SQL Data Partners Podcast

We can incur technical debt in several ways—aging technology, choosing delivery speed over scale architecture, or implementing new technology the entire team cannot yet support. I don’t know that I’ve ever worked at a place that hasn’t talked about technical debt. It wasn’t until I stumbled on a talk by Adam Lenda that make me think about the ways I might contribute to technical debt. He also gave some ideas of how I can help pay it off.

In a previous episode (175) we discussed migrating to the cloud, and we had a few comments from our compañeros which mentioned we should include more details around cloud infrastructure—the pieces or processes you want or DON’T want to administer. In this episode, we dive into cloud infrastructure and discuss some scenarios on when you might choose one over the other.

In 1990, the group Snap! release a song called "The Power". It would take Microsoft more than 20 years, but they eventually came up with a series of 'power' tools they built into Excel. Those tools later grew into Power BI--which is kinda like Voltron if you are old enough to remember. In this episode we discuss one of the first data manipulation tools in the set: Power Query. Before you start manipulating all those fun visualizations, you might need to get your data in shape.

This is a topic I have been interested in covering for some time and as our world faces a crisis dictating that we stay home, it seems like a good time to talk about teleworking. Everyone will have a different situation of course, but we thought we share some of our experiences. I continue to suggest a need to stay connected to your team and while we have lots of technology available to help us, there are a couple of things you can do to help avoid getting knocked out of the loop.

The number of new programming languages never ceases to amaze me. Technology advances continue to require new ways of allowing users to customize the way they use tools and Power BI is no different. In this episode, Ginger Grant joins us as we continue the conversation about DAX and some considerations you need to make should you want to pick up another language for the toolbelt.

After Episode 180 on PolyBase came out, we received a few questions on use cases for PolyBase. Compañeros, when you ask, we reply! This episode we carve out 3 use cases for PolyBase and ways in which you might change workflows based on this SQL Server 2019 feature. If you want to dive much deeper into PolyBase, you can always check out Kevin's book on Apress!

Our regular host is down for the count with the flu; however, the podcast must go on! In this episode, we answer a listener-submitted question about Power BI Premium. Kevin and Eugene take us through Sachin Gangwar’s questions. We hope you will submit your question for a future episode!

What is the future of the DBA and what technologies should I be focused on? In this episode, we attempt to look into the crystal ball and give our take on the future of work for the data platform professional. We focus our conversation around two listener-provided questions about the best way to stay educated in an ever-changing landscape. The DBA is dead. Long live the DBA. Join the discussion.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could filter the rows a user sees in Power BI? What’s that? You’ve already implemented Row-Level Security at the database level? Well, that actually won’t help you in Power BI. Yikes. In this episode we discuss ways to filter by records in Power BI and why it might be so confusing to implement what at first glance seems like a straightforward request.

Getting released just before the end of the year, SQL Server 2019 is now available in general release. While at first glance, it appeared this release was all about Big Data Clusters, and rightfully so--it brings 'cloud first' options to on-premises scenarios; however, it is not the only big feature. In this episode, Javier Villegas guides us as we dive into some of the performance enhancements--and run out of time. This just means we need a few more episodes to dig into more features.

Moving data is fairly straightforward; however, mapping data from one source to another can be extremely challenging. In an attempt to help self-service BI users, Microsoft has introduced a Common Data Model. This may not be as approachable for organizations which already have a data warehouse; however, for those who are in the Microsoft suite of tools and looking to report on that data in Power BI, the Common Data Model may be the jump start to get the model you need to get going.

A couple of years ago, Netflix offered a reward for anyone who could improve the algorithm for choosing a movie. The team that came in second took what they learned from it and created a company -- Databricks. In this episode, we focus on Databricks; why it is popular, what it can be used for, and considerations for its use.

Make it go faster! Visualizations are great, but when users start complaining about the load times on reports, it can be a tough exercise to figure out the issues. In this episode, we discuss ways you can measure the speed of your Power BI reports. We also get into some of the fundamentals of data storage for Power BI.

2020 dawns a first for our podcast. We've had questions before; however, this episode the team tackles two questions from longtime listener Trent Adams. The context of his questions surround the concepts of IT having the ability to provide new functionality to the business and the business appearing to be uninterested in moving forward. We discuss the best way to identify pain points and ways to introduce new technology without imposing new rules/processes on the business.

Why write a book, when you already have a site full of documentation? In this episode we chat with Rob Sewell about his project to write a book, DBATools in a Month of Lunches. He gives us some insights on what the book is about, how it is different than documentation, and how the process of making the book available in pieces has helped the creative process.