Raw Data By P3 Adaptive

Today, Nicole Janeway Bills, community organizer for Data Strategy Professionals, stops by with the inner scoop on data training, cryptocurrency, tokens, scandal, fraud, and the trauma of moving. At the time of recording, Nicole was an employee of FTX. During the podcast, she shared tales of last-minute relocations and the expense of attaining career goals right as an unraveling began. As a full-stack engineer with an exceptional data background, Nicole was able to find the bright side of her incomplete move by utilizing the extra time she discovered to further assist others with their certifications. Among the topics discussed in this episode, Rob and Nicole delve into the perceptions of data people, developers, and engineers. They determine that, historically, having the data gene anecdotally meant you weren’t on the leadership team. Some data professionals were even told to stop talking about data and spreadsheets to move up. Fortunately, times have changed, and a seismic shift has been made to encourage data proficiency for all levels of an organization.   Additionally, just for fun, Nicole shares a subtle meeting tip: Forget Rob’s Scotty Principle on looking busy/important, go with the lunch principle. Eat during the meeting to show that you are working very hard the rest of the day! If that doesn’t work, go with the field principle. Roll up your sleeves for the same effect! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to click the link below and subscribe for weekly episodes delivered directly to your inbox.  Have a data day! Also on this episode: FTX Bankruptcy Yoda Chong and the Treehouse of Wonder, w/ Donald Farmer Medium – Stay Curious OG I Can Has Cheezburger Meme Coach Mike Tomlin interview Crypto-Fantasy Leftists are an Exclusive Tribe, w/ Davis Mattek Speechless Samuel L Jackson: Hostage Scoop Software Hall of Fame: Raw Data by P3 The Software Hall of Fame Website P3 Adaptive Training P3 Adaptive Careers Pulp Fiction: Jules Winnfield Rob Collie Episode of Data Engineering podcast War Pigs Jonah Hill Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

On today’s episode, we sit down with 11-time Microsoft MVP Belinda Allen as she shares her accidental data origin story. As the co-author of two books and a prolific Power Platform blogger, Belinda has a unique perspective on business intrigue, data discoveries, and reporting solutions. With her penchant for pivot tables, she is a classic example of a citizen developer, and she generously shares her knowledge with the communities at large through her writing, public speaking, and training. In fact, for several years she was a top contender in the Excel Shootout series, and while underappreciated, her sentiment analysis provided food for thought and innovative inspiration for businesses across the size spectrum and helped convert many people to the Power Platform.   Today, she joins Rob in a fascinating recollection of the birth of the Power Platform. From the genius evolution of Power BI through the first incarnation of Power Pivot through the initial attempt at Power BI in SharePoint, they followed Siren’s call of DAX and Power Query to navigate the ever-changing waters of data analytics. Together they recount the challenges of mastering the self-serve data revolution while sharing their appreciation for Power BI. Also on this episode: Data Explorer Power Pivot Distinct Count What happened to Microsoft's Convergence conference? Mariana Gomez: Power Platform Flic buttons Seth Goden's blog Chris Wagner Canvas Apps Microsoft's Sentiment Analysis

Today, we reunite two old friends with a penchant for writing books for people adjacent to tech as we welcome Miguel Escobar to the show. If you use Power Query or Power BI, you might have heard of Miguel. He is the co-author of several books on Power Query, Power BI, Power Pivot, and DAX. He is also part of the expert trifecta that created Skill Wave training and he is now an integral part of Microsoft working to make Power Query better for all users. He and Rob reminisce about book deals, DAX, training, and writing in a voice for the people, instead of for the tech giants. But, most importantly, you get the inside scoop on the data-cleaning drudgery that was Excel and analytics before the DAX and Power Query data revolution.  Miguel and Rob trade entertaining stories of how Excel gives people a competitive edge in the job market but somehow remains a fundamentally underappreciated skill during the educational years. After all, it’s not just about the tool, what matters is what people do with it, how they use it, and how it has changed the trajectory of their careers. After hearing a few of these stories, you’re going to want to send a tweet to Tom to encourage him to finally admit that Power Query deserves a spot in the Software Hall of Fame. This episode isn’t all about Power Query, though as we also learn a little about the eclectic taste in music our hosts share as well as some interesting tidbits regarding songwriting and the musical process. Miguel opens up about his passion for music and composition as he shares some personal insight into the process of collaborating and creating music in the digital world. If you listen closely, you can even hear some of his work spliced into this podcast in a musical first for us. Of course, you can hear Miguel’s song: Someday, Somehow (feat. Chris Cron) in its entirety across multiple musical platforms. Be sure to give it a listen and share it with a friend. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help others find us.   Also in this episode: Good Will Hunting – I don’t understand the piano Jerry was a race car driver Miguel Escobar: Geo Flow using Panama's Census Data DAX formulas for power pivot: A Simple Guide to the Excel Revolution Major Key / Minor Key culturally different Box Office Mojo Mr. Excel M is for (Data) Monkey Bell Biv DeVoe Johnny Cash: Hurt Blues Traveler: Hook Rocksmith Guitar Pro Power Query online Software Hall of Fame Podcast Power Query Saves Christmas w/ Gus Miranda

On today’s episode, we sit down with P3 Adaptive’s own Justin Mannhardt to get the inside scoop on delivering results and backing into data infrastructure, aka the origin story of P3 Adaptive’s Solutions Architect Team and the impact it can have on an analytics project. Justin explains the expanded focus to fulfill analytics needs through a more holistic approach to drive adoption and deliver results. With his own experience, he explains how results must sometimes come first as a proof of concept but once results are verified, more support is often needed to ensure a smooth functioning process. Rob often refers to this as the faucet first analogy, and it has the power to convince the exec team that analytics can be fruitful for businesses of all sizes. We don’t just talk shop, though, we also learn how Justin discovered his affinity for data after an educational background in music. And, for fun, you get to hear Justin’s P3 Adaptive Diabolical Assessment story and how he increased his data skills and learned Power BI because he wanted to work for P3 Adaptive. He gets brutally honest about his interview and shares how he exited the process the first time only to come back and ace the process to become one of P3’s finest solution architects! Additionally, you can hear about the recent P3 Adaptive employee retreat in Miami where many of our team met face to face for the first time and, to sound a little cheesy, it was a lot like coming home. Family pranks and tacos by the pool makes a great feel-good story as we come into the holiday season. Finally, if you enjoyed hearing Justin’s story, be sure to catch him next week presenting at the PASS Data Community Summit. Justin will be on site with the P3 Adaptive team sharing his knowledge and presenting a session on snapshotting your CRM data with Azure Synapse. Be sure to catch him live or on the hybrid video feed. If you are in Seattle, stop by the booth and tell him Mullet Man sent you. He’ll know what you mean! Also on this episode: Why was Ronald McDonald cancelled? Faucets v Plumbing blog Bugs Bunny left turn at Albuquerque Mel Brooks - Space Balls Did Cortez burn his ships in the harbor? P3 Adaptive Advanced DAX training Chumbawamba This is Pop Abba episode Def Leppard – Pyromania Rob P3 Fantasy Football gloat video Meatloaf – Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Today’s guest, Gustavo Miranda, started his career in a research adjacent Program Evaluation position using Power Pivot Slicers in a non-Power Pivot table before he was introduced and lured by the power of the Power Platform. He shares his story of how reducing friction and creating automation introduced even non-data people to the concept that data quality matters. Most importantly, though, today you will learn the underdog story of how Power Query saved Christmas during the Kronos Hack of 2021. Get the inside scoop from crisis meeting to crisis meeting until the moment when Gus stood up to save the day. While Gus did the heavy lifting, a task force soon formed to collectively finish the project. While other multi-million-dollar companies were paralyzed, shocked, and attempting to ad-hoc calculate payroll and vacations, often incorrectly, Gus’s task force used Power Query to create an effective solution in time to prevent employees from missing Christmas with their families. Even Tom must agree that tales like this really show the power of Power Query’s ETL abilities. Also in today’s episode, we learn the origin story of slicers in Excel, how Rob and Amir were behind their creation by seducing the Excel team, trading resources, and creating the opportunity for Microsoft to back into needing a separate application to maximize the impact of those slicers. That application? Power BI desktop. In an exciting tale of what could have been, we also hear the story of the Power BI canvas in Excel that was never meant to be as well as the lessons learned: never try to add truly new capabilities to Excel or you end up with Power View. As our friend Scott Esti used to say there are two kinds of people in the world, people who hate Power View and those who haven't used it! All this and more on today’s episode! Be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help new listeners find us. Also on this episode: Nash Equilibrium / Prisoner's Delimma The truth behind recycling Program evaluation He may only need his eyes checked ... Calculation Groups in Power BI Microsoft's Power View Gilligan’s Island theme song Zeno's paradox Gus's P3 Blog - Using Power Query to Transform and Combine Online Statscan Data Matt Masson - Deep Dive Into the Power From the Language Active v Inactive Relationships Kronos hack disrupts payroll Live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas Live action Cat in the Hat Abyss - Bomb at the bottom of the sea (Don't look Tom!) Rumble in the Jungle George Foreman - Muhammad Ali Guns and Roses – It’s so easy Blown Away – Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones Montage Sankey (Diagram) Fight Club - Corn Flower Blue G Rated Fight Club

Today we welcome to the show Scott Louvau, twice retired from Microsoft and now focused on his Relentless Optimizer blog, he is our second twice retired from Microsoft guest. If his last name sounds familiar, it should be. Several weeks back, his partner, Darinee Louvau was our guest. Her absolute enthusiasm caused us to seek out the other half of the equation and invite Scott to share his take on life at and after Microsoft as well as his data origin story. How exactly did Scott go from a small vineyard in North California to being twice retired from Microsoft and what set him on the technological path? Like Darinee, games were Scott’s gateway drug to technology. While growing up in a home with software programming parents, Scott was exposed to how programs work and most importantly, granted access to tinker with the hardware side as well. Frustration with slow gameplay or loading freezes led to the educational process as Scott learned to free up resources, jettison drives, and optimize the remaining parts to make the gameplay better, faster, and longer.  In a time when there was no internet full of resources available, debugging issues was both more challenging and more intense. Back in the day, if you wanted to play, you had to make it work on the system you had. Scott used these hard-earned skills between high school and college as he started working as an internal software developer before switching to a programming track at college, falling in love, and joining the dream team at Microsoft. He found joy in automation both for Microsoft’s clients and for his team, going on to reduce frustration in debugging while increasing optimization in the process.  It isn’t all programming and coding today though, as we also delve into Starbucks Cold Brew Refill Hacks and using AI to dominate game levels.  Stuck on a level of Kingdom Rush? You can find a solution for that and more, in this episode. As always, if you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help others find us. And, be sure to subscribe below for new episodes delivered directly to your inbox. Also on this episode: Tinkering is a way of life w/ Darinee Louvau Apple IIGS Luggable Computer Power Builder Paper Games of Kids in the 90s Terminator gets squashed STUXNET: The Virus that Almost Started WW3 Visual Studio Visual Slick Editor Inverted word index A most generous mentor w/ Microsofts' Dany Hoter Ballmer's Peak Google eats RAM cookies Scott’s Relentless Optimizer Blog Try xForm Kingdom Rush Kingdom Rush AI Boom Beach World of Warcraft Subscription Fees Vanguard ownership/profits

On today’s episode P3 Adaptive Principal Consultant extraordinaire, Narayana Windenberger sits down for a chat on data, travel, and the ethics of the financial markets. Nar is a 5-year veteran of P3 with an unforgettable name and a penchant for being a digital nomad. Whether he is working from the Midwest, Germany, or enjoying hang gliding in San Diego, Nar puts the remote in remote work and regardless of his location, still creates epic analytic masterpieces.  Nar also has the distinction of being the author of a P3 Adaptive blog that shook the Power BI world to its core in 2020 and earned him the title of Power BI Super Villain. His blog on the DAX function invented to optimize other DAX made such an impact that a disclaimer had to be placed to temper the responses. It isn’t all fun and games, though, Nar, Rob, and Tom also delve into the inner workings of financial markets and hedge funds and attempt to differentiate between the evils of a hedge fund and the potential benevolence of a hedge fund manager. When are losses a gain and gains a loss? Listen to today’s episode to find out! Don’t forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help new listeners find our show. Also on this episode: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Tandem hang gliding Why do Hawks Circle Myth Busters: Bubble Trouble P3 Blog: Distinct count in PowerPivot V2 is Much Faster Ray Dalio: Principles Former Facebook Executive Eminem I'm Still Standing Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Far Side comic: Wolves/Neighbors P3 Blog: OPTIMIZEDAX Good Will Hunting The Software Hall of Fame, w/ Microsoft’s Conor Cunningham What is Data May Never Die, w/ Scree Chess online

Simon Peyton Jones, educator, researcher, and information guru, discusses programming languages and their impact. He also explores Excel as a programming language and introduces computer science to children. The value of using Excel in education is highlighted, as well as the relationship between board games and programming. They also discuss developing a programming language for virtual reality and the intersection of opportunity, passion, and talent.

Today we bring in the big guns, a Microsoft MVP and Power Platform advocacy team lead, and a true Power Platform aficionado: April Dunnam. In the realm of social media, April is known as the Woman who Codes, the SharePoint Siren, and the Karaoke Queen with a passion for all things Power: Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, and Power Pages. In this episode we get April’s origin story, starting with the moment she was the intern tossed into the deep end of the SharePoint pool, all the way to her personal discovery of the better way. April shares her philosophy on bringing people to the dark side of app building: First, find someone who has a certain level of curiosity and knows there has to be a better way. Those are the future Power Apps Citizen Developers. Hook those people with the polished side by showing them a functional app, then reel them in through the backend drag and drop, no code, low code magic that is the Power Platform. April explains that people tend to have a short attention span; they need the finished product before you show them how simple the build process can be. Later on, Rob and April discuss the biggest opportunity for improvement in the Power Platform, the lack of a consistent programming language. With the build-by-example function in Power Apps, the technology is growing and, April suggests that one day there may be a unified Power language. Until then, Rob will continue to hate M and use his phone-a-friend card for help in Power Query. All this and more in this episode. And don’t forget, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help others find our people-centric data podcast. Also in this Episode: April Dunnam’s Youtube Paul Giamatti Le Café de Balzac The Evolution of SharePoint w Denise Traboona and Adam Harmetz The Man of a Thousand Jobs w/ Kevin Overstreet Lego Mindstorms InfoPath Into the Dataverse w/ James Oleinik Power Virtual Agents GitHub CoPilot and GPT-3 Power Users Microsoft Site April O’Neil - TMNT

In today’s episode, we welcome Eric Vigesaa of Microsoft to the show. This special guest has a decades-long relationship with our host.  According to Rob, Eric can always be counted on as a partner in cynical observations. Rob describes Eric as one of the rare breeds that enjoy the excitement of building an emergency solution. Someone who prefers a shorter distance between the software and the problem. The closer he is to impact, the more satisfying the solution becomes to him. Sardonically, Eric is also like the groundhog of Microsoft, emerging from IT, looking around, seeing the shadow, and returning back to IT: empowered, passionate, and skilled. Eric describes his non-IT time as an evolutionary course that allowed him to explore and grow his aptitude. Also in today’s episode, Rob and Eric describe the beginning phase of Microsoft’s shift to computing in the cloud and the project carnage in its wake. Promising projects suddenly found themselves on the road to nowhere and are now, nowhere to be found . . . with one popular exception: streamlined conditional formatting. That simplistic innovation not only made it out of the darkness to see the light of day but also became Rob’s gateway drug to audience participation. Other innovations weren’t so lucky. Eric and Rob describe what happened to a multitude of promising projects that were sliced, diced, julienned, and unable to survive cloud modernization at Microsoft. The history might pull you in, but it’s the dry wit that will keep you through the end. As a bonus, today you also get at least one bad Star Wars joke . . . and don’t forget, if you enjoyed this episode or the joke, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and be sure to subscribe to get new episodes delivered to your inbox. Also in this Episode: The Software Hall of Fame, w/ Microsoft's Conor Cunningham Queen’s Gambit Mike Tomlin Interview - Your teaching is failing Kill Bill Relief or Regret Power Pivot and Power BI: The Excel User's Guide to DAX, Power Query, Power BI & Power Pivot in Excel 2010-2016 - by Rob Collie The Cloud is Powered by People w/Jeff DeVerter The Evolution of SharePoint w/ Denise Trabona and Adam Harmetz Winchester Mystery House A Most Generous Mentor w/ Microsoft's Dany Hoter Skynet becomes Self-Aware Blade Runner - Tears in Rain