Explicit Measures Podcast

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/

Mike & Tommy dive into whether medallion architecture has truly evolved in the Fabric era or whether teams are just re-labeling Bronze, Silver, and Gold with new icons, using this Microsoft Fabric community article as a jumping-off point.
They break down when an all-in-one Warehouse pattern makes sense versus a hybrid Lakehouse approach, and walk away with a practical take on how much Spark you actually need before complicating your design.
Read the article: Choosing your medallion pattern in Fabric Data Warehouse
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/