That time Microsoft gave me a neat Christmas present
Nine Christmases ago, in late November 2015, Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2012, and included a gift just for me! Only kind of just for me, really…
Error: Cannot generate SSPI context
I don't like to write about client situations, but this one seemed worth mentioning for the sake of other people experiencing the same thing, so I asked my client for…
Good Enough is Good Enough
The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote, “Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien”, which means, “The best is the mortal enemy of the good.” Montesquieu was an interesting man who…
Recommended steps for connecting to source data and creating a new Power BI report
Tip: Don’t do it, do this instead In this series of blog posts, I want to explain different ways to extrapolate business requirements to write great reports. In this post,…
What’s in the database detective toolkit?
This is the question posed by Tim Mitchell over at https://www.timmitchell.net/post/2024/10/01/t-sql-tuesday-179-whats-in-your-data-detective-toolkit. The context is around what techniques are used when I’m faced with a new environment, or even just a…
It’s the little things…
Sometimes it's the little things - the small issues that aren't actually what we do (ie, not data-related, or processes, or whatever) - that drive you the most crazy. The…
Design a really terrific Star Schema by interpreting an existing report
Previously, I’ve written about tips for designing a really great report model from Agile user stories. Catch up on it here (Useful tips for designing a really great report model…
Snapdragon processors for SQL professionals
If you've found this post because you're trying to figure out how to get SQL Server to run locally on a Copilot+ PC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, then I'm…
Where is the database code managed?
I'm a consultant, so I see a variety of answers to Mala's question. But her question isn't exactly "where does the database code live?", it's "where do you keep your…
Advice for my past self
Louis Davidson (@drsql) asks what advice we wish we'd had - particularly when we were starting out first data platform job. I'm not really sure when that was. I did computing…