Raw Data with Rob Collie

Today's guest, Darinee Louvau, is twice retired from Microsoft and one of the few people who admit to an admiration of testing in production. Darinee is an amazingly gifted person. From hosting LAN parties in her Tween and Teen years to designing and building gaming crates for those parties, she is not afraid of getting her hands dirty. A self-proclaimed fan of lowering the cost of iterations, she moved up quickly through the ranks to become program manager for Microsoft on projects such as Answers, Bing, and even the streaming service, Mixer. She is a hands-on thinker, doer, and creator. We can guarantee you will never find anyone else with her can-do attitude.

Darinee shares how she personally prepares for inevitable mistakes in one of her hobbies by sewing with thrifted sheets to reduce costs. Using thrifted materials empowers her to make mistakes and continue to iterate. By using cheap materials to power each testing iteration she can lower the overall cost of iteration to get straight to the thing that matters, testing a solution against the actual live circumstance of what you really need to know. (Psst! Darinee . . . your inner developer is showing. 😊)

Also in today's show, we learn the answer to the age-old question of "What happens to the code when Microsoft kills it" as well as the secret behind how search engines return answers. The one thing you won't find in today's episode is a binary answer about success. Darinee explains that it doesn't exist and if you think it does, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Sage advice for our listeners.

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to leave a review on your favorite platform as reviews help new listeners find us. And be sure you subscribe to receive new episodes in your inbox every week. You never know what you will hear when data gets raw!

Also in this episode:

Command and Conquer

Duke Nukem 3D

Quake

LAN party

Mixer – Microsoft streaming shuts down

Home School Valedictorian by Adelitas Way

Chris Rae Podcast Episode

Raspberry Pi

The Useless Box

Microsoft Bob - Killed by Microsoft

Halo Reach in Firefight mode

Toyota Century

Darinee on P3 Adaptive Blog - A 48 hour case study from Bing - Zero to Sixty :)

Lost wax method in 3d printing

With a background in finance and a history of great communication and a passion for problem-solving, Ed Hansberry, an Assistant Director with P3 Adaptive, embodies the spirit of P3 Adaptive.

Ed was recently awarded his 13th Microsoft MVP Award so of course, we wanted to know more about his achievement, his passions, his adaptability, and most of all, his insights on change so we invited him to join us today for a chat. Early on, in the conversation, Rob and Ed delve into defining change and that led to a lively discussion on the process of change, the successful process of change, and the difference between them. Here's a hint, it's always the people! Knowing that people drive success, Ed extensively volunteers his time in the Microsoft Power BI User Community supporting users around the world with problems and questions around Power BI and, since he has been recognized as a Super User by Microsoft, we really can say that helping people is his superpower. He is leading change one question at a time.

This episode isn't just about change, though, the evolution of technology and software is embedded throughout the conversation from cube functions to the hidden power of the innocuously named OLAP dropdown in Excel. And finally, we get some great insight on formerly cutting-edge technology that has since gone obsolete. We hear a firsthand account of the tragic end of the Microsoft phone. You never know what you will learn when the conversation starts to flow.

As always, be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform and tell a friend about Raw Data by P3 Adaptive, where data meets the human element.

Also on this episode:

iPaQ

N NTP

Not Necessarily the News

NNTNs: All about Sniglets

That Tufte book . . .

MDX in Excel

Cube Functions in Excel

Disconnected Slicers with DAX Variables & SELECTEDVALUES

Field Parameters in Power Bi

Skynet

Yoda Chong and the Treehouse of Wonder, w/ Donald Farmer

Tabluar Editor

DAX Studio

A Single Complete Leader, w/ P3 Pres & COO Kellan Danielson

Who Moved My Cheese

As we continue to share the personal stories of the exceptional people who make up P3 Adaptive, today's guest is a little less visible in the company, not because of his skills or reputation, but because he is not a member of our visible client services team. Alex Sanabria is a member of the GroDiv team here. His team is on the backend, taking care of marketing, digital assets, and all things PR. While he may not be the public face of P3, he perfectly embodies the spirit. He is scrappy, dedicated, determined, and most of all, he has a big heart to bring to any challenge. Today, we are bringing you the story of a man from a humble background who followed his family's advice and struck out to make his own luck. And make his luck he has.

As our Digital Marketing Architect, Alex puts the adaptive in P3 Adaptive. With a long history of just-in-time training and dedication to skills acquisition, he has made it his business to learn whatever skill is necessary to get the job done without waiting around for someone else. He is self-taught and capable of finding outside-the-box solutions and is often finishing the project while others are still spooling up. His motto: Interaction leads to opportunities.

While we hope you enjoy this episode, we also hope that these personal stories let you see the people behind the reputation. At P3 Adaptive, we are and always will be people first. If you are looking to make a change and have crazy skills in the Power Platform, take a look at our careers page. Perhaps the next great story we share will be yours!

As always, if you enjoyed this episode, feel free to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.

Also in this episode:

Jelly Belly case study

Good Will Hunting: Education vs. Intelligence

P3 Adaptive name change

CoverHawk.app

Coverhawk: Hawking Data and Stymying Offenses, w/ Coach Chase Hargis

P3 Adaptive Foundations: Power BI course

P3 Adaptive Level Up Series: Power Query for Power BI course

September by Earth Wind and Fire

Shark Tank – training fight

The Crazy 88s

The Longest Yard

Have you ever wondered what an actuary is? If so, you are not alone. Over the past several years, the actuary programs at universities nationwide have seen exponential growth, thanks in part to an outreach program called Be An Actuary supported by P3 Adaptive's Principal Consultant and today's special guest, Philip Trick. Philip is a rarity in the data world. He found his data gene all the way back in high school and has continued to add additional skills as software has evolved to reduce or remove monotonous tasks such as data cleansing and repetitive calculations. While he came to Power BI and Power Query late in the game, he has become an ardent supporter of the Power Platform's ability to handle complex data and calculations. He is also one of the few people to publicly admit to possessing an inherent love of the DAX iterators.

Today's conversation gets technical and covers multiple advanced iterators as well as some interesting statistical problems that get even more complex when you change the variables. While we don't often talk shop on the show, that isn't the case today. In an interesting twist, we also learn why some keyboards are missing the F1 key. Here's a hint, when speed is of the essence, nobody wants Office to open the help pane.

All this and more on today's episode! Be sure to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe today to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Also on this episode:

Blade Runner

Star Wars- Episode IV

Do androids dream of electric sheep

Laurence Kotlikoff

Minecraft

Modeloff Financial Modeling Competitiion

A mechanical clutch isn't a steampunk purse w/ Bill Sundwall

Mary Poppins -Song compilation

Shared birthday probability

P3 Adaptive Blog: Product X

Casualty Actuarial Society

Wolf of Wall Street

Along Came Polly

Fight Club Insurance Claim Scene

Epistemic Path Dependency, w/ Adam Harstad

Tom Brady un-retirement

Rookie Pay Lacks Negotiation

Edgeworth Box Diagram

Prisoner's Dilemma

Nash Equilibrium

The Great Football Project Rides Again (In Power BI)

Power BI Brain Candy: Value Above Replacement

Hello Friends! On today's episode, P3 Adaptive's Director of Client Services, Bill Sundwall stops by the metaphorical watercooler to talk shop, software, and pets. We get an inside peek at the P3 Adaptive hiring process as well as some interesting insight on the potential super-secret code word for imaginary bonus points in the interview/testing process. Most importantly, this episode goes where no other episode has gone before by bringing in detail on the elusive skills of communication between the different types of stakeholders in your company: the knowledge workers and the people in tech. Bill hypothesizes that you don't have to know a lot about a person to think through how they process application software, you just need to cognitively empathize with what they are going through in the process.

Podcast First/ Bonus Audio: Mid-episode the recording grinds to a halt due to a dog attack! No trigger warning is necessary, there will be no film footage at 6 and we don't even get the gory, gut-wrenching details. We do, however, get the story of a man, his family, and some pets in need of advocacy and a good home. Through this story, we learn that our host, Rob, can hang with the big dogs, get bitten, and not get his feelings hurt. He is fine, the dog is fine, and the family will continue to foster/rescue more animals in need. P3 Adaptive truly is a wild place to work!

As always, if you enjoy the episode, be sure to leave us a review. If you were moved by the story of Bailey's lake escapade and are interested in fostering or adopting a pet in need, reach out to your local animal shelter or rescue group!

Also on this Episode:

Jack Stack Interview with Inc

Shishir Mehrotra on P3 Adaptive

LetterKenny Power BI Skills Video

Adam Harstad on P3 Adaptive

Life is like a box of chocolates

Johnny Winter on P3 Adaptive

Distinct Count

P3 Adaptive Foundations 2-day course

Related Function

Plumbing versus faucets by P3 Adaptive

Gen Con

A picture when you were younger

P3 Adaptive: We're hiring!

Godzilla: Impossible Anatomy

Fight Club

The Death of Stalin

Star Wars: We will watch your career with great interest

Cincinnatus: Warrior to Farmer

Kaiser Soze

Star Wars: The Circle is Now Complete

Hello friends! Today we welcome a dynamic duo to the show, Denise Trabona and Adam Harmetz of Microsoft's SharePoint team, and they take us through the extraordinary 10 + year evolution of SharePoint from the frustratingly chaotic farms of the past to the streamlined, user-friendly UX of the future. Both Denise and Adam were part of the historical transformation from a lumbering, haphazard platform to a sexy platform showpiece. This evolution has earned SharePoint the record for the fastest Microsoft product to reach a billion in revenue. In its current incarnation, end-user design has reached its pinnacle.

But that isn't all, not only has SharePoint evolved, but its reach has also expanded. Statistically, nearly 1 in 10 developers in the world have coded on top of SharePoint, which is a phenomenal statistic. Even more incredible is the fact that if you search LinkedIn, approximately 1.6 million people list SharePoint as a skill on their resume or profile. This makes it self-evident that SharePoint has moved from a state of potential complexity implosion to near utopia.

Also in this episode, Rob asks the questions that so many of us have wanted to ask and we hear it from the experts, the difference between SharePoint and OneDrive has to do with the expected use case. OneDrive is more person and SharePoint is, well, shared. Finally, this episode becomes an ad-hoc SharePoint therapy session for our own host, Rob Collie as he airs his pent-up frustrations and embraces the newer, better, faster SharePoint. You almost have to ask yourself if this SharePoint will finally tempt Rob away from Dropbox??

Also on this episode:

Winchester mansion in California

Shrek Blue Flower Red Thorns

Office's Relevance to the Power Platform Crowd, w/Tristan Davis

Rob Collie keynote SharePoint Saturday – Ann Arbor

2009 Sharepoint Fairy

Sharepoint Samurai with Rob Collie

Clippy Microsoft

Hello friends! On today's episode, we bring back the greatest of the great, the all-time champ of Raw Data Downloads, the DAX Demon himself, The Scree! I am sure you will recall His Un-Deadness, evil genius of the Undead Lords Guild from his record-setting, chart-topping, last appearance on our show where he shared the secrets of the inner workings of gaming guilds and data.

During this visit, Scree shares anecdotes of his data prowess harkening back to the early days of recreational internet and gaming guilds. He reminisces about his early days in the Breed group on Deviant Art where he honed his storytelling and visualization skills to better appreciate and integrate a visually appealing UX. Don't worry, though, this episode doesn't dwell in the past, the conversation also covers the genius behind data automation with Power BI and Power Query where Scree admirably points out that such automation is like adding an additional member to the team, basically equivocating the Power Platform as the business version of the industrial revolution. . . and he isn't wrong.

Finally, Rob broaches the topic we have all been waiting for, the EVE online export to excel announcement that drove the gaming crowd nuts at the conference. With his insider knowledge of gaming guilds, online gaming, and "space corporations and alliances," Scree handily explains the intricacies of data and spreadsheets for monetizing subscription hours on the platform. He hints that export to excel will level the playing field for the EVE online entities that didn't have access to people with tech skills. Will this lead to alliance expansions or new factions on the playing field? Only time will tell.

All this and more on today's episode of Raw Data by P3, where data meets the human element!

Also on this episode:

Raiders of the Lost Ark – Top Man

P3 Adaptive Advanced DAX Training

Deviant Art

Even Undead Lords Love Data w/Scree: Raw Data By P3 Adaptive

EVE Online announces Export to Excel

CCP Fanfest – EVE Online

World of Warcraft

Excel Past/Present/Future, w/ Excel Head of Product Brian Jones

Apple commercial compilation

Disconnected Slicer blogs on P3 Adapative

Field Parameters

Power BI Ideas Forum

Crypto-Fantasy Leftists are an Exclusive Tribe, w/Davis Mattek

Boaty McBoatface

Deneb

Vega/Vega Light

Hawking Data and stymying Offenses, w/ Coach Chase Hargis: Cover Hawk

Hello friends!

On today's episode, our host, Rob sits down with one of his podcast idols, Davis Mattek of TaekCast. As you know, Rob is a big fan of Fantasy Football (and a former P3 League Champion with the videos to prove it) so it is no big surprise to learn he follows several fantasy football and sports podcasts in his free time. In fact, if you are familiar with TaekCast, you may have noticed some similarities between our show and Davis'. Imitation is, of course, the best form of flattery . . .

As for Davis, he is another guest with an accidental data story. His data origin story doesn't include childhood dreams of data goodness, nor did he embrace the educational background of statistics. While numbers and analytics underpin his methods of sports forecasting, shockingly, this sports analyst just inherently understands how statistics work while including variables and outliers and all the wonderful 'what ifs' that occur during any given sports season. And that, my friends, makes him an accidental person of tech.

He is here today to shed some light on his roster choices but also on the mysterious Crypto and Blockchain currencies. And you never know, maybe a little glimmer of light will highlight some conspiracy theories and backstories as well. In this episode, Rob and Tom delve deeper into digital currencies than before and who knows, maybe, just maybe, a fortune can be made.

At the end of the day, though, Davis is just a really cool person with an enlightening story that we are sure you will enjoy. Be sure to download this episode to hear his story and after you listen, leave us a review on your favorite platform.

Telephone, Telegraph, or Tele-friend about the Raw Data Podcast by P3 Adaptive . . . where data gets raw.

Also on this Episode:

Sports Grid Fantasy Podcast

Crypto Crash/Bear Market

Mt. GOX Hacked

Coinbase

Exit Scam podcast

Quadriga Gerry Cotton Documentary

Inside Man

Stuff you should know Bitcoin podcast

The Coin Talk Show

Book: The Bitcoin Standard

The Marcos are Ruling the Philippines Again

Zero Hedge

Bilbo Baggins: There and Back Again

Matt Damon Fortune Favors the Brave

Don't Miss Out on Crypto: Larry David FTX Commercial

Coinbase Super Bowl Commercial – win $3 million

Pink Floyd Maggie what have we done to England

Radical Markets Glen Weyl and Eric Posner

Taekcast Episode: The Bear Market Blues with Brian Hooper

Hello friends! On this episode, we sit down with Poppy MacDonald, President of USA Facts, to learn about the process of breaking down governmental silos for data without bias. You may have seen some of their data during the extended pandemic, but you may not have known how much work went into providing just the facts without the opinion . . . or how small the team was behind the scenes. You will find no clickbait here, for Poppy, it's all about the facts.

While Poppy doesn't mention a specific moment when her data gene emerged, she has admittedly always been data-driven. As a partner at Gallup Inc, she was responsible for launching World Poll where every voice counts, and assumptions don't matter. That experience led her to her current position as an advocate for transparency of and ease of access to public data.

Poppy's philosophy is that our democracy can be stronger if it's data-driven. With that mantra in mind, she seeks to empower citizen stakeholders and representatives alike within our government. With Poppy at the helm, USA Facts created the State of the Union in Numbers to provide a non-partisan summary of the most pressing issues facing the nation.

Under Poppy's tutelage, USA Facts has grown exponentially and has taken the top spot for reliable data and statistics. While some sources remain elusive, the facts you find on the site will be verified and accurate to give you the tools you need to make data-driven decisions when it matters most. After all, you must have trustworthy data for a healthy democracy.

Also on this episode:

Poppy MacDonald: We need to bring facts back into the discussion.

Men in Black

World Poll

State of the Union in Numbers

1 trillion visualized

Ratatouille: Anyone can cook

Leaders Need Not be Flashy w Dave Gainer

Michael Phelps Record Putt

Hello Friends! On today's episode, Johnny Winter of Greyskull Analytics shares his exciting story of transformation from mild-mannered bartender to human ETL machine and beyond. As is often the story, the data drudgery of manual processes triggered his data gene which in turn brought about his hidden power of BI, and Greyskull Analytics was born. Johnny speaks candidly about moving up through the ranks from fresh Excel apprentice (to in-house, grumpy Excel guru) and the side quests that inspired him to chart his own path to data mastery. His abhorrence of blindly following instructions led him to always seek a better, more logical path of data stewardship.

This episode delivers a lively commentary on pop culture references as well as opportunities to hear about the inner workings of transitioning from SSAS, T-SGL, and PL-SQL as well as at least one SAP reference. You better get your notepad out to keep up with all the letters flying around. Don't worry, though, it is a very grounded look at all the different methods of storing, accessing, and analyzing data . . . but without the repetitive work. Buckle up and prepare for the time of your life as Rob and Tom bring us another episode with the Power of BI!

Also on this Episode:

He-Man

He-Man Reboot Netflix

Xena Warrior Princess

PowerPivot Yoda

Greyskull Analytics

Work out every other day

Milgram Experiment

Michael Douglas in Falling Down

Wheel of Inquisition – P3

Mad Max wheel in Thunder Dome

High Quality GIFs subreddit

Time Intelligence

Bill Inmon Lakehouse