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Most of the lessons on Analyst in Action began with a problem that looked small at first.
A measure returned the wrong result. A dashboard became slow. A deployment exposed a dependency nobody had considered. Or a project forced me to rethink how an analytics solution should be built.
The interesting part was rarely the feature itself. It was understanding what was happening underneath, why the issue appeared, and what the better approach looked like.
That is what Analyst in Action is about: practical lessons from real Power BI and analytics work, explained through the problems that made them worth learning.
Choose a collection below and start with the topic closest to the challenge you are working through today.
Learn Power BI
13 Articles
Start here if you're building your Power BI foundations. Learn the principles behind better data models, interactive reports, and production-ready solutions.
Learn Power BI
13 ArticlesStart here if you're building your Power BI foundations. Learn the principles behind better data models, interactive reports, and production-ready solutions.
What You'll Learn
- Choosing Between Measures and Calculated Columns
- Building Reliable Data Models
- Creating Interactive Reports
- Designing Better User Experiences
- Working with Power BI Beyond the Dashboard
- Publishing Reports with Confidence
Master DAX
21 Articles
Take your DAX skills further by learning how calculations are evaluated, debugged, and optimized for real-world Power BI models.
Master DAX
21 ArticlesTake your DAX skills further by learning how calculations are evaluated, debugged, and optimized for real-world Power BI models.
What You'll Learn
- Understanding Filter Context
- Writing Better Measures
- Handling Totals and Blank Values
- Working with Relationships in DAX
- Improving DAX Performance
- Debugging Calculations with Confidence
Performance & Optimization
8 Articles
Build Power BI solutions that scale. Learn how to optimize semantic models, improve query performance, reduce resource usage, and keep reports fast as your environment grows.
Performance & Optimization
8 ArticlesBuild Power BI solutions that scale. Learn how to optimize semantic models, improve query performance, reduce resource usage, and keep reports fast as your environment grows.
What You'll Learn
- Building Efficient Semantic Models
- Reducing Model Size
- Improving Query Performance
- Optimizing Refresh & Capacity
- Finding Performance Bottlenecks
- Applying Performance Best Practices
Enterprise BI
4 Articles
Go beyond building dashboards. Learn how enterprise Power BI environments are governed, scaled, and maintained as they grow in complexity.
Enterprise BI
4 ArticlesGo beyond building dashboards. Learn how enterprise Power BI environments are governed, scaled, and maintained as they grow in complexity.
What You'll Learn
- Managing Enterprise BI Environments
- Building Strong Governance Practices
- Understanding Metadata & Lineage
- Preparing for AI-Driven Analytics
- Securing Production Environments
- Designing Reliable Deployment Processes
Recommended Reading
- 01 The Enterprise Lifecycle of a Power BI Dashboard
- 02 Power BI Governance: When Things Get Messy
- 03 The Power BI Metadata Layer That Starts Mattering at Scale
- 04 What Happens When AI Meets a Real Power BI Environment?
- 05 Service Accounts & Service Principals in Power BI
- 06 When DEV, TEST & PROD Become Necessary
Tools & Productivity
7 Articles
Work smarter with the tools that experienced Power BI developers rely on. Learn how to troubleshoot faster, improve semantic models, and automate repetitive tasks.
Tools & Productivity
7 ArticlesWork smarter with the tools that experienced Power BI developers rely on. Learn how to troubleshoot faster, improve semantic models, and automate repetitive tasks.
What You'll Learn
- Mastering the Power BI Toolset
- Troubleshooting Models Faster
- Improving Semantic Model Quality
- Extending Power BI with APIs
- Automating Repetitive Workflows
- Building a More Efficient Workflow
AI & The Future of BI
6 Articles
Explore how AI, automation, and modern Power BI technologies are reshaping analytics. Learn the foundations you'll need as Business Intelligence continues to evolve.
AI & The Future of BI
6 ArticlesExplore how AI, automation, and modern Power BI technologies are reshaping analytics. Learn the foundations you'll need as Business Intelligence continues to evolve.
What You'll Learn
- Preparing for AI-Driven Analytics
- Understanding Modern Power BI Architecture
- Working with Automation & APIs
- Exploring Microsoft Fabric Concepts
- Building AI-Ready Data Foundations
- Keeping Up with the Future of BI
Every article on Analyst in Action began with a real problem: a measure that didn't behave as expected, a dashboard that needed to scale, a deployment that raised more questions than answers, or a new technology that challenged the way I thought about analytics.
Whether you start with the fundamentals or jump straight into a topic you're working on today, the goal is the same: to help you understand not just how Power BI works, but why it works that way.