Explicit Measures Podcast

Mike & Tommy dive into the biggest announcements from FabCon Barcelona, breaking down how Fabric IQ, agentic app creation, ontology authoring, and a wave of platform updates are reshaping what Power BI and Fabric mean for everyday BI teams. They tackle whether the semantic model has officially become the center of the Microsoft AI universe, and what orgs need to do right now to be ready.

From write-back apps built with natural language to zero-provisioned Fabric and on-demand billing, they weigh in on which features deserve a spot on your 90-day roadmap and which ones need more governance guardrails before anyone touches them.

Read more: FabCon & SQLCon 2026 in Barcelona | Power BI's Next Chapter | Power BI September 2026 Feature Summary | Fabric September 2026 Feature Summary

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy dive into why choosing the right AI model is one of the most consequential decisions a Power BI or Fabric team can make—and why most teams aren't making it deliberately at all. They explore the tension between cost, capability, and governance: when a frontier model is worth it, when a cheaper one is more than enough, and why letting a model review its own DAX is a governance risk hiding in plain sight.

For more, check out the main topic and recent Fabric news below:

https://tabulareditor.com/blog/picking-the-ai-model-for-the-task
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_fabricupdatesblogs/connecting-apps-databases-and-ai-on-one-foundation-new-innovations-at-sqlcon-and/5369538
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_fabricupdatesblogs/bringing-governed-analytics-into-the-flow-of-work-fabric-analytics-at-fabcon-eur/5368918

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy are joined one last time by Kurt Buhler as they dive into the agentic development of Power BI reports, wrestling with why generating a governed dashboard is so much harder than spinning up a web app or 3D model, and whether that friction is a platform problem, a data problem, or a skills problem.

They tackle the biggest misconceptions teams have when pitching agentic BI internally, debate whether dashboards are headed toward becoming ephemeral artifacts, and make their most realistic predictions for what the BI landscape looks like at the edge and in the enterprise core one to two years from now.

Also in the news: Fabric Quest and What Does It Mean to Make Data AI Ready?

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy are joined again by Kurt Buhler to tackle whether calling yourself a "Power BI person" is quietly capping your career in the age of AI, exploring how an AI-powered workflow expands your lens beyond a single tool to the full BI and application space, and why that shift should feel like liberation, not a threat.

They dig into who gets empowered versus who feels replaced, and what it really means to add value when AI is handling more of the build.

Links: https://meetu.ps/e/Q9Sv6/wL2WS/i | https://promptingbi.com/2026/09/21/a-skill-md-is-not-wisdom/

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy are joined again by Kurt Buhler and tackle the intersection of data literacy and AI literacy, exploring how self-awareness — or the lack of it — shapes the way teams build and consume Power BI and Microsoft Fabric solutions.

They dig into whether AI raises the floor while lowering the ceiling, why poor data literacy can become more dangerous in an AI-assisted world, and how to keep critical, creative, and curious thinking alive when Copilot is in every seat.

News: Moving Off ODBC — A Self-Serve Scanner for Your ADBC Migration | Power BI Q&A Retirement Reminder: February 2027 Timeline Update

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy are joined by Kurt Buhler as they dive into Fabric Apps and where they actually fit in the Power BI world, weighing whether they replace traditional reports, who owns them in a real org, and whether low code is getting cornered by AI agents.

They break down the pre-requirements for success, the unlocks Fabric Apps offer that reports never will, and why ambition, visual literacy, and planning friction matter more than the tool itself.

News: Get Ready for Table Discovery in OneLake Catalog Search (Preview) | Lineage-Aware AI with the Fabric Item Relations API (Preview)

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy tackle the Fabric handoff — exploring what it really takes to transition a Microsoft Fabric environment to an organization with no prior Fabric experience, and whether the real challenge is the platform or the change management behind it.

They break down who needs to own Fabric after the consultants leave, what breaks first when a Power BI shop inherits a tenant they didn't build, and how to set a new team up to actually run it well six months later.

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy dive into how AI is actually changing data visualization work, exploring whether the real unlock is iteration speed rather than AI-built visuals, and why the "no enterprise license required" reality matters more than keynote promises.

They tackle the governance risk of analysts using personal AI tools with real data, debate the conversational analyst vs. architect analyst divide, and land on practical habits Power BI teams can adopt today.

Read the article: https://nightingaledvs.com/three-ways-i-actually-use-ai-in-data-viz/

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy break down the latest upgrades to Fabric Data Agents—MCP integration, OneLake Catalog discovery, multi-agent support, and Foundry Observability—and explore whether these changes finally move Data Agents from demo to production-ready.

They weigh in on the real tension: whether easier connectivity creates governance sprawl, how "one agent per domain" reshapes the one-version-of-truth debate, and what BI teams need to have in place before agent chaos takes hold.

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blog/Fabric-data-agents-in-Microsoft-Foundry-Easier-to-connect-easier/ba-p/5318989
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_fabricupdatesblogs/fabric-data-agents-in-microsoft-copilot-studio-generally-available/5362882

News:

https://www.meetup.com/chicagolandpowerbi/events/315787998/?eventOrigin=group_upcoming_events

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_fabricupdatesblogs/new-cicd-resources-for-microsoft-fabric-from-concepts-to-end-to-end-automation/5358502

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_pbiupdatesblog/upgrade-power-bi-dataflows-gen1-to-fabric-dataflows-gen2-with-the-upgrade-wizard/5360422

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/blog/fbc_pbiupdatesblog/the-ai-semantic-layer-you-probably-already-have/5360197

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/

Mike & Tommy dive into Liquid Clustering in Microsoft Fabric, breaking down why Runtime 2.0 changes it from an experimental feature into the default table layout strategy for Lakehouse workloads.

They explore how incremental clustering solves the write amplification problems that plagued Runtime 1.3, why file skipping matters for Direct Lake and Power BI report performance, and how teams should think about choosing clustering columns, running OPTIMIZE, and trusting Auto Reclustering without blowing their F-SKU capacity.

Resources: https://milescole.dev/data-engineering/2026/07/24/Incremental-Liquid-Clustering-Fabric-Runtime-2.html, https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blog/Fabric-Runtime-2-0-Generally-Available/ba-p/5326359, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/data-engineering/runtime-2-0, https://workingondata.wordpress.com/2026/08/14/fabric-runtime-2-0-is-general-available/

News:

https://www.meetup.com/chicagolandpowerbi/events/315787998/?eventOrigin=group_upcoming_events

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Updates-Blog/Fabric-August-2026-Feature-Summary/ba-p/5325824

Get in touch:

Send in your questions or topics you want us to discuss by tweeting to @PowerBITips with the hashtag #empMailbag or submit on the PowerBI.tips Podcast Page.

Visit PowerBI.tips: https://powerbi.tips/

Watch the episodes live every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 730am CST on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/powerbitips

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/230fp78XmHHRXTiYICRLVv

Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/explicit-measures-podcast/id1568944083‎

Check Out Community Jam: https://jam.powerbi.tips

Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcarlo/

Follow Tommy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommypuglia/