We Made It! Episode 500 of Explicit Measures

We did it! 🎉 Episode 500 of the Explicit Measures podcast is officially in the books. After five years, two hosts, countless guests, and thousands of hours of conversation about Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, and now AI—we’ve hit a major milestone.

Top Shorts From Episode 500 (Most Viewed)

If you want the fastest highlights, here are the top 3 most-viewed Shorts from Episode 500 so far — embedded below and sprinkled through the post where they fit best.

500 Metrics? Focus on Actionable Steps

A quick reminder that metrics only matter if they drive a next step.

A Musical Surprise

The episode kicked off with a bang—literally. After weeks of secret planning, we unveiled a brand new intro song for the podcast. Even better? The full track “EMP Forever” is now officially released on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms.

Yes, PowerBI.tips is now officially a music production studio. Look up the band “PowerBI.tips” on Spotify and check out the track!

Reflecting on 5 Years

Tommy and I took a trip down memory lane, rewatching clips from our earliest episodes. Some highlights:

Episode 1 Predictions

Back in 2021, we predicted Microsoft would build a web-based modeling experience for Power BI. At the time, all development was desktop-only. Fast forward to today: 90% of what we do is in the browser. Data engineering, semantic models, even report building—it’s all cloud-first now.

The Landscape Has Changed

• No Fabric existed 5 years ago
• Large language models weren’t even a thing (Siri was “AI”)
• Desktop was everything—we told clients to never build reports in the service

Now? We’re building notebooks, using Copilot, deploying agents, and barely touching Power BI Desktop for many workflows.

The Big Themes

AI Is Here—For Real This Time

January 2026 was an “aha moment” for Mike. The barriers to building have completely collapsed:

“I rebuilt my entire website in one night. I don’t write blog posts anymore—I tell my agent to download a YouTube transcript, summarize it, and format a post. I’m done.”

The key insight: AI isn’t here to give you answers from data—it’s here to help you build faster. It’s a builder, not an oracle.

The Skills That Matter Now

We had a spirited debate about what skills matter in this new world:

1. Communication over coding — If you can listen, empathize, and articulate requirements, you’re golden
2. Prompting is the new programming — Understanding context windows, tokens, and how to work with agents
3. Principles don’t change — Dimensional modeling, data governance, understanding filter context—these foundations remain critical
4. Let the agent handle syntax — You’ll write substantially less code. Focus on what to build, not how

500: Data Skills and Coding in Future?

Why communication + AI leverage are becoming the real differentiators.

Tommy’s Maximums

Tommy used AI to analyze hundreds of hours of our conversations and distilled them into manifestos. Some favorites:

• “Communication always comes first” — Master listening and clarifying before diving into solutions
• “Focus on results that save money or make money” — If your report doesn’t do either, don’t build it
• “Presentation skills open doors” — Learning to present findings with clarity will earn trust and opportunities

Looking Forward: The Next 500

Our bold predictions for the coming years:

1. 2026 will be the year of agentic Fabric — AI that builds solutions, not just answers questions
2. Code barriers will disappear — Anyone who can communicate well can build applications
3. The conductor’s era — Your job is to orchestrate agents, not write every line yourself

500: Data Solves Business Problems

The north star: tie every report (and every build) to saving money or making money.

The AI Music Video Finale

Mike closed the show with an AI-generated music video tribute featuring animated versions of Tommy and Mike dancing to the “EMP Forever” track. It’s… something you need to see to believe.

“No scripts, just fire!” — An actual lyric from the AI-generated rap

Thank You

To everyone who’s listened over 500 episodes—thank you. We would do this even if no one listened (we enjoy arguing that much), but knowing you’re out there makes it infinitely better.

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.

Here’s to the next 500! 🎉

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Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.