Define Solutions & Initiatives – Ep. 291

Microsoft’s implementation planning series moves from strategy to execution in this episode: how do you turn OKRs into real work without creating a fragile pile of one-off reports and ad-hoc requests?

Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down Step 3 of BI tactical planning—define solutions and initiatives—and why the split matters. Solutions are measurable, product-like deliverables (models, monitoring, workspace/app structure). Initiatives are the operating model work (training, governance, community, and repeatable processes). Step 4 is the safety valve: revise the plan periodically so priorities and expectations stay aligned with capacity.

News & Announcements

• Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon) — March 26–28 in Las Vegas (with optional workshop days) and discount code Carlo100 for $100 off.
• Power BI implementation planning: Define solutions and initiatives (Step 3) — The Microsoft guidance article the episode walks through and critiques.
• Submit an idea or topic for the podcast — Send a question you want the team to debate on a future episode.
• PowerBI.tips Podcast — Find past episodes and subscribe on your preferred platform.
• Power BI Theme Generator (Tips+) — Generate theme JSON to standardize report styling across your org.

Main Discussion

Tactical planning is where BI teams either become a predictable delivery engine—or become an inbox. The conversation centers on making work legible: what you’re delivering, how you’ll measure it, and what the business must do to keep delivery moving.

They propose separating the work into two streams:

• Solutions: tangible deliverables you can ship and support (semantic models, monitoring, a lakehouse pattern, workspace/app structure).
• Initiatives: enablement and operating model work that makes the solutions usable at scale (training, governance, community of practice, and repeatable processes).

Takeaways you can apply immediately:

• Define “solution” vs. “initiative” in writing so stakeholders stop treating all work as the same kind of request.
• Tie backlog items to objectives/KRs to avoid building reports that get used once (or never).
• Make leadership own prioritization when every business unit has competing “top three” asks.
• Require business engagement: if you want BI capacity, you have to help define requirements and answer questions during delivery.
• Publish what’s in-scope and out-of-scope in one central place to reduce surprise, rework, and “that’s not what I meant.”
• Roll out new processes in ‘test mode’ with a clear problem statement and an explicit feedback loop.
• Protect quality and ownership so you don’t end up with a rat’s nest of assets nobody can support.

Looking Forward

Put a 60–90 day reminder on the tactical plan and use delivery learnings to renegotiate scope, priorities, and definitions before the backlog drifts.

Episode Transcript

0:27 welcome back to the explicit MERS podcast with Tommy Seth and Mike hello everyone good morning good morning Mike and a happy Tuesday to you both just an FYI this podcast episode has been pre-recorded for your for your enjoyment and the Articles and topics that you talk about here are still relevant yeah nothing’s drastically changing I feel like I should have yeah the documentation has not shifted under our feet yet on this one we hope well it

0:57 our feet yet on this one we hope well it has been recorded so your your mileage will vary will vary all right so jumping in our main topic for today is we’re still talking about the bi tactical planning as far as it relates to powerbi and the new article that came out from Microsoft for going through the bi strategy around just elements of powerbi and how to implement them in your organization again very relevant article seems to be really good that’s going to be our main topic today we only have one intro or news item today U if you like

1:27 intro or news item today U if you like powerbi if you like data science if you like data engineering you should go to the Microsoft fabric conference coming up this March it’s March 26th through 28th is the conference out in Las Vegas there are workshops for the 25th 24th 25th and 29th those are Workshop days and then you can go visit Azure datac comp C nf. com and there’s a link in the description if you want to see that but if you want a $100 off your

1:59 but if you want a $100 off your ticket you can use Carlo 00 for $100 off your tickets for the conference so hope to see you there I’ll be there I I’ve got some speaking sessions there at the conference so come stump the chump check it come out and ask some hard questions and I’ll see if I can answer them probably not he gonna be in a water Booth too so you can even throw the ball my face will be in a little hole you can throw tomatoes at it and and you have such bad reports your models are terrible you use bir directional relationships I’d show up for that bring

2:31 relationships I’d show up for that bring some cash give me some Rotten Tomatoes come on come all test your data models models against exactly that would be funny if like all three of strong model I bet I bet I bet we could get some zingers in there like yeah well the whole thing is is essentially like poking fun at whoever’s throwing at you right exactly you’re going to be now intrigued on what would a powerbi carnival look like you look like somebody who would use composite models all the time you look

3:02 composite models all the time you look like you use for the win huh how you like you never even heard of D you don’t even know what star schema is what is it your mother’s calculated colum your mom’s a calculated column the worst insult ever like somebody who would just say I know powerbi and think you do everything some of the other attractions at the powerbi carnival the world’s strongest model oh oh yeah that would be good the world’s strongest

3:32 would be good the world’s strongest semantic model the world’s yeah the world the world’s strongest semantic model able to withstand any type of calculated column that thrown its way it can lift any calculation you throw at it that would be funny it’s quite the tangent we were after anyways that’s that’s what this podcast is about it’s it’s a little bit of fun but it’s a lot bit of laughing and being goofy so we’ll do it you’re welcome that was that was your morning dose of entertainment all right now I I saw your advertising for us and by the way way to

4:04 advertising for us and by the way way to choose out of all the things you could have chose in a world a powerbi John CLE CLE python Mike’s got this advertising going for the podcast and it’s basically our previous one on our creativity but just a subset talking about Mighty python yeah exactly right I figured I would take the most ridiculous part of that segment and throw that on the internet so people could see like how real much how much real value added from this podcast real value real much value that that’s how you should start it not

4:34 that that’s how you should start it not in a world or in a world where real value oh maybe that maybe that’ll be real real value yeah and then and then interject a clip like that yeah it’s good good stuff interesting topics so let’s jump in today for our main topic our main topic is tactical planning and we’re focusing on step three around defining your Solutions defining your initiatives and also step four which is a

5:04 and also step four which is a periodically revise the plan so let’s jump in there these are a little bit smaller sections than we had in the past so maybe we’ll get through this whole episode without actually getting to the bottom and talking through everything but maybe not sometimes these tangents come quick and fast therefore we we go off some tents here Tommy want to kick us off any initial thoughts for some defining Solutions and initiatives with this tactical planning yeah just a quick recap where we’ve been we are in this implementation planning

5:34 we are in this implementation planning guide and we’re focused on tactical we’ve talked about adoption we’ve talked about trying to measure objectives and Define key results now it’s about how do we actually Implement and there’s two areas documentation talks about how do we Implement Solutions how do we Implement initiatives Solutions more of a product based thing it’s going to have a tangible result such as monitoring solution a lak house gold semantic models and initiatives are more

6:04 semantic models and initiatives are more around what processes or training resources or other types of portal like non-product or tangible things that are coming out of powerbi but still hugely impactful for the business so how do we Implement these how do we actually prioritize and then really step four is well we’re going to need a revise compared to our strategic I like these this is finally where a lot of things have been just talking about where you’re going what things you need to be planning for I think this one to me

6:35 planning for I think this one to me feels a lot more I’m a I’m a I don’t know if you say it this way I’m a doer like I just like getting stuff done you like I just like getting stuff done it doesn’t have to be perfect the know it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time I don’t need to overthink it let’s just pick a Direction Let’s Go a let’s start walking and then we can always adjust and course correct I think later on so I like this part because this feels very let’s get something done let’s put something on paper let’s make something delivered and then we can always adjust afterwards yeah I like this one Seth any thoughts before we get started here no yeah I I agree I one of

7:05 started here no yeah I I agree I one of the things that struck me was was breaking out the activities or stuff to do into Solutions and initiatives because you can measure those differently as well the solutions are I went and built a monitoring solution or we we now have x% of this monine solution implemented whereas initiatives are the business things right like I have a

7:35 business things right like I have a process I’m going to create we need to ensure that as we roll that out it’s successful we need to re-evaluate it sync with different people do we have to alter it for business units like all of the non-technical building to some degree and I hadn’t I hadn’t bro I hadn’t thought about breaking those out into those two different work streams in my head but I I do like it a lot and I’ll probably take it and use it now because it helps with the conversation

8:06 because it helps with the conversation it’s a good it’s the story of like hey we’ve identified we have all these tactical things to do yep and I’m going to break those off into these two different areas because with the capacity I have I know I can execute against these Solutions right like here’s what you get here but these initiatives are likely going to roll in phases or like we’re going to start them but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re fully baked yet I don’t really have a hard timeline right like you just we’re we’re going to start utilizing or

8:38 we’re we’re going to start utilizing or doing or integrating or training and there is really no end to that like there’s just agree hey here here’s some things we’re going to get spooled up and what we expect over time is X result or something I like the way you put that one Seth because again I all of these things that they talk about here I would say are 100% need to be on your radar if you’re rolling up PBI you need some monitoring solution I don’t care what level size company you are you need

9:08 level size company you are you need something to tell you what’s going on because at some point you’re going to need to understand who’s exporting things how many report views are being used you built something tangible how many people are actually able to look at that and that’s the the PB apis are okay but they’re not great either so there’s there’s a lot going on there so I think that I’m very happy they emphasized a monitoring solution because because Microsoft doesn’t give you one out of

9:30 Microsoft doesn’t give you one out of the box that’s very easy to use they have okay things but it’s not like perfect it’s very raw you agree that’s a really good way of put it Tommy I like the other part of this where Solutions are more here’s a thing we’re going to produce for you a lake house an app these reports th those feel really good to me because again very tangible and then Seth I think you made a really good point around there’s not necessarily an end point an end an

10:01 necessarily an end point an end an ending an end to the initiatives the initiatives are more a a regularly investment from the business back into what you’re doing and I do think there are a number of processes that people don’t think about and they need to consider when they start there’s some processes that need to be thought about when you start your powerbi environment and there are other processes that need to be developed as you’re running the platform like for example one process that’s really good is is your company going to have a policy around can you let users

10:32 have a policy around can you let users create their own workspaces if the answer is yes you need to be able to figure out is there a security group that you allow to do that is is it every user do they need to go through some training first so a stance on who’s allowed to create their own workspaces and what that looks like in your organization that’s relevant because there is a pattern you want people to follow around doing that on the other hand you may not allow people to create workspaces therefore you need a process to say go here fill out this form

11:02 to say go here fill out this form request a workspace and someone in central Pi will will give you the workspace and let you play with it I also think that’s a good scenario for Enterprise or like certified things and again a lot of these things and there’s so many thoughts here I’m sorry I’m just trying to collect all the thoughts here things like that a process like managing and handing off a workspace is a great way of helping people understand understand where there is a shift in

11:32 is a shift in responsibility so if I think about what by shift in responsibility is the source system has data that I’m going to land to a data model and I’m going to give you your own workspace I will be responsible for the data model but you are responsible to create reports in this new this new workspace so yeah there’s like to me like there’s a there’s having things like this help you explain to people I am no longer respons responsible for your report whatever you build you are responsible for and if someone relies

12:03 responsible for and if someone relies upon it and it’s got wrong errors you need to support it not me because I’m making the model I think you’re honing into something here where people may agree with what to do but not necessarily the way to do it like hey we do need security security around workspaces but I don’t want to give people access because then they can share things there’s going to be a lot of disagreement and as I’m going through this in the markdown it has the important boxes yep I I’m gonna start adding my own agit alerts where caution

12:33 adding my own agit alerts where caution this may cause a headache and there’s a lot of areas here where yeah you may have the executives and stakeholders agree like we need to go this direction but they’re not going to necessarily agree with the entire path to your example yeah we want to give people workspaces that’s a great idea we want to give that managed self service but wait they can share with anyone in a powerbi app well how do we secure that we want to take that off the plate I I for there’s a lot of headaches here because the vision yes right do I

13:05 here because the vision yes right do I let you build off of Enterprise data or do you need to go through some training in order to build offal gaps if you’re not aware these can really stop the process right like right before you even out of the gate when you’re dealing also people with they’re not as technical Advance on all the aspects of powerbi because you say hey they’re going to be admin of their workspace you you and I I admin of their workspace you you and I again in do you let them build mean again in do you let them build things in fabric like it’s another another question like hey here’s a

13:35 another question like hey here’s a workspace we have fabric capabilities do we let you build pipelines and other fabric element maybe we turn that off initially so again a lot of this is I’m of the opinion like I want to give the business as much tooling as they can to be successful in whatever they’re doing that’s what I want to do however I don’t think it’s wise to do that just arbitrarily hands off here you go here’s the key keys to everything you need go figure it out I I do think there’s some thought that needs to be put into this about planning things and again I get

14:07 about planning things and again I get really maybe not nervous but there’s a lot of power inside data flows Gen 2 or pipelines I can create data and I can write it to wherever the heck I want to write it to I can have a data flow that can write data into multiple workspaces which is awesome very cool but that potentially could create a lot of problems of where’ that data go who’s using it how are we copying things around the the lake housee like what happens what happens when something breaks who’s responsible right so these are questions that I think that are

14:37 are questions that I think that are relevant because you could quickly create a Rat’s Nest of stuff that is adding value but when it breaks no one’s responsible and that’s you can’t have that let me pose a question to the two of you at this stage in your implementation planning when we begin to create the backlog and the priority and our key results how much are we willing to compromise with our key stakeholders and sponsors and the reason I asked this is because again the realization that we’re dealing with all walks of life

15:09 we’re dealing with all walks of life usually from the business you’re going to deal with the technology team Excel users the access users you still you have it the people who are either owning the the back end of the data or the back end of the technology you’re right the sales team everyone’s going to come with a different opinion and their own concerns and is it should the compromise already happened B compromise for what well I don’t think whatever your key results are I don’t think there’s going to be right off the bat a unanimous

15:39 to be right off the bat a unanimous agreement on how what our initiatives are but isn’t that okay so how do you get past that that’s what I’m objectives are the same like I would say your companywide objectives regardless whether your sales it other like objective should be the same same thing if your key result doesn’t apply back to your objective my question would be why are we doing it you get there’s there’s a push back there I think that has to occur so you at least aligning things direct but key results looking

16:09 things direct but key results looking for the sales team versus it like they could have different different key results and hopefully they don’t conflict MH but I I would I would assume like yes they can have different key results or different goals But ultimately you have to align to a similar objective of how you’re going to get things done yes but from a priority point of view you say where do you compromise I think I’m talking less about compromising like if you if you ask me about when do I think I compromise and how do I compromise on things I think I

16:39 how do I compromise on things I think I take the approach of we want to educate and and skill up the business as fast as possible so the the goal is to give you full access to everything you need to do to do your job apps pipelines data flows Gen 2 fabric like the goal is to get that in your hands I think the what I’m trying to say around policy and governance and talking about a community of practice is okay what are the what do as a company how do we inform the people of

17:11 company how do we inform the people of our processes that we think we want to adhere to because we’re going to use the technology to do those things so I would typically start off with less control focus on a couple key people first work through with them educate get patterns understand that there’s a a distribution of responsibility here happening and then start from there and then roll into opening things up and letting more more people get through through it yeah from my perspective like I

17:42 it yeah from my perspective like I don’t compromise shouldn’t H be happening on the backlog level from my from my perspective if you’re doing okr process correctly like you you already have the business defining who gets precedence right if if I have a overall objective that the company as a whole is going to gain gain data visibility and all the business areas for strategic decision- making and then each Buu has an objective where we’re discussing like hey what are the

18:13 we’re discussing like hey what are the top three things that we need to go build for you or data access you need etc etc well now you have X number of buus all with top level three and you’re only going to be able to support which ones right doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be working towards it but it might mean that they can’t complete it all in the same time frame leadership needs to Define what the priority is and they like they may likely say hey okay well so how much capacity do we have on your team right it means we can get through six of

18:44 it means we can get through six of these reports so that’s two business units start with finance and sales right does that mean marketing’s not important or marketing may come and say hey I’ve got a bunch of like we need to hit this objective it’s like well I if there’s some free time because our

19:01 if there’s some free time because our estimates were a little overblow we can help you out but your priority is not to the business priority and the more you can let lean into that area you remove a lot of this the compromise or the infighting at the low level where everybody’s vying for your time yes right you also avoid you also avoid situations like you’ve been in before I think all of us where somebody requests a report and uses it once or doesn’t use it at all right because it doesn’t align to objective

19:33 because it doesn’t align to objective like they have to do work too to define the requirements for what needs to go be built and I think that’s a part of this that that like is a byproduct of the ticket system of bi right like I have a request go go build me this thing I’m so busy right from bus I’m so busy word yes I I need you to go give me this data well okay let’s work hey I’m busy want what da do you want like we’ll build

20:04 what da do you want like we’ll build these require like working with the business sometimes is like pulling teeth and I think what they what what I would like to see in that interaction is your you’re asking for technical time to be spent to help you solve a problem don’t trivialize that it’s not an easy button all the time it’s not data access isn’t sometimes can be just a query way but you don’t understand the data aspects of it so if you’re requesting something this is actually something we’re going through in the process if

20:34 we’re going through in the process if you’re requesting something and we’re going to pick it up and engage you have a responsibility to be engaged whereas like I have questions you have to respond yeah how yeah how many times right we’re we’re stuck in somebody spends a day on something and then like we’ve committed a timeline and how we’re going to finish this in x amount of time and you have questions you try to get a hold of the business un and oh so busy I got I’ll I I can fit I can fit you in in three days wait what

21:04 I can fit you in in three days wait what I have a deliverable right like you’re you’re saying this is an important thing for you obviously it’s not then if you’re pushing me past in those things where you can’t answer a question and that’s where I think there needs to be some of that ownership of you got a ticket in the system you got something that’s being worked on your responsibility is the business owners to engage when I need you to engage you engage when I need you to engage it’s so fun because I find all of know it’s so fun because I find all of this so cyclical with the rest of the planning we’ve gone over the first one I’m thinking of is with all of our

21:35 one I’m thinking of is with all of our goals and objectives and with their key stakeholders it’s making sure that we’re aligned on expectations because the some people doing powerbi and saying access to we’re going to provide this to everyone they their expectation is when I need a report I can get it in three days and without the proper vetting and also what does this actually what’s the impact of us to do these tactical implementations of providing a solution providing an initiative what is

22:05 solution providing an initiative what is the the expectation on what the world looks like when we’re on the other side of this is so important I I keep going back to that and I keep going back to the people in the room of this this key stakeholders getting the right people and getting the right expectations is going to really dictate that data culture here because those people may have their own to your point either very selfish or very micro micro needs not thinking about

22:36 micro micro needs not thinking about the business or they don’t have the knowledge to do so and if our objectives and our key results are not properly aligned in terms of what you’re getting out of this you’re still going to deal with even if we Implement a lake house and we Implement training in a portal if people are expecting to have data at the at the Easy Button that’s a huge problem but I think that’s what people think bi and powerbi is still to this this day room for improvement I would say mo

23:06 day room for improvement I would say mo for for improvement the other go ahead goad I was gonna say I I like this conversation and I also I also want to like put in this as well down here below they actually have some examples of some objectives so objective key results and then okay you want to keep going okay no well before I get there I want I wanted to lean into the pro process yeah yeah SE real quick and the the reason the reason is is even when we like the John C video right he towards

23:38 like the John C video right he towards the end he was like we want to be like we we we want our employees to feel that they’re powerless and they have no voice and things like that processes that you build I wanted to lean into just a little bit because it in powerbi or Fabric or whatever but I think in general if if you’re shifting a process onto a different group one of the first things as far as recommendations I would have is understand the problem statement

24:08 is understand the problem statement right what is the problem we’re trying to solve with this process and have an explanation for how you’re going to solve it I like that and be ready to and okay with explaining it and this is where like the John CLE thing like do people feel that comfortable enough to ask ask why why are we doing this thing and I think with important around that is because there are many different ways and you can Implement a process and everybody comes with different knowledge centers so while we may bring a lot of the business

24:39 may bring a lot of the business intelligence realm and we know that there’s ownership and responsibilities that business people have to take etc etc we may be walking into an area where we don’t understand a piece of the business and what we’re going to propose in our process is going to create a lot of conflict or it’s going to create a lot of manual work for somebody and that’s that’s the thing we have to be okay with with adapting as we start to engage or AGA if you’re Tommy so so ultimately that leads like don’t build these things in a box right start with a template start with the

25:11 start with a template start with the idea articulate what you’re trying to do with these teams but it is much more of a people thing because you are asking for people’s time and you’re going to be implementing new things that they’re not used to so communicating is a huge part of this and a great way to introduce a new process is like in test mode hey we understand we’re gonna disrupt your daily yep here’s what we’re trying to

25:41 daily yep here’s what we’re trying to accomplish here’s why we’re going to roll this out in a temporary period not obligating like not saying it’s going to go into effect for the next three weeks we we need your feedback right we’re going to iteratively work with your team as we see how this is working ET so that opens the door for people to bring their perspectives and make sure that what you’re implementing is going to be successful for the business as opposed to what I see way too often at way too

26:11 to what I see way too often at way too many different levels is people just build something and they shoot it into the organization and they don’t care what the impact is and the other the other issue with that is is it they don’t care or their needs are they haven’t done the full research yes either or right with I think they care they’re trying to do the right thing a lot of good point good point I don’t it’s like oh I don’t care I’m just gonna throw this thing together I but I also think like there’s not this there’s not another we’re looking like an onion they’ve peeled up the first

26:41 an onion they’ve peeled up the first layer of the onion like that’s as far as we’ve got and there maybe was additional questions or additional insights we should be digging for distinction yeah and I think they do care they’re trying to do the best they can but potentially there’s a little bit more rigor that’s required to get to like really the root cause and I think think that’s what I’m I’m leaning into also like the feedback loop is really important yeah very important I agree with that because it’s well I would say the two things the feedback loop and the problem and

27:11 feedback loop and the problem and solution statements right because people need to understand what it is we’re trying to solve in order to evaluate whether or not the process is is doing that that successfully this is I love what you said Seth because it’s making me think of our conversation about what does what our mailbag conversation last week does technology influence process or process influence technology well if you are just saying top down whatever technology we throw at you now you have

27:42 technology we throw at you now you have to adapt to even if the people care who are implementing it odds are you’re not necessarily meeting the real needs of the people years ago when powerbi apps first came out we we were sharing reports to the individual ual way and we wanted to migrate everything towards powerbi apps and it was a larger task because obviously everyone had their own workflow we created a Champions team of representatives from each of the Departments who had access to the app

28:12 Departments who had access to the app and we got their feedback like based on your team who do can you give us feedback on how the organization in this workflow is that was such a big help because one it got the team involved the business involved on them understanding their needs that team and also too even if I cared which obviously

28:32 also too even if I cared which obviously we did the bi team did care we still didn’t not necessarily know their own intricacies of that team and how they like to organize their own content so without getting that feedback and without getting them involved we would have just thrown this apps at people and oh what is this even if we did the training after the fact so there is that part of that expectation that you’re talking about Seth but two is how do you actually throw throw it out but also I think how do you Empower and feel like other people actually have a say in

29:02 other people actually have a say in what’s going on that’s a great question what’ you say Seth I just said agree oh agree all right great cool yeah that’s easy that was a good one no and but I like this whole conversation is great and one one thing before we move on I guess maybe some sample objectives here is I really really I found great success in building a centralized portal even if people don’t know it exists initially just starting there as

29:32 initially just starting there as a consultant right A lot of times they’re like well what do we build what are we doing I I have a lot of things I need to prove back to the customer I need to sneeze hold on the quietest sneeze I’ve ever heard excuse me I had it’s like a it’s had that in real life mute yeah right you’d be muting me all the time then so I think you actually have that I that I something exactly so looking like the

30:02 something exactly so looking like the centralized portal and having content go there is so important because a lot of times I’m already making assumptions about things that the organization’s not there yet on and I’ve had I’ve I’ve actually you actually I’ve walked into organizations know I’ve walked into organizations they’re like okay we need to build workspace is great what do you have like how do you want to handle this how do you want to manage these things like well we don’t know and I’m like okay well I go away I think about how the company should manage their workspaces

30:32 company should manage their workspaces maybe make a form maybe make a request have an email address where things can go set it up and then I document it and put it in this place and say okay here’s the flowchart that says on how you would request a workspace yeah I put it there and then I follow my own process the company’s like okay fine yeah whatever what happens is later on someone asks questions around hey how do we get workspaces oh hey we got this new team and they’re trying to get workspaces great thing you asked go read this documentation over here I’ve already got it ready to go and while they don’t

31:02 it ready to go and while they don’t recognize that that’s a value ad day one when you’re a month two months a couple months into this having that central place that says look I’ve already documented this model here’s some general information about what the model’s model’s doing it makes everyone like wow okay we actually have a process here that that we can follow and like update things and it helps it really really helps to have a commonplace a lot of times and and maybe I feel like this is just maybe me or what I’ve interacted with business

31:32 or what I’ve interacted with business side organizations a lot of times processes are made and they’re never communicated there is a process someone did it but no one took the time to like and they may have even written it down like there may be like even a handwritten note a steps lists and it’s only known by the couple people who control the access to the thing yeah and so I I can’t stress enough how much the central portal Aid the ability of communicating to people here’s where things need to go now again it’s going to ramp up slowly it starts out with

32:03 to ramp up slowly it starts out with minimal effort but then eventually over time you don’t get a lot of questions about this stuff people just start self-discovering what information they need from that site and you’re you’ll find your ticketing calls go down and I found I very rarely have the conversation with workspaces now because people know where to go they can dig through and find how to request a workspace yep I I’m a huge fan of centralizing information like that I man and those are two different two

32:33 and those are two different two different topics but big ones right centralizing around an area I will say I’m a I haven’t I want to say a huge fan so far what I’ve seen from viva engage is perfect for that because it it it it like everything in Microsoft once you create a community automatically spools up all the 365 workspaces groups right so it’s a group so you have a SharePoint site you have a one note you have a all the things but you

33:05 have a all the things but you you can do questions and answers you can have like the com the entirety of the company can see this thing as opposed to it being some other solution Confluence Pages or something where like people have to navigate and get to that that I love and I’m a huge fan of like what you’re talking about too Mike because you bury that stuff in teams chats or some other chat like it’s a one one and one and whereas there and it’s searchable people can find their own answers and that’s where you buy your time back right

33:35 where you buy your time back right because if you’re answering those questions in a forum place where people can access and know that they can go access that information you just bought your time back every single time because you’re gonna get the same repeated question 500 times if if it’s siloed yes what we’re talking about here we’re we’re really talking about harbi harbi I think that’s what we’re talking about well we’re talk we’re talking about a proper relationship what’s the number one argument that you would have with your spouse or what do you say is why is the S not clean of dishes who left who wait

34:08 S not clean of dishes who left who wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute who left the dirty dishes in the sink that’s my number one argument and I’m like yelling at everyone all the relationships in my family are like who didn’t hey you saw that the dishwasher has clean dishes in it why didn’t you empty them and put the dirty ones in it expectation still apply still apply but but to your point earlier Seth and Tommy question as well like maybe I should write a policy and put it next to the next to the S policy is writing it it’s like that’s not what I said I said this no you didn’t say that that

34:38 said this no you didn’t say that that conversation this is the same thing to me so much because from objectives to key results and writing it down and having it centralized so everyone’s aware on what was tasked what we’re trying to do what the outcome is and that writing down process and having it somewhere centralized or having it somewhere public is so imperative because you may have all this great kind because you may have all this great you you went on your first date with of you you went on your first date with your be business team on what we’re going to do and all the great things of

35:08 going to do and all the great things of powerbi that’s like your first date that’s like taking them to Paris or something well now there’s the common goal I don’t think I take first dates to Paris just that’s first date no okay yeah the nice restaurant I’m taking you to like Chili’s or maybe Taco Bell or Chipotle Chipotle sure let’s say Chipotle okay how great powerbi can be in the future of data and us corre and everyone’s on board but there gets to the point of what are we actually going to try to achieve how many bi kids are we gonna have or

35:38 many bi kids are we gonna have or whatever that conversation the communication and making sure it’s clear centralized in some portal in teams that everyone can get to well that alleviates that that’s not what I said or that’s not what I was expecting this to be to your point of how do we create a workspace or who can create a workspace or in in the case of our backlog and initiatives what is bi going to focus on and more importantly what are we not going to focus on having that written up having that clear as day man

36:11 having that clear as day man that’s I think that’s the difference between that that Troth of disillusionment that we’ve talked about with the hype cycle and getting people continuing to buy in and more importantly to volunteer to help because we also need that too we need people to volunteer to say I will assist you in this there’s a lot of things you just covered in like very rapid suc relationships proper relationships that’s what we’re building here and it’s a a continual well I’m gonna okay I’m going to be a bit open here a little bit the

36:41 to be a bit open here a little bit the hardest thing in a marriage has been communication Point Blank like for me like always is hard I will say something and my family will hear something different I will say something I think it’s clear and the other side does not receive it clearly and so there has to be good I’ll voice something and I need to PIR you guys need to pair it back to me what I said and with kids we do this a lot more than with like your spouses I’ll hey this is what I expect

37:12 I’ll hey this is what I expect expectation lifted expectation communicated right all right tell me what I said and you actually have them say okay you said then and you and then you have an opportunity to correct the that the information was conveyed correctly across that that Medium right and that’s a that’s so important and all the I think a lot of this portal stuff is a lot of centralized portal a lot of training is making sure I communicate to you an expectation you pair it back to me and are able to

37:42 pair it back to me and are able to respond and absorb and say that’s I’ve heard what you said I I understand the direction so that way together we can walk in the same direction so that was one thing that you said Tommy that I think resonates very well with me because the communication is extremely difficult in your own family let alone in your business and then also inside like a team with all these complicated

38:02 like a team with all these complicated things moving and all these different moving pieces inside bi and where data is going and how to how to better use it there’s another point in here I had but I forgot what it was so I the the thing I want to point out Mike is and I I like your the discourse of like yep you want to make sure that you’re clearly articulating something and somebody’s absorbing it yep that goes the way too right and one of the one of the best ways I’ve learned to

38:32 one of the best ways I’ve learned to ensure I understand what people are telling me especially when we’re from two different worlds right yes I have I have a wealth of data knowledge this person has a wealth of business knowledge right yes if if somebody’s telling me something and I like it’s one of these key points that I’m I’m going to go spend a week on building something a great a great technique is to say something along the lines of let me let me just PA it back what I heard from you right like so I I I make

39:02 you right like so I I I make sure that I understand everything you’re telling me and then repeat it back and in many cases you’re off on a couple things right like oh but it drives towards a point of clarification yes as opposed to where you don’t want to be in these conversations is just listening without asking any questions or like being afraid to not contradict but like lean into a point that’s a great way to lean into a point in a in a very conversational way that you you drive into the details that you need I I love

39:35 into the details that you need I I love both of those and for me the best way when we’re ready to go or where we think we’re ready to go sign here please where or sign off on this please no and but I’m actually being serious put your down really coming after you if we’re GNA say we’re going to do all these things and we work so hard I promise not to use calulated columns but making sure that the business and you both sign off on whatever you’re going to do because again there’s nothing worse than thinking oh I know

40:05 nothing worse than thinking oh I know what they want we know what we know what bi wants or what they’re going to do and then that doesn’t happen because to your point Seth I didn’t pair it back or I misheard or mis have a different perception of what that real big pie in the sky is so any part of this I am a huge proponent don’t call you don’t know have to call them contracts but each of these steps I would make ensure that the business and

40:35 would make ensure that the business and myself and the stakeholders are at least replying confirming just so we have that documented because that puts accountability and saying well no you read this you saw what we’re going to do if you now disagree with that well you should have read that yeah I I don’t disagree with that approach I think that falls for me into the planning of of Sprint cycles of a cycle whatever it is if it’s a week or two weeks what four month like not four months but like

41:05 month like not four months but like whatever your your Cadence is that drives the business more than me saying put your signature down right because if I if if we have an agreement that I’m going to do some work for you my my ask back is you need to be available for questions because if I engage in this work my intent is to knock this work out as quick as possible and that requires you you so from a manager perspective or somebody who’s an individual contributor keeping track of their own work like

41:36 keeping track of their own work like that kind hey I’m I’m going to start up the new cycle here can you engage with me so I can put this in or are you going to wait another two weeks right or another week because if it’s not in this cycle then it’s then it’s getting pushed out and that alone I think drives the the the prioritization in in their heads that okay I I need to make time I can’t I can’t delay this these initiatives because this is my request or they’re going to say yeah I can delay because I

42:06 going to say yeah I can delay because I don’t really need it and then it just keeps getting pushed and pushed and pushed and I that way the process is dictating the prioritization and the the yeah prioritization like the elevation of like need for them as opposed to saying I’m going to start on this this is your signature you got to do it and then they don’t care like if it’s something they don’t care about I think that’s a good segue to step four here because we’ve talked about the long-term goals I think so too and the difference in atast in documentation

42:36 difference in atast in documentation when we’re dealing with tactical planning is rather than thinking 12 to 18 months long term strategically tactical we’re revising or we periodically looking at every one to three three months and whether or not you have the contract or we have the agreement it’s a very interesting take where we’re going to I don’t want to say drastically revise everything we’re working on no but I I think it’s something Seth we talked about I almost want to say years

43:06 talked about I almost want to say years ago at this point but it was about the first time I think we ever really talked about key results in okrs if you don’t have proper okrs they’re not supposed to tell you we didn’t achieve this they’re supposed to help guide you on we need to revise what we are trying to to achieve this was a long time ago and I think that’s where to me I think the re revision of plans because priorities change if our key results are not going to be met there’s a reason for that whether it’s resources the buyin or just

43:39 whether it’s resources the buyin or just there’s other priorities that come up our key results dictate what we’re going to what re what’s revised yes but I I like how they play it in the article here I agree with you Tommy and I think those are I think there’s there’s I really like how they present the you’re going to have to change something there will be pivots coming you have to be flexible enough to adapt to that and this is where I like a lot of the agile and scrim type stuff where

44:09 of the agile and scrim type stuff where okay we have a bunch of things we need to do let’s put them on a list and let’s prioritize which ones we think are most impactful right now what should we do today to make things to deliver stuff so there is a strategic plan which is something that is maybe potentially a really large effort right we’re going to set the plan in the early part of the year and we’re going to work that plan through the whole year a strategic plan may be something along the lines of I’m trying to think of a really good strategic plan there’s a new data source

44:39 strategic plan there’s a new data source you’re bringing out right you have to turn off a certain system flip-flop flipflop your strategic plan is the the long-term plan it these are the high level company or objectives like these should not change I I was thinking I was trying to articulate hey we acquire HED a company and they have Tableau and we’re going to migrate them all to powerbi like that’s a long-term multi- quarter bigger initiative like there’s there’s things that are going to last a long time those are like your strategic plan directionally we’re going to move everything to Azure and we’re going to

45:09 everything to Azure and we’re going to use this thing called Fabric and we’re going to do some that’s a bigger initiative yeah but then under the Tactical planning I like this idea of being able to plan a little bit Implement a little bit okay let’s go back to the plan do we keep doing the plan or do we change a little bit and I do I really do think there’s this need for organization to have some more of a Cadence around what is the plan implement the plan and come back and continue a Cadence and I would recommend particularly around tactical planning I think it helps to have if

45:39 planning I think it helps to have if you’re leading a bi team sit down and think about what you think is most important write up a quick little quarter one quarter two quarter three doesn’t need to be detailed just a couple bullet points and I find by planning those things out and communicating larger bodies of work and what you’re going to accomplish even writing a road map down internally super helpful because then you can give it to your executive leadership and say here’s what we think was important right now they can buy into it and say yes we agree now you’ve got some bigger

46:09 agree now you’ve got some bigger Milestones you can hit across the way now I again I’m also very flexible here we I fully understand like you don’t always get those done sometimes the Milestones push sometimes the Milestones change that’s okay but I do think every quarter you should sit down and evaluate what is your plan what are you to accomplish and keep working through this this is something personally that I do in our family we sit down as a family and we make goals for the year what do we want to accomplish what are some financial goals what are some personal goals what are some health goals we we figure out kind

46:39 some health goals we we figure out kind some health goals we we figure out at a high level we do the Strategic of at a high level we do the Strategic plan put it down on paper and see how we get across the whole year sometimes we’ll do a little bit of pivoting if we need to but then tactical planning is more of like I see like okay kids got to go to places who’s taking kids where right and then those plans potentially can change and shift under the hood here but the the bigger objectives are consistent and I think even just just the fact that you write things down very

47:09 the fact that you write things down very important I I think that just writing things down helps you get things done yeah yeah I another recommendation I have in here and the reason I think that that cycle of tactical planning where you’re planning planning implementing is important is because you implementing is important is because nothing’s ever perfect so if you’re know nothing’s ever perfect so if you’re committing to doing something in q1

47:31 committing to doing something in q1 because it’s a high priority and you complete almost everything else when Q2 starts it’s a chance to reevaluate whether or not you pull in more resources to solve something that wasn’t done in q1 to knock it out and then move on right the other thing that’s really effective here especially if you’re working with other PMS or product teams or whatever the case may be but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that is is introducing capacity planning in here as well there’s there’s a finite amount of time right so if what

48:03 amount of time right so if what your backlog is all the things that need to be executed on and you’re estimating what these things look like you can you can communicate to the business what it is you’re going to be get it get done in q1 right that that allows you to be very specific in your plans and have everybody understand like what are the things we’re going to execute on now sometimes that’s harder and we’re like it’s going to be buckets of time for certain activities especially with business intelligence like where we

48:33 business intelligence like where we would need the business to ask for the things and they don’t plan that far ahead so like it’s going to be by need but then there are certain things like to your point Mike we’re gonna we have a larger effort so in q1 we have like to move to fabric so in q1 we’re going to migrate these three things or we’re going to do this and this and this right so you can then already a lot and say hey one of the Strategic priorities for the organization is this big thing and we’re throwing 70% of our time there so that only leaves 30% right and having these

49:03 only leaves 30% right and having these in your swim lanes for planning and road map and communication are really pivotal and really helpful when the fire drills start which they will when somebody else needs your time another and I just want I’m not gonna I’m not gonna back up but like right above this section of the previous one ending that Mike wanted to dive into and I started talking about process is a great layout of like objectives how do you break those apart into key results etc etc which align with this conversation I just want to interject that that people

49:34 just want to interject that that people read that that’s a great example one part of the the revisionist part is it’s a perfect opportunity doing it well for acquired knowledge because when you start off with your priorities and your backlog those words on that paper or on that document are going to have a very different meaning to you than they are to the business like we’re going to do workspaces and we’re gonna have powerbi apps I doubt highly or i’ be willing to bet that the likes betting he’s a dangerous man I’m D that’s why I’m not

50:05 dangerous man I’m D that’s why I’m not going to going to Vegas but I’d be willing to assume that the all the words that are on the paper for business intelligence don’t have the same meaning to the business initially because they don’t know what what the real impact is yet each revisionist each time you revise and go through a three-month process you are now giving the business the acquired knowledge of what what real impact is that going to provide for me so you start small the first time we’re

50:35 so you start small the first time we’re going to say here’s our objectives our key results for our our tactical planning start small because to the business they’re going to go sounds great but I don’t have the same intimate knowledge of what impact this can do I’m assuming because you’re telling me but I don’t know I don’t know how this is really going to impact my team you go through three months of we’re working on apps and they go this is fine but I now know I Now understand what the impact is let’s try to focus on something else or I really like this let’s push this because I can actually I have the wisdom

51:06 because I can actually I have the wisdom now you’re now giving the business in each of these re revised calls and each of these revised planning better knowledge of all the technical and solution planning because now they actually understand it or they can understand more importantly what that impact is so if I were to go through the that first stage I start small then I allow them to look again to go okay now that you understand some of these elements you understand the components you understand the meaning of these

51:37 you understand the meaning of these words where do we want to focus or do you like this Focus I think these people don’t know what they don’t know and again you’re giving them something new you’re using a new tool yeah people don’t know how long certain things take you may ask for this data set every every single project I’ve worked on everyone’s like oh yeah the data is clean we got a start schema we know how to do it all here it comes just build the model and then build the reports and then I get into it and we’re like yeah I hear what you say but we’re

52:07 like yeah I hear what you say but we’re not quite there like it’s not dialed in yet for where I would say we’re we you we really understand what the know you we really understand what the data is doing so I feel like there’s always a bit of a like a to your point Tommy a little bit of an education it’s a little bit of a bumpy road here getting things started so people have to start figuring things out and getting comfortable with how we’re going to do the work and your goal like people change like we need realtime data I need our first priority get started that like we need this refresh three

52:37 that like we need this refresh three time 10 times a day do you okay we’ll try that as one of our tactical plans three months later it’s like how much has that helped you well not so much okay so let’s pivot here yes agree I feel like there’s a lot of times that I work with companies teams whatever where right now the priorities are something but if if we think about it and we work on it for a little bit very quickly the priorities change to something else and

53:08 priorities change to something else and sometimes when you’re in like chaos mode you’re constantly switching topics or constantly switching so much that you’re not able to actually put any strategic plans in place so sometimes it’s just sometimes you do this and you’re like I need to just block and tackle right now we’re in a place where things are chaotic we’ve just got to deal with these chaos things until we can get things stable enough for us to step back and start strategically planning for things too it also stresses consistent communication too right because this is something you’re forced to go back to and the consistent communication to me brings consistent Ling Linguistics

53:41 brings consistent Ling Linguistics brings cons consistent wording that when I say something it’s going to mean the same thing to you because we both know what the word means what does that bring a better data culture so to me this tactical revisionist one to three months planning is going to keep everyone at least growing towards the same goals because we know what the words mean we have the same definitions agree any well we’ve burned through a full hour here I think we’re about at the time where we want to kind about at the time where we want to just do final thoughts and wrapping of just do final thoughts and wrapping thoughts here so let’s do a quick

54:12 thoughts here so let’s do a quick final thoughts or wrap up summary ideas here Seth let’s go through you first what’s some final thoughts and what stood out to you for these next two sections of article love the whole solution versus initiative I think that’s going to drive a lot of change in in my world I think key takeaways also Central portal put put things there put put a put a an area for area for communication as you as you work through the new processes and and getting into driving

54:43 and getting into driving towards Solutions and initiatives I I think overall like just a really well put together section within the article and a lot of key key points that people should plug into Tommy any final thoughts here no I think the ability to segment the difference between we’re going to do all these solution-based things or initiative based things allows the business to understand the resources available and helps them think to in a limited scope in in a very positive way where we’re not going to boil the ocean

55:14 where we’re not going to boil the ocean let’s really try to prioritize and then the ability to revise and to have consistent feedback and to have consistent calling aligns everyone cons growing towards the same goal over time we know this is not going to happen in a week or after one call I’d agree with that one yeah I think I think I’m going to pull away from this one is again I liked your point Seth and I think I resonated very well with splitting out Solutions and initiatives they’re two different things and I think emphasizing initiatives

55:45 and I think emphasizing initiatives are a bit longer and more strategic in nature they may not have a they still have measurable things but you measure them differently and and solutions may have more of an end point in time where initiatives potentially will span multiple quarters or years as you continue to invest in those things but both I think are important like you can’t do one without the other all right with that thank you all very much appreciate your time today this has been a great episode if you like this episode our only request is if you please would share it with somebody else if you got some value from this you

56:15 if you got some value from this you like what we hear from the topics you got a couple laughs and hopefully learn some new things or are able to digest some of the Microsoft documentation with us we love that that’s what we’re that’s why we do this because we want to just keep teasing out and refining how we think about powerbi and what we can do to make it be more effective in our in our companies Tommy where else can you find the podcast and you can find us everywhere you can find us on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcast make sure to subscribe and leave a rating 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

56:47 episode head over to powerbi tips podcast leave your name so we can reference you and a great question finally join us live every Tuesday and Thursday a. m. Central and join the conversation on all of powerbi tips social media channels excellent thank you all very much and we’ll see you next

Thank You

Thanks for listening to the Explicit Measures Podcast. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform.

Learn more about our work at Explicit Measures and PowerBI.tips.