if I read farther in this Seth I would agree to with you completely because there’s two assessments to your point Mike that they’re talking about that we need that bi would want to complete a data culture assessment do we have the right the people are we aligned not even technology yet just are do

44:28 not even technology yet just are do people trust the data or they look do they have an okr system do they are you they have an okr system do they are are we siloed with our metrics or know are we siloed with our metrics or is that something more shared data if I just shared a data set to your team would you even know what to do with it maybe not I don’t know yeah can we trust people I think even before that though data culture is that ability that across the team I can trust a number that I’m looking at wherever it’s coming from and that there’s actually decisions that can be made what what is that data literacy conversation we added the ability to

44:58 conversation we added the ability to read talk and argue with data or where are we that that’s data culture the other assessment is the technical assessment okay this is finance this is what you’re trying to do this you need this every two days can we support that in the technology that you have do we need to migrate that to powerbi or fabric like where can bi support and what lift do we need to do from the technology technolog is always going to be means to some end but obviously it’s an integral part I’m really happy to see in the article

45:29 I’m really happy to see in the article that there is that split here because I’ve seen this and I’ve done this myself I gotten too bogged down by what the technological challenges are not understanding if they’re actually whatever they’re going to utilize or if they even trust what they’re looking at and because they’re just doing the process for the sake of process so that assessment side here is really huge that there is that divide too we’ll talk about powerbi and Excel and fabric and your systems but we need to understand first what are you doing with that do

46:00 first what are you doing with that do you have the responsibility around those metrics that are getting reported and how do those move how do your goals move yeah I’m I’m not saying like we dive into an Excel process in these meetings I I’m just saying part of being informed on what a business unit is doing is

46:18 on what a business unit is doing is understanding the tools and technology that they’re they’re performing those on right and the amount of time they’re spending in manual versus autom work if they if everything’s automated and Excel I don’t I don’t care okay great There’s an opportunity of something that we move into a different system potentially depending on the the level of governance and whatever we need to do I I want to say I want to go a note there that I agree with you 100% Seth and I’m like hey if you got it owned if you own it in Excel yeah keep going I’m just in my

46:48 Excel yeah keep going I’m just in my mind though I’m writing down okay Tommy has this really big Excel file it takes three days to do just I’m definitely going to note down like where this occurs because when Tommy wins the lottery and he’s out of here like we know we’re going to have problems when that Excel file is like where did all other data go oh that was that was Tommy’s Excel file hidden away in part of the organization yeah sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt there but I want to emphasize that point write it down because you’re gonna need

47:18 write it down because you’re gonna need it later well all this assessment is to understand what a business unit is doing right this is a big wake up call a lot of the times for organization that’s a good point very good point the the the comparison you make to me is like after the business unit assessment and after you’ve already I think done a data culture assessment across the organization because what I want to do is I want to compare does does that overall data culture assessment fit this

47:49 overall data culture assessment fit this business unit or does is there a slight variation in the fact that they may be ahead in certain certain areas at versus behind and that’s why I love the data culture assessments like the maturity levels because it’s very easy to summarize the outputs of this information into executive level slides right like hey here’s the initiatives here’s the things we’re working on here’s why and that’s where I think we come out of this with a deeper understanding of what are the biggest

48:20 understanding of what are the biggest pain points as far as something that this team or the organization should take a vest interest in and what are the things that are either working right or fall into the bucket of virtuous waste that that business unit needs to solve because regardless I think there’s multiple facets or value ads that come out of these assessments related to the business unit itself being able to take some of this information and fix its own

48:51 some of this information and fix its own things without the need for a Coe or B A centralized business intelligence team or this process to pick up and solve because there’s a big value ad for the business to do I think like you have to you have to weigh the pros and cons of Implement like investing time in those areas I like a lot of the things you said there Seth and I I’m really loving these sections the completing the assessments the outputs that you’re talking about here make sure you document major business

49:21 make sure you document major business goals just talk about those make sure those are documented so there’s there’s at least a conversation around them talk about business objectives what is the progress towards those goals okay we talked about the goals here’s what we’re going to do how are we making progress to them the data needs that’s supporting their processes and initiatives what do you what data do you have what what are you missing right probably more importantly what data do you wish you would have you if you had a crystal ball and you don’t have it today how how can we work through that that may be something that’s here and then

49:52 may be something that’s here and then the next part I really want to point out here I really like this one I think this is under I think this is a a topic you you should really pay attention to this will really help you the contents of the assessment inside there there is the maturity levels really impactful I really like and I think especially when talking with clients this really makes a lot of sense to go say okay let’s define what maturity levels are inside your bi and business strategy and there’s a there’s a link to it that takes you over

50:22 there’s a link to it that takes you over to a different page and it talks about initial level maturity level 100 repeatable processes defined processes capable teams and then an inefficient team and it’s talking at a high level it’s talking about the organizational adoption maturity levels so it gives you some really good bullet points a repeatable organization should be able to find certain content that’s critical and important they’re going to be able to Doc they have documents or can document those processes in a way that

50:52 document those processes in a way that would be repeatable to someone handing off to someone new there is a repeatable pro in the 200 level maturity there’s an overreliance in individuals having good judgment and adopting healthy habits on their own you’re not driving it forward that’s a CR like I see so many companies inside this repeatable level like they have just got just enough to make it like sustainable but they’re not at the next level so it’s it’s really healthy I

51:22 next level so it’s it’s really healthy I think to identify where you are because as you plan these meetings and as you think about strategically what’s going on here you’re just trying to move things up another notch like you’re trying to identify things that are weak in the 200 level repeatable maturity and you’re trying to get to a level 300 level which is defined don’t try to skip from a 200 to a 500 it’s going to take too much effort and You’ be overwhelmed I I think a big part of these assessments that need to be outlined is these assessments may hurt

51:52 outlined is these assessments may hurt both from if you may be sensitive to your data C culture needs Improvement we’re not really focusing on the right things or there’s a big technological shift we have to do we’re we’re bringing a lot of light to what’s capable and I think part of this is also bi really proving their value at the end the year or the end of the day because we’re assessing we’re really finding out where can we provide the most value for your team is it because whatever the process is it because whatever we’re going to work on those assessments

52:23 going to work on those assessments should outline what ever we’re going to be working on for the next quarter or two quarters the near now next so we’re really proving our value but some of that may hurt because you may realize listen we would like to do this but no one on on your team we found is actually actively using their their targets for anything therefore that needs to be a part of this is that responsibility on who owns these metrics oh ownership own ownership a whole another conversation there’s a big part here of

52:54 conversation there’s a big part here of those data culture assessments are not going to necessarily say you need powerbi because if no if every team where you’re finding people are all defining the metrics differently well techn by that really definition there’s more conversation that need to have and maybe that’s the initiative we need to get everyone outline or defined and agreed on what a member is and what member account is across the teams why is this a big diff whatever that case may be those assessments are going to Target us to whatever we’re going to be working on and again I think that’s

53:26 working on and again I think that’s where the value at is and this is why the big difference to me is between just being in bi and building reports and why these assessments really change how valuable bi is I always go back to like at the end of the year I’m telling my boss I built like 25 reports they don’t that per my boss doesn’t know what they are yeah but they know yeah what value does that tell them okay fine Tommy oh yeah 25 points one of them is about watches that I’m selling on the internet from Amazon like okay like yeah what value like to

53:57 like okay like yeah what value like to your point there that is a good metric to hold on to but like what business value is that adding and so okay I built reports these teams are using these strategic reports now to do daily work that has saved them hours of time and I think this is one of the areas here that’s very underrated is there is this concept of working smarter working Better Together concept like if we just work in a more in a smarter way we can save oursel a ton of

54:27 smarter way we can save oursel a ton of time and help us make better decisions because that data is just available to us we’re not spending time chewing through the data to get to the answers we already have the data there that supports those answers I think one of the the O overall completely in alignment I I love I love talking about these things with you guys it it seems like the audience as well in maybe he introduces this as a a bit of a therapy or like getting around these initiatives and how to how to make impacts on the organization

54:57 to make impacts on the organization right the the one that pops up as a as a struggle point for me is in the beginning of this Workshop part of the introduction is to explain the scope of the initiative with the the business its objectives the timelines and deliverables oh timelines I would say those are the hardest ones to think through but but it’s not it’s not necessarily like hard to Think Through to me this is a sticking point

55:29 Through to me this is a sticking point because from for for you guys right but but also in two different ways one for internal leaders and also for external right so if you’re engaging as a consultant with an organization right you can’t produce a business case outside of your history of knowing that there is so much to work on and you’re going to find deficiencies is that enough for your customers to say yep come on in like just figure it out go into these workshops I I trust that you’re going to

55:59 workshops I I trust that you’re going to come up with talking about buying right well not necessarily what I’m talking about is I can’t come up with a solid business case or a reason for you to invest unless you let me do the assessment first right right so it almost to to to to some degree for you guys pushes that there there you have to invest in the assessment in order to understand what the spe specific problems are that you need to go solve if you don’t understand them right but I

56:30 if you don’t understand them right but I think it presents well I know it presents an internal struggle when you’re trying to solve problems for an organization but you don’t have the resources to support those initiatives yeah you can’t have these like I’m not saying you can’t have these workshops but if the outcome is a business case I can’t go into the business and say Here’s your timeline and here’s your deliverable because I don’t know how they’re going to stack rank right and it also presents this other problem where

57:00 also presents this other problem where when you engage with the business business expects something back in a time frame and that is very difficult to do if you start engaging with business units and you’re not delivering on something they don’t like having strategic conversations where you’re like what I’d love to tee this up for next year because their problems might not be the same so this like requires that you already have the

57:30 like requires that you already have the horsepower to execute before you actually know what the business case is what I’m saying so it’s like I’ve struggled through this I know it’s real it’s just cart before the horse but you’re not going to get investment without specifics you can’t get specifics without an investment and you’re in this place where it’s like well hopefully you have a happy

57:51 like well hopefully you have a happy medium like you just you’re the guy and they said go fix Finance or something like that but I think it’s a challenge point in here that that is something to point out that it’s not so easy just because we have a lot of this framework and a lot of the ways in which we can Implement things within an organization that it’s not sometimes it’s not so easy but at the same time iterating over how these processes could potentially work is is valuable in

58:23 potentially work is is valuable in finding the path forward for you that is going to also work for the business and and there’s a ton of fantastic ideas in here and I think it’s stress tests assumptions that we make about our experiences because you also have to recognize that every organization is its own unique Beast right but love love it want to point out a paino in here that I’ve repetitively hit over the years a as something that like if you want

58:54 a as something that like if you want specifics you have to like you have to do Discovery right you have to do the assessments to get the specifics before so you’re investing a little before a lot or you’re trusting the leaders the Consultants the whatever that have done this for a long time and understand that there’s a lot of opportunity it’s just a matter of what things you want to plug into and my last thing I’ll say I I love your point it hits home and you guys may not agree with this but it’s so much easier being a consultant because I’ve done these for I I’ve done these things

59:26 done these for I I’ve done these things for years yeah and this type of thing from the adoption and you you have teams or departments you’re dealing with the politics they go no like we don’t want to meet with you we have our thing so basically a jum go jump in a lake and you have to come appeared internally like at least from the consultant side someone has actively seek me out we had this conversation they like they’ already made the decision to spend money on you exactly exactly but when you’re internal and you’re like Hey we’re going to do these assessments and help change your your process that’s where this right

59:57 process that’s where this right stakeholders that’s where that how the introduction goes to that first Workshop is so important especially if you’re internal to say like we’re trying to help you we’re not just trying to change you I I will I will definitely Echo this it’s the same thing I’ve experienced as well and ginger I think you’re also picking up on this as well Consultants that come in will say exactly the same thing your internal employees are already been saying all the time the fact that we’re paying someone a lot of extra money and they’re the consultant somehow throws some extra

60:27 consultant somehow throws some extra weight and people get involved and and want to listen to it a bit more so part of the reason why we have jobs to begin with but I will I will agree internal conversations this is really I think where the executive sponsor supplies some really good effort help support I don’t know what you want to call it there but this is where the executive sponsor really can help enhance us as well so very good point Tommy and I would totally agree with you I would definitely Rec recommend to organizations to pull in people who know

60:59 organizations to pull in people who know the platform who have done this before who have like it’s it’s if you don’t have a person who already knows all the stuff you’re going to need to go find some skills and talent to bring that to your organization at least initially until we and people start getting the there’s going to be light bulbs that eventually click on like aha this is a better way aha this is helping me like once you start getting that momentum going I think it becomes easier inside the organization but again as a consultant we don’t play political games we can literally just say you’re wrong this is how you do it and walk away and

61:30 this is how you do it and walk away and there’s no political impact on our saying that the the one point I would like to make is is I think those are you you outlined two different things one is organizations that don’t don’t know don’t have the horsepower individuals and need and need you they need guidance they need the structure they need somebody to come in and 100% for the other use case where when you roll in and I’ve been there too you you find like mindes you’ve got guys were like or women are like hey I’ve already had this idea we already have

62:00 already had this idea we already have this like yep we’re we’re 100% on board well I guess we’re just here to help help you make it work yep in those cases I think it’s important for those people who have that expertise and the knowledge to start pushing that forward and up so that the organization starts to understand that there is a strategy somebody does understand how to fix this it’s just a matter of them having focused on it before so if an opportunity comes up where all of the

62:30 opportunity comes up where all of the sudden and and a lot of times unfortunately it’s a it’s a huge pain Point there’s a spike that makes it all the way up and they’re like we need to solve this problem we’re going to go invest in solving that problem either that goes to Consultants or it goes to the people who have been saying hey we have a problem just letting if you want to fix it we we have a way we can fix it you just need to invest in it they would do they would go that route because they know they have that expertise in house they would much rather do that yeah so like that’s the

63:01 rather do that yeah so like that’s the value in I think pushing up those ideas and going through these processes to to just outline do a data assessment do a data culture assessment like where where is an organization at but push that as as high up as you can because then that visibility gets to the places that the the money-making decisions happen in I love your point there Seth and I think that a that a great one one thing I’ll also I think I feel like works well in this situation too is not every Department not every

63:32 too is not every Department not every part of your organization is going to want to love this and jump in on it they just won’t it just won’t happen and so people there there’s going to be people that resist there there will be it’s people are difficult to work with at best and I will say this there to your point there will be parts of the organization that understand that adopt and push into this and make it and will help it make it go forward those are great examples to lean into and increasingly make them more efficient build better process work with them to

64:02 build better process work with them to help them achieve the business goals for their Department because that becomes a working testimony to other departments and other leaders to say look we’ve already had these successes in this department let’s show you the output of the result of us making a better thing together and then you can use that as an example and that also it helps incentivize other leaders or other stakeholders to say oh wow you or other stakeholders to say oh wow marketing’s got their game on they

64:32 know marketing’s got their game on they know what’s going on they’ve got good I want I want the reports that they have if I had what they had I could do my job better and you you can start using that as as a a culture thing that you can then start spreading across the organization so really good points I know we are over we started a little bit late so we’re going a little bit late as well so I apologize on that one let’s wrap things up here with final thoughts and we’ll we’ll call it an session this is a great session Tommy what are your final thoughts feel like I just said but I think we may have another one on this article just focusing on goals

65:03 article just focusing on goals this was just been workshops and stakeholders which yep I really love that we spent all this time on here because again this is nothing or this is not a lot you hear about that I think is harder to get off the ground but I think we’ve really shown what value add that becomes at the end of the year both for the business but even for your yourself even for the bi team because what you’re actually focusing on you could also spend all this time just building random reports that come through and

65:33 random reports that come through and this really changes where we spend our time and I think it’s more fulfilling for bi too because we’re actually working on things that are actually having an impact Seth what do you any final thoughts yeah Mo most of them provided I I think just on on a high level what what’s nice to see in in the levels here is right like we’re starting at a high level we we figure out some overall strategies we engage we build out subject matter experts and

66:03 build out subject matter experts and team members to go in and get the nitty-gritty and then we come back out right so you’re you’re moving through a hierarchy of how do you align big objectives figure out where what’s happening in the business unit to to bring that back up so I I like this back and forth that I think also is something that that is new potentially to a lot of listeners or business intelligence Professionals in how they think about their jobs so that that value here in high level

66:35 value here in high level thinking down to strategy the day-to-day and how those interact with one another is outlined in a lot of what we’re talking about today I’ll say I’ll say when I look at this article this page Scrolls forever there’s a lot here and when I and when I look down at the completing the different assessments completing the culture assessment completing the technical assessment which I think are two things you should definitely do read up on those sections

67:05 definitely do read up on those sections go in dive in a bit deeper there’s a lot there I would also say don’t get overwhelmed by all the things that it shows you because if you look at the technical assessment there’s like 14 things you look at the the cultural assessment there’s another 14 things so I think you you can tackle all of them at once but it could take you a lot longer so I would also say pick portions of this some of these things will probably resonate with challenges you have in your organization focus on the

67:35 have in your organization focus on the no the known wins you can go after and yes you should do your best to understand all of it but there’s so much here you you have to read all this stuff there’s just so much good value here anyways just start don’t get overwhelmed by all the great insights that are here but I will say a lot of the this stuff works from someone who’s done this with organizations and worked through these things and made a center of excellences and started pushing these processes and things out it will help push things forward and what’s the harm

68:06 push things forward and what’s the harm you have nothing now here’s something to start with so anything’s better than nothing so anyways thank you all very much for your time today we appreciate it Tommy where else can you find the podcast you can find the podcast anywhere they’re available Apple Spotify wherever get your podcast make sure to subscribe and leave a r it helps us out a ton do you have a question an idea or a topic that you want us to talk about in a future episode head over to powerbi tips podcast leave your name and a great question finally join us live every Tuesday Thursday a. m. Central

68:38 every Tuesday Thursday a. m. Central and join the conversation all powerbi tips social media channels and someday maybe depending if it’s Ching if the wind’s blowing the wrong way or something so thank you all very much for attending we appreciate your listenership and your ears please like And subscribe and share to somebody else if you found this valuable content thank you talk to you next [Music]

69:22 [Music] time time oh

Thank You

Want to catch us live? Join every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 AM Central on YouTube and LinkedIn.

Got a question? Head to powerbi.tips/empodcast and submit your topic ideas.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.