Explicit Measures Podcast
PowerBI.Tips
Hosted by Mike Carlo, and Tommy Puglia, the Explicit Measures Podcast is a Power BI focused show that is like being around a Power BI Pro’s Water Cooler. With so many available resources in the community that focuses on the “how” in Power BI (how to do Drill Through, how to use DAX, etc.,), the Explicit Measures Podcast is all around the WHY. Why use a particular feature, does it make sense for my users?
Build the toolset, learn the how, and then come to the Podcast to the listen to the why in situations we all experience as Power BI Pros.
Build the toolset, learn the how, and then come to the Podcast to the listen to the why in situations we all experience as Power BI Pros.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 20, 2026 • 1h 9min
573: Fabric Deployment Plan
Fabric Deployment Plans aim to solve the messy realities of CI/CD: controlling deployment order, binding environments, and running pre- and post-deployment actions. The discussion explores why lineage misses runtime data dependencies, how lakehouse-to-warehouse workflows can fail, and whether a visual canvas makes release engineering more accessible. Preview limitations and production-readiness get a careful reality check.
Oct 15, 2026 • 1h 14min
572: Does the Ontology Agent Change Our Minds?
Fabric IQ’s Ontology Agent promises to make business ontologies easier to build, query, and maintain. The discussion explores governance, ownership, workspace context, document-based business meaning, and the limits of today’s agent workflows. They also examine Fabric App Functions, Materialized Lake Views, and whether preview features are ready for serious BI use.
Oct 13, 2026 • 1h 14min
571: Fabric Notebook Toolkit - Measuring the Impact
Mike and Tommy explore the Fabric Notebook Toolkit, a CLI library that brings AI agents into Microsoft Fabric notebook workflows. They debate governance, documentation, specialized agent teams, skill management, and the risks of handing powerful tools to less experienced users. The conversation also covers capacity monitoring, MCP, responsible AI use, and the data-engineering fundamentals needed to build reliable systems.
Oct 8, 2026 • 1h 15min
570: PADU & Fabric
PADU governance meets Microsoft Fabric as Mike and Tommy sort tools and workflows into Preferred, Accepted, Discouraged, and Unacceptable. They explore Lakehouses, Git, Dataflows, Copilot, self-service Power BI, cloud compute costs, AI and agent governance, DAX contracts, and the challenges of building trustworthy ontologies in a rapidly expanding platform.
Oct 6, 2026 • 1h 9min
569: Signal & Reporting - Write Back Belongs Where?
Should Power BI remain a reporting layer, or become a place where users take action? The discussion explores write-back, editable data, governance, workflows, Fabric apps, and the division between consuming insights and changing business systems. It also covers OneLake’s evolving foundation, secure AI access, open semantic standards, and how agents may reshape app development.
Oct 1, 2026 • 1h 9min
568: FabCon Barcelona - Feature Draft
FabCon Barcelona sparks a lively tour of Fabric’s AI-driven future. Explore Fabric IQ as a context layer, natural-language app creation, ontology authoring, and the rise of agent developers. The discussion also weighs zero-provisioned Fabric, consumption billing, notebook tooling, CI/CD deployment plans, semantic-model search, and Project Osmos, while questioning where governance must catch up.
Sep 29, 2026 • 1h 14min
567: Picking the Right Model for the Task
Choosing an AI model can shape the cost, speed, and success of a Power BI or Fabric project. The discussion explores specialized models for planning, coding, DAX, notebooks, and data architecture, plus the rise of Fabric apps, database agents, semantic definitions, and governed operational workflows. It also tackles model hosting, falling token costs, and the risks of letting AI validate its own work.
9 snips
Sep 24, 2026 • 1h 15min
566: Agentic Dev of PBI Reports
Kurt Buhler, a Power BI practitioner and educator focused on semantic modeling and agentic development, returns for a deep dive into AI-built reports. They explore why dashboards are harder for agents than web apps, the hidden costs of formatting, and whether reports may become ephemeral. The conversation also covers AI-ready data, governance, ontology, requirements, and the skills BI professionals will need next.
Sep 22, 2026 • 1h 13min
565: Your Identity is Bigger Than Power BI
Kurt Buhler, a data visualization and analytics professional specializing in Power BI, dashboard design, and AI workflows, explores why your career identity should stretch beyond one tool. They discuss AI’s impact on BI roles, lessons from game design for better dashboards, the shift from reports to interactive solutions, and why judgment, business understanding, and responsible experimentation matter more than memorizing features.
Sep 17, 2026 • 1h 22min
564: Data Literacy in the AI Era
Kurt Buhler, a data and business intelligence professional specializing in Power BI, Fabric, and data culture, returns for a lively discussion on data and AI literacy. They explore how Fabric expands responsibility, why AI can raise the floor while lowering the ceiling, and the dangers of unchecked AI output. The conversation also covers recognizing AI slop, governing shadow AI, building trust, and fostering critical thinking, creativity, and curiosity.
