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280 posts
March 6, 2026
Mike and Tommy break down what it really means to start a Fabric implementation the right way, from setting expectations early to choosing practical first moves that won't box teams in later. They also cover a coming permissions change for Fabric data agents that makes semantic models easier for more people to use.
March 4, 2026
Mike and Tommy explore AI-assisted TMDL workflows and the hot reload experience for faster Power BI development. They also cover the new programmatic Power Query API and the GA release of the input slicer.
February 27, 2026
Mike and Tommy dive into the February 2026 feature updates for Power BI and Fabric, with a deep focus on the new input slicer going GA and what it means for report filtering. The conversation gets into filter overload — when too many slicers and options hurt more than they help.
February 25, 2026
Mike and Tommy debate the implications of AI on app development and data platforms, then tackle a mailbag question on whether field parameters hinder Excel compatibility in semantic models. They explore building AI-ready models and the future of report design beyond Power BI-specific features.
February 20, 2026
Mike and Tommy dive deep into what it means to live in a Direct Lake world, exploring the practical realities of building semantic models on top of Fabric lakehouses. They cover the trade-offs, gotchas, and best practices for teams making the shift from Import mode to Direct Lake.
February 18, 2026
Mike and Tommy unpack what a report developer should know in 2026 — from paginated reports and the SSRS migration trend to the line between report building and data modeling.
February 13, 2026
Mike and Tommy dive deep into whether Microsoft Fabric has earned our trust after two years. Plus, the SaaS apocalypse is here, AI intensifies work, and Semantic Link goes GA.
February 12, 2026
Episode 501 covers the new OneLake Catalog updates, AI's impact on workplace productivity, and strategies for organizing workspaces in Power BI.
February 12, 2026
Is being late to the data game actually an advantage? We explore AI readiness, the power of coding agents like OpenClaw, and why the conductor's era is here.
January 29, 2026
Mike and Tommy tackle a mailbag question about defining problems before choosing tools — and why goal setting matters more than ever in a world where AI lets you build anything. Plus, the January 2026 Fabric feature updates drop with 17 noteworthy items.
January 28, 2026
Mike and Tommy dive into a listener mailbag question about connecting a local VS Code desktop to a remote Fabric Jupyter kernel — unpacking the tradeoffs of local vs. cloud development, custom environments, cost optimization, and why OneLake File Explorer might be the missing piece. Plus, AI-generated music as a metaphor for the future of data engineering.
January 23, 2026
Mike and Tommy tackle a listener mailbag question: is the word 'experience' being overused in the Fabric and Power BI world? Plus, a surprise January Power BI Desktop release and Mike gushes about deployment pipeline improvements nobody announced.
January 21, 2026
Mike and Tommy unpack a viral LinkedIn article where a consultant saved a client $57,000 per year by moving from Fabric F64 to Premium Per User — sparking a bigger conversation about when Fabric actually makes sense, licensing confusion, and the tipping points that justify the investment.
January 16, 2026
Mike and Tommy unpack Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for Power BI and Fabric — what they are, how to use them, and whether organizations should be turning them on today. Plus, a deep dive on what makes AI agents actually useful versus just impressive.
January 14, 2026
Mike and Tommy kick off 2026 asking the big question: will AI drive Fabric's success? They share their real AI toolkits, debate the future of consulting in an agent-powered world, and brainstorm how Claude Code and agent skills could transform their daily workflows.
January 9, 2026
Mike and Tommy hand out their completely made-up Fabric Awards for 2025 — from 'Most Likely to Be Disabled by IT' to 'This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.' Plus, Marco Russo confirms what they've been saying all along: notebooks win.
January 7, 2026
Mike and Tommy share their 2026 Fabric resolutions — from doubling down on Power BI embedding and data warehouses to validating AI-generated code and building custom workloads. Plus, Microsoft acquires Osmos to bring agentic AI to Fabric data engineering.
January 2, 2026
Mike and Tommy revisit Dataflows Gen 2 after giving it a hard time for months — and the verdict? It's actually good now. New parallelization, modern query evaluation, and smarter pricing make it a real option again. Plus, the PBIR format admin setting and creative image visual tricks.
December 31, 2025
Mike and Tommy unpack Fabric IQ's new ontology feature and why it will create friction in organizations—from cultural resistance to political turf wars over data definitions. They explore MCP vs. IDE workflows and debate whether businesses are mature enough for enterprise-wide semantic alignment.
December 26, 2025
Mike and Tommy exchange Power BI and Fabric feature wishlists in a holiday Secret Santa format, proposing everything from sticky notebook cells to integrated Python notebooks in desktop. A fun Christmas special packed with product ideas that could reshape the developer experience.
December 24, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the emerging 'Intelligence Developer' role—a new position shaped by AI and Fabric IQ that shifts focus from metrics to dimensions and data governance. They also recap the biggest SQL, Fabric, and Power BI developments of 2025.
December 19, 2025
Mike and Tommy ask the big question: who in your organization is going to build the Fabric IQ ontology? They explore a 'backwards' approach—starting from semantic models you already have—and debate whether the BI team, data governance, or a new role should own it.
December 17, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the new 1-click notebook experience for Power BI semantic models, including Semantic Link integration and what it means for BI developers moving into Python and Spark workflows. Plus, how Fabric's forecasting service makes Spark notebooks feel instant.
December 12, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore what data governance looks like in the Fabric IQ era, unpacking how ontology changes the governance conversation from policing data to defining business meaning. Plus, notebooks in pipelines now support service principals and workspace identity.
December 10, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down what it means to model semantic models directly in the Power BI service—why it’s a big deal for Mac users, collaboration, and faster iteration. They also highlight version history as a safety net for live edits and discuss how the web experience changes the modeling workflow.
December 5, 2025
Mike and Tommy recap Microsoft Ignite and the November 2025 updates across Fabric, OneLake, and Power BI—highlighting Fabric IQ, data integration improvements, and platform tooling. They also share practical ways they’re using AI for productivity, from meeting facilitation to developer workflows with Claude Code.
December 3, 2025
Mike and Tommy reflect on rebuilding data environments using lessons learned—why semantic models and shared definitions matter more than ever as teams scale. They connect the dots between metric stores, governance, and the push toward a unified semantic layer in Fabric and Power BI.
November 28, 2025
Mike and Tommy react to the argument that centralized data teams become bottlenecks—and explore why embedding data ownership inside product teams can deliver faster, more relevant outcomes. They discuss the tradeoffs: governance, consistency, and how to avoid replacing one silo with many.
November 26, 2025
A consultant managing 120+ Power BI dashboards across 70 school districts asks: what's the best way to track app-level usage at scale? Mike and Tommy break down the monitoring landscape—from built-in usage metrics to admin APIs and Fabric capacity metrics.
November 21, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle one of Fabric's most confusing topics: how to design and manage workspaces when you're juggling branching, deployment pipelines, and a growing number of artifacts. They share patterns that work and anti-patterns that create chaos.
November 19, 2025
Another mailbag episode where Mike and Tommy emphasize the most important question in any data project: what problem are you actually trying to solve? Before picking tools, building pipelines, or designing models—start with the why.
November 14, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the concept of a 'semantic bridge'—connecting semantic layers across platforms like Power BI, Databricks, Snowflake, and dbt. They compare approaches to semantic modeling across the industry and discuss what it means for cross-platform analytics.
November 12, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle the messy reality of source control in BI—branching, merging, TMDL, save-to-folder, and whether BI teams are ready for real git workflows. Plus, the Microsoft SQL Community Conference gets announced.
November 7, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the evolving role of AI in semantic modeling—from Anthropic's MCP code execution to TMDL-aware AI workflows. They also discuss 'context rot' and what happens when AI assistants lose track of long conversations. Plus, new Data Agent improvements and the upcoming card visual migration.
November 5, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore developer experience (DevEx) in the BI world—what makes tools stick, why UDFs (User Defined Functions) in DAX are a game-changer, and how Tabular Editor's TMDL scripts and notebooks fit into modern BI development workflows.
October 31, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down Fabric's Real Time Intelligence for Power BI professionals—what it is, when you need it, and how to get started with KQL and event-driven data without leaving the Fabric ecosystem.
October 29, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore how data modeling changes when your source data comes from event-driven systems rather than traditional transactional databases. They discuss the shift from state-based to event-based thinking and what it means for semantic models.
October 24, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into the quirky world of DAX measure totals—why they don't always behave as expected and what Daniel Otykier's research reveals about the underlying mechanics. Plus, dbt Labs gets acquired by Fivetran and Dataflows Gen2 gets a performance revolution.
October 22, 2025
Mike and Tommy debate the big question: should you migrate from PBIX to PBIP? They break down who benefits most from the new project format, whether it's too developer-heavy for business users, and what the migration path looks like.
October 17, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the concept of 'action systems'—AI applications that don't just analyze data but take action on it. They cover the Anomaly Detector and Maps announcements from FabCon Vienna, plus OneLake diagnostics and Data Agent CI/CD support.
October 15, 2025
Mike and Tommy take a deep dive into Fabric's Real-Time Intelligence workload—what it is, how Eventhouses work, and why it represents a paradigm shift from batch analytics to event-driven decision making. Plus, metric sets deprecation and OneLake Table APIs.
October 10, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the intersection of Data Agents and semantic models—how well-built models become the foundation for AI-powered data experiences, and what best practices look like for configuring agents that actually deliver useful answers.
October 8, 2025
Mike and Tommy follow up on their subscriptions episode with listener feedback and real-world use cases. They explore creative ways to use Power BI subscriptions for driving adoption, delivering data to non-technical users, and automating report distribution.
October 3, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle the identity question: is Fabric a BI platform, a data engineering platform, or something else entirely? They discuss where Power BI fits in the bigger Fabric picture and whether BI professionals need to expand their skill sets. Plus, Copy Job and Dataflow Gen2 updates.
October 1, 2025
Mike and Tommy take a deep dive into DAX User Defined Functions—one of the biggest additions to the DAX language in years. They discuss the potential impact on model development, code reuse, and the emerging DAX library ecosystem.
September 26, 2025
Mike and Tommy rank Fabric features in a pyramid format—from the single most essential feature at the top to the supporting cast at the base. A fun exercise that reveals what they think matters most in the Fabric ecosystem right now.
September 24, 2025
Mike and Tommy recap FabCon Vienna—the big announcements, the September Fabric feature summary, the new extensibility toolkit, and calendar-based time intelligence. A packed episode covering the European conference highlights.
September 19, 2025
Mike and Tommy compare composite models and reusable datasets—two approaches to sharing and extending semantic models across teams. They also react to Translytical Task Flows from listener feedback in their 'Beat from the Street' segment.
September 17, 2025
Mike and Tommy share first impressions of Fabric Data Agents—what's promising, what's still hype, and how multi-agent orchestration with Copilot Studio fits in. Plus, smarter agent instructions and a Chicago Fabric crash course meetup.
September 12, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle one of the most common Fabric questions: how do you plan and size your capacity? They walk through Microsoft's capacity planning tools, estimator, and optimization strategies to help teams right-size their Fabric investment.
September 12, 2025
If you had a magic wand and could add any feature to Fabric, what would it be? Mike and Tommy riff on Stephanie Bruno's LinkedIn post about dream Fabric features, sharing their own wish lists and debating what would have the biggest impact.
September 5, 2025
Mike and Tommy kick off their accessibility series with an overview of Power BI report accessibility—why it matters, what the standards are, and how to start building reports that work for everyone.
September 3, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive deep into accessibility in Power BI—methods for building accessible reports, process for adoption across teams, and practical tools like KeyTips, color contrast checkers, and Stephanie Bruno's Accessibility Checker. Part two of their accessibility series.
August 29, 2025
Mike and Tommy walk through the Fabric Data Warehouse roadmap—what's coming, what's already shipped, and where warehouse fits in the broader Fabric story. Plus, materialized lake views and notebook UDF integration.
August 27, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss the latest Fabric Data Warehouse improvements—migration assistant, SQL endpoint refresh upgrades, snapshots, and the 'creature comforts' that make warehouse feel more like home for SQL professionals.
August 22, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore calculation groups in practice—one of DAX's most powerful features for reducing measure proliferation and creating dynamic calculation patterns. They reference SQLBI's deep dives and Bernat's practical blog posts.
August 20, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss the evolving role of SQL in Fabric—what's new and coming soon in the SQL analytics endpoint, connecting Fabric SQL to Desktop, and whether SQL is gaining or losing ground in the modern data stack.
August 15, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss the end of Power BI Datamarts—Microsoft's plan to unify datamarts with Fabric Data Warehouse. They cover what this means for current datamart users, the migration path, and whether datamarts ever found their audience.
August 13, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the design considerations between Microsoft Fabric's Lakehouse and Warehouse—when to use each, where they overlap, and how to think about the decision for your organization.
August 8, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss how simplified data ingestion UIs in Microsoft Fabric can lead to unexpected issues, plus Mike previews his upcoming conference talks on report visualization and CI/CD.
August 6, 2025
Mike and Tommy unpack translytical task flows in Power BI—a feature that goes far beyond the Gartner buzzword. Plus news on OneLake as a source for COPY INTO and a new Fabric Notebooks competition.
August 1, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss SQLBI's bold claim that AI in Power BI is ready to pay attention to—driven by MCP servers that let AI agents query and control Power BI. Plus the Fabric July 2025 feature summary.
July 30, 2025
Mike and Tommy celebrate Power BI's 10th anniversary by reflecting on the evolution of the data analyst role. Plus: the default semantic model is finally being sunset, and Fabric data agents get multi-agent orchestration.
July 25, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a mailbag question about the optimal Power BI architecture in the Fabric era versus the pre-Fabric world of dataflows and shared datasets. They explore how the lakehouse, notebooks, and AI agents are reshaping what 'better' really means for data teams.
July 23, 2025
Mike and Tommy answer a mailbag question about building Excel dashboards with future migration in mind. They break down practical steps for making the leap from Excel to Power BI easier — starting with Power Query, tables, and pivot charts.
July 18, 2025
Mike and Tommy refocus on DAX after weeks of Fabric talk. They cover the Power BI July 2025 feature summary, discuss what companies are actually doing about Fabric adoption, and dive deep into the current state and future of DAX.
July 16, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore the concept of numeracy — how well does your team actually understand analytics? They discuss skills matrices for Fabric adoption and whether we can (and should) test for data literacy on our teams.
July 11, 2025
Mike and Tommy celebrate Power BI's 10th anniversary with a reflection on the journey — from the early days of Power BI Designer to today's Fabric era. Plus a Tips+ news announcement.
July 9, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down the Fabric June 2025 update with a rapid-fire draft of the features they’re most excited about. They also cover Copilot inline code completion in Fabric notebooks, shortcut transformations from files to Delta tables, and new data agent data-source instructions.
July 4, 2025
Mike and Tommy dig into a very real Fabric pain point: connections that get created by one developer and become invisible or unusable for everyone else. They share practical governance patterns—especially security-group driven ownership—and what Microsoft could improve to reduce friction and ‘paper cuts’ in team-based pipelines.
July 2, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a mailbag question from a small business struggling to justify Power BI and Fabric over their existing SSRS setup. They break down licensing strategies, the value of the semantic model, and why even small organizations can find the right price point for Fabric.
June 27, 2025
Mike, Tommy, and guest Mathias Thierbach unpack CI/CD branching strategies — Git Flow, GitHub Flow, GitLab Flow, and trunk-based development — exploring how they apply to Microsoft Fabric, the tooling gaps that remain, and practical advice for teams just getting started with source control.
June 25, 2025
Tommy, Mike, and guest Mathias Thierbach unpack what DataOps means for Power BI and Fabric teams — from source control and automated testing to scaling with junior developers. The trio debates whether AI is the key to rapid DataOps adoption and why the click-and-drag approach to Fabric projects won't survive long-term.
June 20, 2025
Mike, Tommy, and guest Matias discuss the top-down and bottom-up approaches to adopting DevOps in Power BI and Fabric teams. From convincing leadership to grassroots adoption with Git integration, they unpack practical strategies for building a DevOps culture in BI organizations.
June 18, 2025
Mike and Tommy are joined by Mathias Thierbach to unpack what DevOps really means for Power BI and Fabric teams — beyond just CI/CD. They cover why source control is the starting line, where automated testing fits (and why Microsoft tooling is still thin), plus how PBIR/PBIP and modern file formats unlock collaboration at scale.
June 13, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a common frustration: how to give report viewers a simple experience without exposing them to the full complexity of Fabric. They explore SharePoint embedding, org apps, dedicated embedding solutions, and the importance of identifying user personas.
June 11, 2025
In Episode 431, Mike and Tommy break down what’s new with Microsoft Fabric CI/CD and what it means for teams trying to bring real DevOps discipline to analytics. They also cover fresh Copilot updates and a practical take on goal setting and skills development in the age of Fabric.
June 6, 2025
Mike and Tommy debate whether your next investment of time should go toward making reports better or making your semantic model AI-ready. They unpack Microsoft's new 'Prep Data for AI' features — AI instructions, AI data schema, and verified answers — and ask the hard question: is the juice worth the squeeze?
June 4, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive deep into Microsoft Fabric shortcuts — from managing connections and creating shortcuts programmatically to using them as data contracts between teams. They explore how shortcuts are changing data architecture patterns and enabling new ways to distribute and govern data across organizations.
May 30, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down what Copilot Standalone for Power BI is and why it changes the consumer experience for chat-with-your-data. Then they role-play a realistic rollout plan—starting with real problems, measurable wins, and AI-ready semantic models instead of a blanket mandate.
May 28, 2025
Mike and Tommy unpack Microsoft Build 2025 announcements through a practical lens — from open mirroring and SQL database tooling to the new standalone Copilot for Power BI. The main topic: a role-play exercise on how you'd actually roll out Copilot standalone in your organization.
May 23, 2025
Mike and Tommy discuss how BI teams can move beyond basic bar and line charts into advanced analytics like Pareto analysis. They explore strategies for introducing these techniques to organizations and getting stakeholders to adopt more sophisticated analytical approaches.
May 20, 2025
Mike and Tommy debate whether the Power BI and Fabric ecosystem is still truly self-service or quietly drifting back toward corporate BI, exploring semantic model-to-lakehouse sync, data contracts, managed self-service, and where the line between central IT and business users really falls.
May 16, 2025
Mike and Tommy unpack TMDL — the Tabular Model Definition Language — tracing its origins from the monolithic BIM file to today's human-readable, file-per-object format. They explore practical use cases in VS Code, from find-and-replace renaming to AI-powered measure descriptions and unused-object cleanup with GitHub Copilot.
May 14, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into the rich ecosystem of third-party and first-party tools that help Power BI developers build, test, deploy, and optimize their models and reports. From SQLBI's comprehensive overview to hands-on favorites, this episode is a toolbox tour for every Power BI practitioner.
May 9, 2025
Mike, Tommy, and special guest Alex Powers deep-dive into squeezing maximum performance out of Power Query—from Excel origins to Dataflows Gen 2 in Fabric. They cover staging defaults, V-Order optimization, query folding, the ELT mindset shift, and why copy-pasting Gen 1 code into Gen 2 will burn your CU budget.
May 7, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into the Power Query skills every Power BI user should master. From essential daily transforms to advanced M language techniques, they break down what to learn first and what to tackle as you level up.
May 2, 2025
Mike and Tommy serve up their half baked ideas for the Power BI and Fabric ecosystem. From wish-list features to wild predictions, this episode is all about thinking out loud.
April 30, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore whether recent Fabric updates change how we should design a lakehouse architecture. With Direct Lake now available in Power BI Desktop and new workspace item limits, the design conversation is shifting fast.
April 25, 2025
Mike, Tommy, and guest Ginger Grant explore what education for a data scientist should look like in the age of Microsoft Fabric. They discuss whether traditional college degrees still hold up, the value of internships, and how the evolving data platform landscape is reshaping what skills matter most.
April 23, 2025
Mike, Tommy, and guest Ginger Grant explore whether now is the right time for data scientists to make the switch to Microsoft Fabric. They dive into the evolving data platform landscape and what a Director of Data should consider when adopting Fabric.
April 18, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle whether data scientists should pay attention to Power BI, featuring a lively discussion on the intersection of data science and business intelligence. Plus, news on Fabric User Data Functions and VS Code custom instructions for Copilot.
April 16, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a community question about whether data science platforms are poised to replace traditional BI tools. They explore where analytics is heading and what it means for Power BI practitioners.
April 11, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down the biggest DAX and semantic model announcements from FabCon 2025. From Direct Lake improvements to DAX calendars and user-defined functions, this episode covers what matters most for Power BI practitioners.
April 9, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down the biggest announcements from FabCon 2025, covering agentic AI capabilities, new warehouse functions, and metadata-driven lakehouse patterns. They also spotlight the Power Designer Workload and Entelexos for Power BI Embedded.
April 4, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle the common request of getting report data delivered straight to users' inboxes via subscriptions. They explore the options, limitations, and best practices for giving people their data in Power BI.
April 2, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into data contracts and how they apply to Power BI and Microsoft Fabric environments. They explore why formalizing expectations between data producers and consumers is key to building trustworthy, scalable data platforms.
March 28, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore how Agile methodology applies to Power BI report development. They discuss iterative design, stakeholder feedback loops, and why treating reports like software projects leads to better outcomes.
March 26, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle how to sell Power BI into an organization already invested in the Google data stack. They break down the practical challenges and strategies for fitting Power BI into a BigQuery-centric environment.
March 21, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into the new DAX Performance Testing notebook from Microsoft's Fabric Toolbox, a powerful open-source tool for automating query benchmarks across cold, warm, and hot cache states. They also cover the latest Tabular Editor releases and code actions features.
March 19, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into the controversial world of pie charts, inspired by a SQLBI article arguing they're not always bad. They also cover using OBSTORE to load arbitrary files into OneLake.
March 14, 2025
Mike and Tommy explore what you can accomplish with just $100 invested in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. They also check out PowerTable's new private preview for building data apps on modern data platforms.
March 12, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive into naming conventions for Microsoft Fabric items and why a consistent structure matters as your workspace grows. Plus, news on AI functions in Fabric and the February 2025 feature summary.
March 7, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a mailbag question from Mehmet about best practices for managing multiple datasets in Power BI. They dive into whether composite models are the right approach for joining data across models.
March 5, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive deep into composite models in Power BI, reviewing how they work and when to use them. They also cover the new Spark connector for Fabric Data Warehouse now in public preview.
February 28, 2025
Mike and Tommy reflect on the journey of a citizen developer growing with Power BI. They share practical advice on leveling up from self-taught report builder to trusted data professional.
February 26, 2025
Mike and Tommy dive deep into SQL databases in Microsoft Fabric — what they are, why they matter, and how to get started. They also cover the new Fabric Quotas feature and debate which social media platform they'd keep if they could only have one.
February 21, 2025
Mike and Tommy celebrate episode 400 and dive into the Microsoft Fabric decision guide for choosing the right data store. They break down when to use a lakehouse, warehouse, eventhouse, SQL database, and more — helping you pick the right tool for the job.
February 19, 2025
Mike and Tommy compare two practical ways to manage small-but-critical reference tables: Power BI Dataflows Gen1 versus a Fabric SQL database. They break down tradeoffs around refresh, governance, CI/CD, and downstream consumption so you can pick the simplest option that still scales.
February 14, 2025
Mike and Tommy dig into what it means for Power BI semantic models to move ‘onto the web’, from editing models directly in the service to live editing Direct Lake models from Desktop. They also connect the dots on governance, versioning, and cost—so you can adopt the new workflows without breaking your production reporting.
February 12, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down what’s new in Semantic Link Labs and why it’s becoming a go-to toolkit for automating Fabric and semantic model workflows with notebooks. They share practical scenarios—from incremental refresh policy updates to operational monitoring—so you can move faster while keeping governance in mind.
February 7, 2025
Mike and Tommy compare the classic Tabular Editor workflow—C# scripting, macros, and model metadata automation—with the newer TMDL-based experience showing up in PBIP and Power BI’s TMDL view. They break down where TMDL makes collaboration and source control dramatically better, and where Tabular Editor still earns its place in a serious semantic model toolbelt.
February 5, 2025
Mike and Tommy walk through their ‘draft’ of the Microsoft Fabric January 2025 update, calling out the changes they think will matter most for Power BI and Fabric practitioners. From TMDL scripting and semantic model version history to Copilot/Q&A improvements and OneLake catalog metadata, this episode helps you prioritize what to test next.
January 31, 2025
In this episode, Mike and Tommy unpack a mailbag question: why are there still so few job listings that explicitly ask for Microsoft Fabric? They break down what’s really happening in the market today and how both job seekers and hiring managers should think about Fabric skills as adoption ramps up.
January 29, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down what Copilot Capacity is and how to think about sizing and governance so your organization can safely roll out Copilot features in Power BI. They share practical guidance for planning adoption, controlling cost, and setting expectations as teams move from experimentation to production.
January 24, 2025
In this episode, Mike and Tommy wrestle with a question they keep hearing: is Microsoft Fabric too complex or too simple, depending on who’s using it? They also dig into the ‘myth of the data catalog’ and why getting clear on definitions and outcomes matters more than buying another tool.
January 22, 2025
Mike and Tommy tackle a common Fabric design question: can you ship analytics by building only a Bronze layer, or do you really need Silver and Gold. They break down what you gain (and lose) when you skip refinement layers, and share practical rules of thumb for keeping models trustworthy, performant, and maintainable.
January 17, 2025
Mike and Tommy dig into a deceptively simple question: can you build Power BI reporting straight off the Bronze layer and call it ‘done’? They break down when it’s a smart shortcut, when it’s a trap, and the minimum guardrails you need to keep raw data from becoming everyone’s problem.
January 15, 2025
Mike and Tommy unpack what OneLake security and data access roles mean for real-world Fabric governance—especially when your data lives behind shortcuts. Then they zoom out to Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry announcements and talk through what it could mean for building AI-enabled apps on top of trusted data.
January 10, 2025
Mike and Tommy break down what Fabric SQL Databases are, where they fit in the Fabric ecosystem, and the scenarios where a relational database is the right tool instead of a Lakehouse. They also cover how this changes your architecture choices and what to watch for as the feature matures.
January 8, 2025
Mike and Tommy revisit Power BI’s core visuals and share practical design and interaction tips that make everyday reports clearer and more trustworthy. They also touch on a Fabric pipeline pattern (pipeline calling pipeline) and how small workflow tweaks can scale your delivery.
January 3, 2025
In this episode, the team breaks down Metric sets in Power BI and why a shared, reusable catalog of KPIs can change how organizations define and trust their numbers. They cover where Metric sets fit in the experience today, what it means for business users, and the practical impact on model design and governance.
December 27, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down the new Org Apps experience in Power BI and how it changes the way you package and ship content to your organization. They cover practical setup patterns, governance considerations, and what to watch for as the feature continues to evolve.
December 25, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth dig into the new Organizational Apps (Org Apps) experience in Microsoft Fabric and how it changes the way teams package and distribute content. They break down what’s different from classic workspace apps, where the feature helps, and the preview limitations you need to understand before rolling it out broadly.
December 20, 2024
The crew digs into OneLake data cataloging and governance: what it enables, where the current gaps are, and what to watch for as Fabric’s governance story evolves.
December 18, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk about the rise of the notebook engineer in Fabric: why notebooks are becoming the default interface for data work, and what good notebook practices look like in real teams.
December 13, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk through report commenting in Power BI: when it helps, how teams can use it effectively, and the gotchas to watch for in real collaboration workflows.
December 11, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack how much ‘knowing data’ matters versus knowing *the* data in your organization, and what that means for your career in analytics. They also dig into practical ways to add narrative context to KPI snapshots—without losing the thread over time.
December 6, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down filter context in DAX—what it is, how it’s created, and why it’s the root of so many ‘my measure is wrong’ moments. They walk through practical mental models for reading a visual’s filters and using CALCULATE intentionally, so you can predict results instead of trial-and-error debugging.
December 4, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down what’s new (and what’s changing) in Power BI’s core visuals, plus what those updates mean for report builders. They also share practical guidance for when to lean on built-in visuals versus custom visuals as the platform evolves.
November 29, 2024
Mike and Tommy debate whether Power BI Desktop should be treated like a true development tool or more like a report authoring environment. They break down what “developer workflow” actually means for Power BI teams—source control, testing, deployment, and repeatability.
November 27, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth dig into listener questions - focusing on datamarts, citizen developer workflows, and how teams should think about tooling and access constraints.
November 22, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth discuss why a clear meeting agenda matters, how it improves alignment and follow-through, and practical ways to run better recurring meetings.
November 15, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down the November 2024 Power BI updates and discuss the latest Power BI pricing changes—plus what to watch for next.
November 13, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth discuss why building an effective team matters for long-term success—and share practical ways to set roles, expectations, and collaboration rhythms that work.
November 8, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth explore how OneLake can accelerate adoption in Microsoft Fabric—covering practical ways to simplify data access, reduce duplication, and get teams moving faster.
November 6, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth discuss Mass-format reports in Power BI—with practical tips you can apply right away in Power BI.
November 1, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth discuss Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced - Ep.368 - Power BI tips—with practical tips you can apply right away in Power BI.
October 23, 2024
In Episode 365 of Explicit Measures, Mike and Tommy dig into the realities of bringing Dynamics/Dataverse data into Microsoft Fabric and what to watch out for in real implementations. They also cover Fabric news and how these platform choices affect teams building reliable analytics at scale.
October 18, 2024
In Episode 364, the crew digs into Domains, Tags, and Workspaces and how they impact organization and governance in Fabric and Power BI.
October 16, 2024
In Episode 363, the crew talks through building more advanced visuals in Power BI and where custom visuals fit into real-world reporting.
October 11, 2024
In this episode, the team digs into the Default Semantic Model—what it is, why it matters, and how to use it in real-world Power BI projects.
October 9, 2024
Mike and Tommy compare Gen 1 vs Gen 2 dataflows, why the Gen 2 experience still falls short in key areas, and when Gen 1 remains the practical choice for Power BI and Fabric teams. They also call out what improvements would make Gen 2 a true replacement.
October 4, 2024
Mike and Tommy dig into the myths and magic around Copilot and what it really means for Power BI users. They share practical guidance on where AI helps today and where you still need strong fundamentals.
October 2, 2024
In this episode, Mike and Tommy wrap up part 7 of their CLM series by focusing on how (and when) to retire and archive Power BI content. You’ll hear practical guidance for avoiding content sprawl while still keeping history, context, and compliance in mind.
September 27, 2024
In this episode, Mike and Tommy dig into how to design practical Power BI workspace policies that keep your tenant organized without crushing productivity. You’ll learn how to think about personas, guardrails, and enforcement so your governance model actually sticks.
September 25, 2024
In this episode, Mike and Tommy are joined by Seth Bauer to break down three common Microsoft Fabric adoption scenarios—when leadership wants it now, when decision-makers are on the fence, and when the org is starting from scratch. You’ll leave with a practical way to frame the conversation, identify the right “Avengers team,” and define what success looks like in the first 30–90 days.
September 20, 2024
In this episode, Mike and Tommy talk through what matters most in your first 90 days at a new job—from building relationships and learning the business to picking early wins that create momentum. You’ll walk away with a practical checklist for setting expectations, avoiding common traps, and proving value fast without burning trust.
September 18, 2024
In this episode, Mike and Tommy continue their Content Lifecycle Management series by focusing on how to support and monitor your Power BI content at scale. You'll learn practical guidance for operationalizing your environment so your reports stay reliable, governed, and easy to improve over time.
September 13, 2024
In this mailbag episode, Mike and Tommy dig into why Power BI self-service adoption can stall and what leaders can do to make it stick. They cover practical governance, enablement, and culture shifts that turn ‘build-it-yourself’ into a repeatable analytics habit.
September 6, 2024
Deployment pipelines are getting a UI overhaul, and it changes how teams compare, deploy, and manage artifacts across stages. In this episode, Mike and Tommy talk through what the new experience means for business teams who want repeatable releases without turning CI/CD into a science project.
September 4, 2024
Content lifecycle management only works if teams can reliably move Power BI artifacts from development to production without breaking what users rely on. In this episode, Mike and Tommy walk through CLM Part 5—deploying content—and talk about the maturity, process, and tooling decisions that make deployments repeatable.
August 30, 2024
Landing the right role in analytics isn’t just luck—it's a mix of clarity, positioning, and doing the unglamorous work consistently. In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk through practical tactics for getting hired, standing out in interviews, and building a path to the job you actually want.
August 28, 2024
Clear naming conventions aren’t just about aesthetics — they reduce cognitive load, make models easier to maintain, and help your team move faster. In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk through practical approaches to naming and the habits that make knowledge transfer stick.
August 23, 2024
Validation is where content lifecycle management turns from a plan into a repeatable, trustworthy process. In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth walk through what to validate, who should validate it, and how to make validation part of your release rhythm.
August 21, 2024
Domains in Microsoft Fabric help you organize content, standardize ownership, and make discovery easier — but they also add a new layer to how teams think about governance. In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk through when domains help, what to watch out for, and how to roll them out without creating chaos.
August 16, 2024
Sharing Power BI reports with free-license users can be confusing — in this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down what works, what doesn’t, and the practical options for organizations.
August 14, 2024
Thinking about a new role or a career move? In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth talk through what to evaluate before saying yes, and how to avoid the traps that look great on paper but hurt later.
August 9, 2024
In this mailbag episode, the crew talks through writeback scenarios in Microsoft Fabric and how to think about building practical, maintainable solutions.
August 7, 2024
In this episode, the crew talks through atomic design concepts and how to apply them to building consistent, scalable Power BI reports.
August 2, 2024
In this episode, the crew walks through practical scenarios for using the OneLake File Explorer and where it fits into day-to-day Fabric and Power BI workflows.
July 31, 2024
In this episode, the team continues the Content Lifecycle Management (CLM) series with a practical look at developing Power BI content and managing changes. They also cover CI/CD updates in Fabric warehouses and share a quick take on the AI bubble question.
July 26, 2024
Mike and Tommy break down how the Power BI Skills Matrix concept translates to the Fabric era and why skills clarity matters when teams ramp up. They also cover the July 2024 updates for Fabric and Power BI, plus a practical beat-from-the-street on PBIP, GitHub, and publishing.
July 24, 2024
Mike, Tommy, and Seth continue the Content Lifecycle Management (CLM) series with a focus on planning and designing content in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI, plus a handful of links and updates from the community.
July 19, 2024
Mike and Tommy dig into the real-world friction points you hit when rolling out a Power BI / Fabric Center of Excellence (CoE), and what to do about them. The conversation focuses on governance, adoption, and how to keep the rollout moving without burning out the team.
July 17, 2024
Mike and Tommy cover Microsoft Fabric GitHub integration news and share practical lessons learned from working with deployment pipelines. The main discussion breaks down SQLBI’s 3-30-300 rule and how it helps teams build clearer, more usable reports.
July 12, 2024
Mike and Tommy discuss how Microsoft Fabric is changing the day-to-day work of Power BI developers and analysts, plus share links and community resources mentioned in the episode.
July 10, 2024
Mike and Tommy kick off a series on CLM (lifecycle management) for Power BI and Fabric, covering core concepts and why teams should care. They also share community links mentioned in the episode and set the stage for practical patterns you can apply in your own deployments.
July 5, 2024
Mike, Seth, and Tommy dig into the return-to-office debate — what mandates get wrong, what leaders should consider, and how data can (and can’t) guide the decision. They also cover Semantic Link updates and community resources shared in the show notes.
June 5, 2024
Exploration creates ideas—but it can also derail delivery. The team talks about how to capture “parking lot” ideas, set boundaries, and turn the best spinoffs into real projects.
May 29, 2024
Task Flows provide a visual way to map end-to-end Fabric work in a workspace. The team discusses why it’s a game-changer for documentation and navigation—and what’s still missing in preview.
May 15, 2024
The team explores the future of data visualization—where AI, natural language, and better storytelling fit, and why fundamentals like modeling, performance, and accessibility still matter.
April 24, 2024
In this episode of Explicit Measures, we discuss the value of demos power bi tips.
April 19, 2024
In this episode of Explicit Measures, we discuss abnormal data documentation.
April 10, 2024
In this episode of Explicit Measures (Ep. 309), the team discusses Microsoft Fabric, AI, and what these changes mean for the future of consulting.
March 22, 2024
Mike and Tommy dig into the quality problem in analytics work — why teams keep shipping brittle solutions and how to change the incentives. They lay out practical habits for raising the end-to-end quality bar, from requirements and modeling to testing and automation.
March 20, 2024
Mike and Tommy talk through practical sharing strategies in the Power BI / Fabric world — what to share, how to share it, and how to avoid turning collaboration into chaos.
March 15, 2024
Mike and Tommy dig into internal design: how to build Power BI/Fabric solutions that are usable, maintainable, and aligned with how your organization actually works.
March 13, 2024
In Episode 301, Mike and Tommy break down the key takeaways from 'Two Edged Swords - Ep.301 - Power BI tips from the Real World'. You’ll hear what matters most for Power BI and Fabric practitioners and what to try next.
March 8, 2024
Episode 300 is a milestone conversation about what it takes to show up consistently and keep learning in public. Mike, Tommy, and Seth reflect on community, career growth, and the habits that make Power BI and Fabric work sustainable.
March 6, 2024
AI can accelerate analysis, but it can’t rescue a weak data culture. In this episode, the crew digs into where the real bottlenecks live—definitions, trust, and ownership—and how teams can use AI as an assistive tool without skipping the fundamentals.
March 1, 2024
TMDL is a promising step toward real source control for Power BI semantic models—human-readable files you can diff, review, and deploy. In Episode 298, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack what’s changing in Desktop and how Copilot can speed up measure documentation.
February 28, 2024
A BI rollout isn’t finished when the report ships. The team wraps up Microsoft’s implementation planning series with practical guidance on training, support, feedback, and monitoring adoption.
February 23, 2024
A listener asks how to help analysts find the unexpected “aha” insight inside a governed Power BI experience—without exporting everything to Excel. The team revisits Ep. 294 and outlines where exploratory analysis fits, what audiences need, and which Power BI/Fabric tools actually enable discovery.
February 21, 2024
A BI rollout succeeds or fails in the messy middle: deployment planning, proof-of-concept reality checks, and a repeatable validation loop with users. In Ep. 295, the team breaks down how to move from strategy to something people trust and adopt.
February 16, 2024
In Ep. 294, the team draws a clean line: analytics turns raw data into meaning; visualization turns meaning into a message. If your Power BI work feels like ‘just charts,’ this one helps you reset the goal—and includes a quick sidebar on why Copilot feels inconsistent across Microsoft 365 right now.
February 14, 2024
Requirements shouldn’t be a dead document—they should be the shared decisions that drive your semantic model, visuals, and rollout. In Ep. 293, the team breaks down solution planning requirements that prevent churn and keep a Power BI build aligned with real business outcomes.
February 9, 2024
Most teams don't need a unicorn - they need clear responsibilities. In Ep. 292, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack why one person owning engineering, modeling, reporting, and governance becomes a bottleneck, and how to scale delivery without burnout.
February 7, 2024
In Ep. 291, the team translates Microsoft’s tactical planning guidance into a simple operating model: ship measurable BI solutions, run enablement initiatives in parallel, and revisit the plan every 1–3 months so priorities stay real.
February 2, 2024
It's mailbag time. In Ep. 290, Mike, Tommy, and Seth answer listener questions on adopting Power BI in a Google/BigQuery environment, surviving terminology changes like 'dataset' to 'semantic model', and balancing process vs. technology as tools evolve.
January 31, 2024
Defining key results is where BI strategy turns into execution. In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth continue their walk-through of Microsoft's Power BI strategy guidance and focus on tactical planning: how to write OKR-style key results that reduce ambiguity, align teams, and make progress measurable.
January 26, 2024
Episode 288 is a practical checklist for gathering semantic model requirements: who the model is for, what definitions must be nailed down, and the constraints (grain, security, refresh) that drive design decisions.
January 24, 2024
Power BI implementation success is won in tactical planning. In Ep. 287, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down Microsoft’s Step 1 guidance: define actionable objectives, prioritize time-sensitive work, choose quick wins that compound, and lay the adoption/governance groundwork without stalling.
January 19, 2024
Creativity in Power BI isn’t decoration—it’s the discipline of making intentional choices (story, layout, emphasis, and interaction) so the report communicates fast and earns trust. Ep. 286 breaks down how to stay creative while still building something consistent and scalable.
January 17, 2024
Strong BI goals turn Power BI from a queue of disconnected requests into an intentional program. In Ep. 285, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down how to define goals you can measure, prioritize what matters, and keep the team aligned as the work scales.
January 12, 2024
Data programs don’t break because DAX is hard—they break because ownership is fuzzy and incentives don’t line up. In Ep. 284, Mike, Tommy, and Seth dig into the politics of data and how to create decision-rights, trust, and accountability that actually scale.
January 10, 2024
Strategic workshops are where BI strategy becomes real: goals get named, tradeoffs get surfaced, and ownership becomes explicit. In Episode 283, the team shares a practical approach for planning workshops that produce a usable roadmap—not just notes.
January 5, 2024
2023 was the year Fabric became the headline and Power BI’s authoring experience kept evolving. In Ep. 282, Mike, Tommy, and Seth review the releases that actually changed how people build, what cooled off, and what they hope improves next.
January 3, 2024
Most BI teams fail by skipping discovery. In Ep. 281, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack Microsoft’s guidance for planning workshops and doing strategic research so you can document business context, choose the right stakeholders, and prioritize the work that matters.
December 29, 2023
Customer 360 isn’t a dashboard—it’s an operating model for joining CRM, marketing, product, and support signals into one story. In Ep. 280, the team breaks down why Fabric’s shortcuts/mirroring + Direct Lake are promising for reducing data-copy chaos (while still forcing you to solve identity and definitions).
December 27, 2023
Ep. 279 is a holiday ‘Secret Santa for Fabric’: Mike, Tommy, and Seth swap feature wish-lists—better admin oversight, smarter lineage and monitoring, smoother migration into Fabric, and tooling that makes semantic models easier to build and trust.
December 22, 2023
Ep. 278 explains Fabric’s Semantic Link—how it connects Python to semantic models—and why that matters for repeatable data-quality checks with tools like Great Expectations (plus quick hits from the December Power BI Desktop release).
December 20, 2023
Ep. 277 breaks down BI strategic planning—how to align outcomes, define ownership and governance, and build an achievable roadmap so your Power BI program keeps momentum.
December 15, 2023
Ep. 276 unpacks Explore (public preview) in the Power BI service—how it helps users slice a semantic model fast, where it overlaps existing features, and what governance needs to be in place for it to scale.
December 13, 2023
Ep. 275 breaks down business alignment for Power BI and Microsoft Fabric—how to connect analytics work to real business outcomes, decision-makers, and priorities. The crew shares practical ways to translate strategy into an operating rhythm your data team can actually execute.
December 8, 2023
Ep. 274 explores Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Analytics—how event streams, KQL databases, and alerting fit together for streaming scenarios. The crew also highlights the practical gotchas: governance boundaries, storing history, and the cost surprises that show up when “easy to turn on” becomes “left running for weeks.”
December 6, 2023
Ep. 273 breaks down two power-user additions: DAX Query View in Power BI Desktop (plus Performance Analyzer integration) and Fabric’s new `DeltaLake.Table` M function—bringing Power Query closer to Delta tables.
December 1, 2023
Ep. 272 breaks down change management for Power BI/Fabric programs—how to make platform shifts stick through communication, enablement, and an adoption rhythm—plus a practical PSA on Direct Lake data-type gotchas in semantic models.
November 29, 2023
Can Tableau plug into Power BI/Fabric semantic models? Yes—but Ep. 271 explains the real tradeoffs: XMLA/SQL endpoints, licensing/capacity cost, and when a shared semantic layer is a migration bridge vs. an operational burden.
November 24, 2023
It’s a mailbag episode: the team breaks down how to ship Power BI content like a product (Apps + Teams), why external sharing is still messy without Embedded, and what to do as Data Marts/Charticulator/Access fade into a Fabric-first world.
November 22, 2023
Ep. 269 breaks down the difference between delivering BI as a one-off project versus operating it as a data product—clear ownership, continuous feedback, and a pragmatic hybrid approach to intake vs. big platform work.
November 17, 2023
Ep. 268 distills the Microsoft Ignite and November 2023 release wave into what BI teams actually need to know: the most meaningful Fabric + Power BI updates, where Copilot fits, and how to roll changes out without breaking governance or capacity.
November 15, 2023
Ep. 267 turns Microsoft’s System Oversight guidance into an actionable playbook: what to monitor, what to standardize, and how to avoid governance-by-surprise. You’ll get practical patterns for balancing tenant controls with empowerment, plus tips for using capacity signals and APIs to keep Power BI + Fabric healthy at scale.
November 10, 2023
Ep. 266 defines managed self-service in Power BI: shared semantic models with clear ownership + certification so business teams can build fast without breaking trust in the numbers.
November 8, 2023
A rapid-fire mailbag: incremental refresh vs full reloads, migrating off Report Server, pragmatic workspace governance, and how Fabric adds new compute choices without changing the core tables→model→report pattern.
November 3, 2023
Low adoption isn’t a mystery—it’s usually a measurement problem. Ep. 264 breaks down how to define adoption for analytics work and which signals (report usage, model reuse, enablement, and outcomes) actually correlate with impact.
November 1, 2023
A tour of Fabric’s underrated workflow accelerators—OneLake File Explorer, Data Wrangler, and Shortcuts—plus a pragmatic look at burstable capacity guardrails and why the Capacity Metrics app should be your first install.
October 27, 2023
Ep. 262 is a practical walkthrough of bringing Azure DevOps + Git into your Power BI / Fabric workflow—using PBIP as the source format—so deployments become repeatable, reviewable, and less fragile as your content moves from dev to prod.
October 25, 2023
Ep. 261 uses a hilarious ‘ordering data like food’ skit to unpack why BI requests derail—panic timelines, shifting requirements, and invisible validation work—and what teams can do to align expectations before the next board-meeting fire drill.
October 20, 2023
Ep. 260 breaks down Microsoft Fabric workspace roles (Admin/Member/Contributor/Viewer) and how to assign them with least-privilege in mind—so teams can build fast without turning every workspace into an admin free-for-all.
October 18, 2023
Ep. 259 asks the question every Fabric builder runs into: does a star schema still matter in a Direct Lake world? The answer: yes—especially if DAX is involved—but Fabric changes where the shaping work belongs (upstream) and raises the bar on governance.
October 13, 2023
Ep. 258 is a reality check for report builders: are your visuals helping people see the insight faster, or making them work harder just to decode the chart? The crew shares practical ways to keep creativity high while keeping cognitive load low.
October 11, 2023
Ep. 257 tackles a super-common reality: executives live in PowerPoint, while the truth lives in Power BI. The crew breaks down when to embed live report pages vs. ship static screenshots, and how to use slides as a bridge to better data culture (without creating KPI telephone).
October 6, 2023
Ep. 256 explores Power BI’s updated Q&A linguistic schema—how richer relationships and shareable synonyms can improve natural-language questions, and why governance is still the make-or-break factor.
October 4, 2023
Ep. 255 outlines a practical Power BI skills matrix you can use to measure team capability, spot gaps and single points of failure, and turn vague 'we need a Power BI person' conversations into a clear hiring and training plan.
September 29, 2023
Ep. 254 explores what ‘SQL in Fabric’ really means—from querying Delta tables in OneLake to the practical gotchas of building lakehouse-style pipelines. You’ll hear why the storage/compute split matters, what it changes compared to Synapse-era patterns, and where Excel-first teams still hit friction.
September 27, 2023
Ep. 253 answers a mailbag question every org is about to face: will Microsoft Fabric’s bigger toolbox overwhelm business users—or can you introduce it without killing self-service momentum? Mike, Tommy, and Seth share practical rollout language, guardrails, and adoption patterns that keep Power BI approachable.
September 22, 2023
Ep. 252 clarifies the analytics job-title soup—data engineer, analyst, BI developer, analytics engineer, and data scientist—by mapping each role to the real deliverables your Power BI workflow needs. The crew shares how to set ownership boundaries so modeling, security, and reporting don’t fall into the cracks.
September 20, 2023
Ep. 251 focuses on where AI genuinely helps (and where it doesn’t) in a BI workflow—turning vague questions into clear requirements, accelerating DAX and documentation, and improving communication—while staying realistic about security, governance, and hallucinations.
September 15, 2023
Ep. 250 tackles the practical question every Fabric team hits fast: what belongs in OneLake, and how do you decide the right boundaries for lakehouses, workspaces, and semantic models. Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down the OneLake vs. lakehouse naming confusion, then land on governance-first patterns that keep shared dimensions, security, and reuse from turning into a data swamp.
September 13, 2023
Ep. 249 uses Jevons Paradox to explain a familiar analytics reality: when BI gets easier, demand for “just one more metric” accelerates. Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack what that means for self-service, governance, and strategy—so your organization gets more clarity, not just more dashboards.
September 8, 2023
This episode breaks down practical Microsoft Fabric workspace design: how to separate environments, clarify ownership, and keep permissions sane as you scale. If your tenant is starting to feel messy, you’ll walk away with a repeatable pattern you can apply to new teams and new data products.
September 6, 2023
Working in data is hard for reasons most org charts ignore: shifting requirements, fuzzy definitions, and the constant translation between business goals and measurable outcomes. In Ep. 247, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down where the friction comes from—and the small process changes that make delivery calmer and faster.
September 1, 2023
Ep. 246 is a practical guide to spotting the difference between Power BI trivia and real capability: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom—and how to hire for (and build) the kind of judgment that survives messy, real-world projects.
August 30, 2023
Moving a Power BI solution from your laptop to the cloud isn’t just ‘Publish’—it’s gateways, credentials, refresh, and ownership. In Ep. 245, Mike, Tommy, and Seth map the operational checklist that keeps a dataset reliable once it leaves Power BI Desktop.
August 25, 2023
Most orgs aren’t short on data—they’re short on agreement and follow-through. In Ep. 244, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down what ‘data-driven’ really looks like: decisions tied to metrics, shared definitions, and a feedback loop that turns insight into action.
August 23, 2023
If you could spend $100 improving Microsoft Fabric, what would you buy? In Ep. 243, Mike, Tommy, and Seth build a no-nonsense wish list centered on cost clarity, stronger lineage, and admin tooling that scales beyond a single team.
August 18, 2023
In Ep. 242, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down a sneaky performance lesson: you can cut render time dramatically without rewriting DAX by rethinking the visual and using constant lines from the Analytics pane.
August 16, 2023
Ep. 241 covers a practical Dataflows Gen2 approach to build history over time—and a bigger lesson: solving data problems means addressing technical, business, and adoption realities (not just shipping a clever automation).
August 11, 2023
Ep. 240 is a reminder that ‘the art of the possible’ isn’t just flashy dashboards—real Power BI/Fabric value comes from automation, clarity on the business outcome, and designing for adoption.
August 9, 2023
Ep. 239 breaks down six practical ways to add context to metrics—comparisons, history, scale, and confirmation—so your Power BI visuals actually drive decisions.
August 4, 2023
Episode 238 is a practical walkthrough of Power BI tooltips—why they matter, where they go wrong, and how to design them so users get answers without leaving the visual. Mike, Tommy, and Seth share patterns for tooltip pages, context-preserving visuals, and performance-friendly designs you can reuse across reports.
August 2, 2023
Episode 237 digs into chartjunk and visual clutter—how it erodes trust, hides the point of a chart, and slows down decision-making. You’ll get practical Power BI design tactics (tooltips, emphasis, and consistency) to add context without turning your report into noise.
July 28, 2023
Ep. 236 breaks down the Fabric ‘SQL vs OneLake’ decision: what’s just different interfaces over the same Delta storage, where governance and permissions still matter, and how to keep architectures understandable as the platform converges.
July 26, 2023
Ep. 235 is a practical episode for anyone stuck in ‘fix the dashboard’ mode: it shows how to trace undesirable effects back to real root causes using a systems mindset. You’ll also learn what Chris Webb’s Fabric tests reveal about Direct Lake ‘data hotness’, capacity limits, and why some queries can quietly fall back to DirectQuery.
July 21, 2023
Ep. 234 breaks down what makes a ‘perfect’ data analyst: not just technical ability, but the communication and business context needed to turn messy questions into decisions. The team also uses Fabric’s data-integration options (pipelines, Dataflow Gen2, notebooks) to talk through tradeoffs, missing ‘table stakes’ features, and what lock-in really means while the platform is still maturing.
July 19, 2023
In Ep. 233, the crew answers a mailbag question on how much detail belongs in a Power BI report—covering model grain, drillthrough patterns, and ways to keep users in flow without turning VertiPaq into a row-level warehouse.
July 14, 2023
In Ep. 232, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down the symbiotic relationship between data governance and data storytelling—why trust, ownership, and clear lineage are what turn dashboards into decisions.
July 12, 2023
In Ep. 231, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack what a “data model” actually is and why it matters—from conceptual diagrams to logical fields and finally the physical star schema you build in Power BI. You’ll learn how clearer modeling conversations reduce DAX complexity, improve trust, and set teams up for scalable, reusable reporting.
July 7, 2023
In Ep. 230, Mike, Tommy, and Seth continue their domain roles series and map out how responsibilities shift as you move from Power BI into Microsoft Fabric. You'll learn practical ways to define ownership, reduce duplication, and build trust using clear governance and promotion/certification patterns.
July 5, 2023
In Ep. 229, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down Fabric domains and why they’re only useful when paired with clear ownership and process. They debate central BI vs. business-led models, workspace roles, and the promotion/certification path needed to keep Fabric enablement from turning into chaos.
June 30, 2023
In Ep. 228, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down PBIP (the Power BI Project format) and what it unlocks for real Git workflows: diffs, pull requests, and repeatable CI/CD. They also discuss Fabric Git integration and why preview features still demand cost and governance discipline.
June 28, 2023
In Ep. 227, Mike, Tommy, and Seth explore what Fabric adoption really requires: governance, ownership, and cost visibility—not just new tech. They debate OneLake discoverability and the ‘lakehouse per dataset’ question, then land on a practical distinction: data quality is the condition of your data, while data governance is the operating model that keeps it trustworthy.
June 23, 2023
In Ep. 226, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack Microsoft Fabric capacities with a cost-first lens: how to read CU consumption, what ‘hidden’ background artifacts can imply for spend, and which controls (like pausing a capacity) help you experiment without getting surprised.
June 21, 2023
In Ep. 225, Mike, Tommy, and Seth unpack why ‘workspaces’ are getting noisier in the Fabric era: new item types that appear automatically, what should be hidden vs. governed, and the simple standards that keep teams productive while the platform shifts under your feet.
June 16, 2023
In Ep. 224, Mike, Tommy, and Seth use Microsoft’s Fabric Decision Guide to clarify when a warehouse-first approach makes sense versus a lakehouse-first approach—and how to pick a default pattern your team can govern consistently.
June 14, 2023
In Ep. 223, Mike, Tommy, and Seth continue the data ingestion series with a pragmatic Fabric lens: when to use pipelines vs. dataflows vs. Spark, what tradeoffs actually matter, and how to standardize ingestion so it’s scalable, governable, and maintainable.
June 9, 2023
In Ep. 222, Mike, Tommy, and Seth use Microsoft’s Fabric Decision Guides to pick practical defaults for ingestion and storage—and explain how to govern those choices so teams stop reinventing the platform on every project.
June 7, 2023
In Ep. 221, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down OneLake and Direct Lake in Microsoft Fabric—what they are, how they work together, and where the sharp edges still are. If you’re trying to pick a durable lakehouse pattern, this episode gives you the mental model for shortcuts, security, and performance before you bet your architecture on the new stack.
June 2, 2023
In Ep. 220, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down Git integration for Power BI in Microsoft Fabric—what version control changes for BI teams, how branches and pull requests map to report development, and the simplest way to start adopting source control without slowing delivery.
May 31, 2023
Ep. 219 is all about Power BI’s evolving button experience—especially navigators and slicer apply/clear patterns—and how a few small UX choices can make reports easier to understand, faster to use, and harder to break by accident.
May 26, 2023
Ep. 218 is a high-energy breakdown of Microsoft Fabric—why it feels like the next evolution of the Power BI platform, and the governance, capacity, and admin decisions you should consider before enabling it broadly.
May 24, 2023
Ep. 217 is a practical conversation about Power Query functions—how to build a small library of repeatable helpers, where reuse breaks down inside PBIX files, and when it’s time to move transformations into shared dataflows or upstream pipelines.
May 19, 2023
Ep. 216 explores where Python fits in the modern Power BI skill stack—why notebooks are creeping into BI workflows, when SQL and DAX still matter more, and practical ways to start learning without derailing your day job.
May 17, 2023
Ep. 215 dives into the March 2023 visual container upgrades—subtitle, divider, and padding—and how they unlock cleaner report layouts. The team also explores viewing PBIX reports directly from SharePoint/OneDrive and what it means for versioning and governance.
May 12, 2023
Ep. 214 breaks down how to collaborate during data exploration—when to pull others in, how to split the work, and how to keep findings reproducible and reviewable. You’ll leave with practical ways to share half-finished work without derailing the project.
May 11, 2023
Ep. 213 is a deep dive into Power BI’s new ability to edit semantic models in the Service—when web-based changes make sense, how they interact with Desktop workflows, and what teams should do now to keep governance and version history intact.
May 10, 2023
Low-code is less about ‘no programming’ and more about accelerating real work with guided UI, defaults, and reusable patterns. In Ep. 212, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down how Power BI, Power Query, Power Apps, and automation fit on that spectrum—and what guardrails and ‘wizard’ experiences would make teams faster without sacrificing fundamentals.
May 5, 2023
Ep. 211 is about treating your report as a communication tool—designed for a specific audience, not a dumping ground for every chart you can build. Mike, Tommy, and Seth walk through a simple way to improve impact: start with the questions you need to answer, define what ‘good vs. bad’ looks like, and lead users from a headline KPI to the details that drive action.
May 3, 2023
In Ep. 210, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down a repeatable way to dissect someone else’s Power BI report—where to look first (selection, bookmarks, and filters), how to spot hidden UX logic, and when it’s smarter to refactor versus rebuild.
April 28, 2023
In Ep. 209, Mike, Tommy, and Seth explore Power BI conditional formatting end-to-end—choosing gradients vs. rules vs. icons, building measure-driven formatting with measures, and avoiding designs that confuse more than they clarify.
April 26, 2023
In Ep. 208, Mike, Tommy, and Seth debate whether the analytics “supply chain” is dying—why a shared metrics trunk and edge-driven feedback loops matter, and what AI changes (and doesn’t change) about BI.
April 21, 2023
In Ep. 207, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down story framing and story forming—how to define audience, intent, and the “so what” before you build visuals, so your Power BI report drives a decision instead of just displaying data.
April 19, 2023
In Ep. 206, Mike, Tommy, and Seth explain why the one-way “analytics supply chain” is breaking down, what defined the second age of analytics, and how AI is accelerating the shift toward product-minded, feedback-driven BI.
April 14, 2023
In Ep. 205, Mike, Tommy, and Seth lay out a simple ‘raise the bar’ framework for business metrics: start with a small set of master metrics, add movement context, and use tiered supporting metrics (rates + drivers) so every KPI leads to a decision.
April 12, 2023
They break down what source control actually buys you in Power BI—safe releases, clear diffs, and parallel work—then map today’s workarounds to what’s coming next. Along the way, they highlight new announcements like TMDL and deployment pipeline change review that push Power BI closer to real CI/CD.
April 7, 2023
In Ep. 203, Mike, Tommy, and Seth break down why ‘it depends’ is a sign of expertise (not dodging): you’re balancing tradeoffs. They draw a clean line between universal best practices and situation-specific optimizations, and share a simple approach for testing performance changes and asking better requirements questions.
April 5, 2023
Ep. 202 defines what success looks like for Power BI admins—balancing governance and enablement, setting the right tenant guardrails, and measuring adoption with signals that actually matter.
March 31, 2023
Ep. 201 explores where AI actually helps in BI (and where it doesn't): it can accelerate drafts of visuals, text, and analysis—but context, audience, and judgment still drive good data storytelling.