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

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Episode Transcript

Introduction & Surprise

00:00 — The episode kicks off with the brand new intro song “EMP Forever” — Mike’s surprise for Tommy, who is visibly emotional seeing it for the first time.

01:00 — Announcing the official release of “EMP Forever” on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms. PowerBI.tips is now officially a music production studio with about 40 tracks in the works.

03:00 — New video format announcement: switching to top-and-bottom vertical layout optimized for shorts and social media clips.

Celebrating 500 Episodes

05:00 — Reflecting on consistency: 500 episodes without missing a single week since 2021. Mike jokes he comes to the podcast more consistently than the gym.

06:00 — Thank you to the community for showing up, engaging, and giving ideas. Announcing giveaways: jerseys and PowerBI.tips subscriptions.

Looking Back: Episode 1 Predictions

10:00 — The origin story: Mike and Tommy realized during long phone calls about Power BI that there was something here — the “water cooler” conversations about what actually works in organizations, beyond just technical how-tos.

15:00 — Rewatching Episode 1 predictions: They predicted Microsoft would build web-based modeling for Power BI. At the time, everything was desktop-only. Now 90% is in the browser.

The Landscape Has Changed

20:00 — Discussing Customer 360 and fabric capabilities. How mirroring and shortcuts could finally provide a holistic view of customer analytics across CRM, Dynamics, and Salesforce.

25:00 — The fundamental question: Is it technology, people, or process that slows companies down? Tommy argues you can only move as fast as the slowest person in the organization.

30:00 — You need buy-in from the people who will use the solution, not just the engineers. The word “value” matters — but who perceives that value?

AI Is Here — For Real This Time

35:00 — Behind-the-scenes reality: No interns, no production team — just Mike, Tommy, and Claude. Technical difficulties happen because it’s a two-person shop.

40:00 — Mike’s bold prediction: “In a year we’re going to write substantially less code.” He doesn’t want to learn or write code anymore — the bot is learning faster from everyone’s code in the world.

45:00 — AI as a builder, not an oracle: “You don’t want the agent to write back to you the answer from the data. You want it to reduce the price for me to build stuff.” Trust the SQL query it wrote, trust the visual it styled — that’s the agentic space.

50:00 — Prediction for 2026: “The year of agentic Fabric.” AI isn’t there to tell you answers — it’s here to partner with you to create applications. Tommy respectfully disagrees, setting up a future bet.

Tommy’s Maximums

55:00 — Giveaway reminder: Comment your favorite episode and why on YouTube, LinkedIn, or X to win jerseys and subscriptions.

1:00:00 — Reviewing Tommy’s AI-generated “maximums” from analyzing hundreds of hours of podcast conversations. First maxim: Don’t just show numbers — show numbers that meet a threshold or goal. Too many metrics leads to nothing being looked at.

1:05:00 — The core principle: If it doesn’t make you money or save you money, don’t do it. This is the t-shirt that needs to exist.

The Conductor’s Era

1:10:00 — Communication is the most fundamental skill. Embrace having things built on your behalf, but understand the problems you’re solving. Empathy and understanding remain critical even when AI does the building.

The Music Video Finale

1:15:00 — Mike unveils the AI-generated music video featuring animated Tommy and Mike dancing to “EMP Forever.” Tommy’s reaction: “There may be some licensing or lawsuit…” Favorite line: “No scripts, just fire!”

1:17:00 — Episode wrap-up: Join live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 AM Central. Thank you for 500 episodes!

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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.