Personal tool-belt · reference library
A growing set of self-built, interactive reference roadmaps — progress you can check off, links worth keeping, and field notes from real work. Built to be returned to and extended over time.
Roadmaps
Power BI · Semantic models
Trace it in DAX Studio, rebuild it in Tabular Editor. The two external tools that turn Power BI development from clicking into engineering — queries, Server Timings, VertiPaq, BPA, C# scripting, and a full model tune-up capstone.
Open roadmapSnowflake · SAP reconciliation
Snowflake-native SQL, the engine and observability layer, and the flagship: a repeatable playbook for "why is Snowflake missing data that's in SAP?" — answered in 30 minutes. Cortex Code (CoCo) runs through the whole thing.
Open roadmapPower BI · GitHub Copilot
Turn Copilot into a PBIP reviewer. Prompt anatomy, best practices, and creative techniques for driving GitHub Copilot over TMDL and PBIR files — plus a copy-paste prompt library for tightening model efficiency and polishing reports.
Open roadmapPower BI · Agentic AI · Treasury
A working playbook for cleaning up a Power BI semantic model and modernizing its reports with agentic AI — a defensible baseline, VertiPaq-driven cleanup, safe deletes, report modernization, and turning it all into Treasury value that out-delivers an outside vendor.
Open playbookExcel · Microsoft 365 Copilot
A short briefing for the accounting team on a feature we don't have yet: what a Copilot skill is, mock-ups of how it will look in Excel, the five steps to build one — and the shared prompt-playbook workaround that gets most of the benefit today.
Open briefingMicrosoft Fabric · Data engineering
Ten minutes a day for a week: OneLake and the engines over it, the shortcut-vs-mirror-vs-copy ladder, picking a store, notebooks that survive production, medallion and Direct Lake, CI/CD with variable libraries, and the serving layer. One idea, one hands-on, one question for your org per day.
Start day 1Microsoft Fabric · Application layer
Fabric became an application platform in 2026. What the new item type is, operational apps vs data apps, how the managed backend and Entra auth fit together, when it beats a report or a Power App — and what to line up before access lands in your tenant.
Open primerProblem shaping · For people who build
Sixteen business problems in the words people actually say them — "I export this every month and email it round", "these two systems don't agree", "we only found out a week later" — each with what it really is underneath, what to build, the scrappy version you could ship this afternoon, and the trap.
Open playbookSQL · Python · Vocabulary
The twelve shapes that solve most real data work — dedup, LAG, running totals, gaps and islands, unpivot, date spines, slowly changing dimensions, anti-joins, full reconciliation. Named in plain English first, then the code. You can't ask for what you can't name.
Open patternsGit · VS Code · GUI-first
The whole workflow through VS Code's Source Control panel — no command line. The mental model in four ideas, a labelled tour of the panel, the six-click daily loop, what a merge conflict actually is and how to resolve one, and how to undo almost anything safely.
Open guideMicrosoft Fabric · Streaming · KQL
The half of Fabric that Power BI people skip, which is exactly why it's worth learning. Eventstream, Eventhouse, Real-Time Dashboards and Activator — plus KQL in ten minutes (it's genuinely easier than SQL) and the alert nobody builds: the one for when data stops arriving.
Open guideMore on the way
Additional roadmaps from the tool-belt series will land here as they're brought over.
Play
Endless runner · arcade
Sprint a brick minifigure through three lanes of toy city. Swipe to switch lanes, jump the barriers, slide under the gantries, and stomp the baddies. Collect studs to charge a boost, grab a magnet or a shield, and see how far you get before the city catches you.
Play nowRPG · creature collector
A Game Boy-style monster-catching adventure. Choose a starter, battle through tall grass and your rival GARETH, and take on the Stonevale Gym. Original creatures, turn-based type-matchup battles, capturing and leveling. Plays with touch or keyboard, and auto-saves whenever you leave.
Play nowIdle · incremental
Buy GPUs, juggle power and cooling, train models, and prestige into the next model generation for permanent multipliers. A five-minute break that still has room to master.
Play nowIdle · city-builder
Place Solar Arrays, Hab Domes, Fabricators, and Research Labs on a grid, keep power and staffing ahead of your buildings, and found the next colony generation for a permanent bonus. Check in a few times a day and let it run.
Play now