Every episode
Our episodes.
Power Query Saves Christmas w/ Gus Miranda
Today’s guest, Gus Miranda, shares his story of how reducing friction and creating automation introduced even non-data people to the concept that data quality matters. Most importantly, though, today you will learn the underdog story of how Power Query saved Christmas during the Kronos Hack of 2021. Get the inside scoop from crisis meeting to crisis meeting until the moment when Gus stood up to save the day. While other multi-million-dollar companies were paralyzed, shocked, and attempting to ad-hoc calculate payroll and vacations, often incorrectly, Gus’s task force used Power Query to create an effective solution in time to prevent employees from missing Christmas with their families.
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Why is Everything So Slow w/ Scott Louvau
Today we welcome to the show Scott Louvau, twice retired from Microsoft and now focused on his Relentless Optimizer blog! How exactly did Scott go from a small vineyard in North California to being twice retired from Microsoft and what set him on the technological path? It isn’t all programming and coding today though, as we also delve into Starbucks Cold Brew Refill Hacks and using AI to dominate game levels. Stuck on a level of Kingdom Rush? You can find a solution for that and more, in this episode.
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Soaring the Skies of OPTIMIZEDAX(), w/ Narayana Windenberger
Narayana Windenberger sits down for a chat on data, travel, and the ethics of the financial markets. Nar is a 5-year veteran of P3 with an unforgettable name and a penchant for being a digital nomad. Whether he is working from the Midwest, Germany, or enjoying hang gliding in San Diego, Nar puts the remote in remote work and regardless of his location, still creates epic analytic masterpieces. Nar also has the distinction of being the author of a P3 Adaptive blog that shook the Power BI world to its core in 2020 and earned him the title of Power BI Super Villain.
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Excel is the Most Functional of Programming Languages w/ Simon Peyton Jones
On today’s episode, we sit down with educator, researcher, and all-around information guru Simon Peyton Jones to learn all about programming languages and their impact on hardware, software, and research/development. Simon also brings some professional insight into Excel as a programing language
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Career Switchers Have the Power (Platform), w/ Microsoft’s April Dunnam
Today we welcome, a Microsoft MVP and Power Platform advocacy team lead, and a true Power Platform aficionado: April Dunnam. In the realm of social media, April is known as the Woman who Codes, the SharePoint Siren, and the Karaoke Queen with a passion for all things Power: Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, and Power Pages. In this episode we get April’s origin story, starting with the moment she was the intern tossed into the deep end of the SharePoint pool, all the way to her personal discovery of the better way.
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Cloud Services Used to Be Really Dumb w/ Eric Vigesaa
In today’s episode, we welcome Eric Vigesaa of Microsoft to the show. Rob describes Eric as one of the rare breeds that enjoy the excitement of building an emergency solution. Someone who prefers a shorter distance between the software and the problem. The closer he is to impact, the more satisfying the solution becomes to him. Sardonically, Eric is also like the groundhog of Microsoft, emerging from IT, looking around, seeing the shadow, and returning back to IT: empowered, passionate, and skilled. Eric describes his non-IT time as an evolutionary course that allowed him to explore and grow his aptitude.
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Women In Data w/ Sadie St. Lawrence
On this episode, we are bringing in a true leader in workplace diversity, Sadie St. Lawrence from Women in Data! Be prepared to be surprised when you learn that Sadie’s idea of diversity is more of a value-driven balance that benefits all people regardless of gender. Improvements, she points out, made in the workplace under the guise of removing gender disparity enhance the workplace for all employees, not just for a single demographic.
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Pokémon Go Maps are a Green Technology, w/ Mike Ellis
Occasionally described as “Addictive, stupidly addictive,” this episode delves into the insanity that is Pokémon Go and is dedicated to the people and the technology behind mapping and catching Pokémon
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The Cloud is Powered by People w/ Jeff DeVerter
Have you ever been curious about what moving to the cloud really means? Is it a one-and-done move or is it more? Today’s guest, Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist of RackSpace, breaks down the cloud, cloud-based services, and how it can impact your business. From an engineering point of view to the creation of a supply chain for data, Jeff describes the trends and implications facing ingress, egress, and utilization of the ever-growing volume of data that companies curate.
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Setting Up For Success w/David McKinnis
Today we welcome David McKinnis of Tech DNA to the show. David is Microsoft alumni from the days before the development of Darwin, the software that revolutionized install, uninstall, and repair for Windows-supported programs. Prior to Rob and Dave’s work on Darwin, software installation was a long and cumbersome project that often-included multiple floppy disks, and the patience of a saint and Windows uninstall was rarely considered. Post Darwin, those tasks are often taken for granted.
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The Software Hall of Fame, w/ Microsoft’s Conor Cunningham
In this episode, we focus not on people, but on the software itself. Today, we create the Software Hall of Fame, set the rules, and get down to building the inaugural class with special guest Coner Cunningham. Coner’s multi-decade software skill set combined with his fun personality makes him a perfect fit to be the final member of the initial tribunal of software critics. This tribunal will step up to fill a long-standing void in an episode that will run the gamut of emotions: Joy, anger, exasperation, and maybe even a little zen.
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A Most Generous Mentor, w/ Microsoft’s Dany Hoter
Today, we welcome to the show the most transparent international man of mystery, Dany Hoter. Working on his 5th stint with Microsoft and living his best life in his 8th decade, Dany brings both wisdom and fun to those around him. He brings a passion and joy for teaching to his training sessions and always manages to create a connection between people and technology.
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Bring us your hardest question.
Your white whale: you know there has to be a better way, and if you could crack it, your world would change. We thrive on those.