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
Nov 10, 2026 • 1h 9min
579: Power BI is (NOT) Dead?
Is Power BI dead, or transforming under the influence of Fabric and AI? The discussion explores agent-driven data workflows, rising model costs, and the planned retirement of R and Python visuals. It also examines the semantic model’s enduring role, Fabric’s expanding experiences, report certification, and how data consumption may shift beyond traditional dashboards.
Nov 5, 2026 • 1h 13min
578: The App Revolution & Fabric
Fabric is entering an app-first era, powered by agentic development and tools that can turn governed data into working software. The discussion explores OneLake as an agent-ready foundation, new connectors for Snowflake and Databricks, and why apps may soon be easier to build than reports. They also tackle role changes, creative ownership, authentication hurdles, and how to prevent a flood of ungoverned apps.
Nov 3, 2026 • 1h 11min
577: Can you Stomach Data Governance?
Data governance takes center stage, from decision rights and accountability to leadership buy-in, budgets, maturity models, and measurable goals. The discussion explores how workshops, documentation, and cross-functional ownership can shape a stronger data culture. Plus, a look at Fabric Apps, Project Osmos, and AI agents transforming analytics and data engineering.
Oct 29, 2026 • 1h 10min
576: Distributed Wisdom for Fabric
How can Microsoft Fabric turn scattered expertise into shared organizational intelligence? The conversation explores OneLake Catalog governance, semantic models, governed skills, and AI agents that carry context across teams. It also covers DAX benchmarking, ontology, security automation, agentic knowledge silos, and why strong processes and shared standards may matter more than clean code.
Oct 27, 2026 • 1h 6min
575: Choosing the Right Model In Fabric
Which LLM belongs on which Microsoft Fabric task? The discussion explores model choices for Power BI, notebooks, pipelines, semantic models, and agentic workflows. It also covers Fabric user data functions, Vega-Lite visualization, Desktop’s evolving role, governance concerns, MCP servers, and shared documentation. A practical look at balancing reasoning power, execution speed, cost, and control.
Oct 22, 2026 • 1h 18min
574: Data Agent Contract Layer
Mike and Tommy explore whether Microsoft Fabric data agents should rely on governed semantic models or access OneLake directly. They unpack data contracts, business definitions, ontology, relationships, metrics, and security across semantic models and lakehouses. The discussion also covers Fabric notebook agent workflows, Power BI custom visuals, semantic views, and the challenge of connecting local and enterprise context.
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.
