The Slow Growing Problems
Not every problem is going to fire off an alert, but it still might be something that you want to track.
Display Active Slicers in Power BI using Dynamic DAX
Learn how to enhance visibility using slicers in Power BI for better report filtering and user experience.
Liability for AI Errors
Who is liable for mistakes made when listening to AI tooling? In at least one case, Steve isn't sure.
SQL ART: Who's Blocking Who? Visualising SQL Server Blocking With Spatial Geometry
Taking SQL art from shamrocks and Easter eggs to something your DBA manager might actually care about. If you've been following my SQL spatial art series — shamrocks, Easter eggs, Christmas trees — you'll know I have a habit of finding increasingly creative misuses for SQL Server's geometry data type. Most of them have been […]
The Degradation of the Turing Test
Are computers getting smart enough to pass the Turing test or are humans getting worse at representing themselves as intelligent?
How data scientists work with PostgreSQL from Python (and how to write queries that don’t break at scale)
In this article, learn how PostgreSQL powers data science workflows, including query execution, performance optimization, indexing, data retrieval, and more.
SQL Saturday Austin 2026
SQL Saturday Austin 2026 is coming on Jun 27, 2026. A free day of networking, training, and inspiration. Register today and come spend a day with your peers.
Designing Database Changes Before Deployment: Level 1 of the Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments introduces a progressive approach to managing database changes with clear intent, predictable rollback, and explicit behavioral guarantees. Starting from change design and moving toward execution and coordination in complex environments, the Stairway provides a conceptual framework for deploying database changes safely and consistently, independent of specific tools or automation platforms.
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployment Level 3 – Rehearsing Changesets Across Environments
After defining the deployment contract in the previous level, this article focuses on validating a changeset before it reaches production. Rehearsal across environments ensures that execution order, rollback behavior, and baseline alignment all behave exactly as expected.
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 2 - Defining the Deployment Contract
Level 2 formalizes the behavioral guarantees that a changeset must provide in order to be safely deployed and rolled back. It introduces the deployment contract, checkpoint semantics, and the structural scope of Create and Rollback scripts. Data changes are addressed through a dedicated Update mechanism, with clear boundaries and limitations. By the end of this level, a changeset becomes a predictable and well-defined unit that can be reasoned about independently of execution context.
Blogs
Power BI Performance in 2026: A Practical Guide to Faster Semantic Models and Reports
By James Serra
Originally published April 2022; substantially updated July 2026. This post is a complete replacement...
Getting Started with Azure SQL Developer on Macbook
The idea behind Azure SQL Developer is for anyone to build, iterate, and test...
AI Experiments: Claude Solved a DAB Issue
By Steve Jones
I’m sure many of you are using AI regularly, perhaps chatting, perhaps using some...
Forums
SQL Agent Job Automated Change Capture Process
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Agent Job Automated Change...
Another Model, More Data Loss
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Another Model, More Data Loss
Finding a Database Master Key
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Finding a Database Master Key
Question of the Day
Finding a Database Master Key
Where do I check for the existence of a Database Master Key (DMK) in SQL Server 2025?
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