The 3 Big Lies of Data. (And Power Pivot vs. Power View, Power Query, Q&A, etc.)
Power Pivot is the Engine that Turns Data Into Information!
But We Can’t Understand This Properly Without Examining the Three Big Lies of Data
Goal: Answer Four Frequently-Asked Questions
So many things to say this week. Let’s jump in. Here are the questions I ultimately aim to answer, which are questions I get basically everywhere I go:
- How do all of the Power BI Components relate to each other? Power Pivot, Power Query, Power View, Power Map, Q and A, etc. = Power Confusion for some folks. I get it.
- Has Power Pivot become less important, now that we have all of these other new “Power *” tools?
- Which tool should I learn first in the Power BI family?
- Should I consider abandoning this stuff altogether in favor of <hot new technology X>? Tableau, Hadoop, R, etc.
In order to answer these, first we must confront some insidious lies that we are told every day.
Examining: The Three Big Lies of Data
The world of data, today, is clouded by Three Big Lies. These lies originate with all of the tools vendors – Oracle, IBM, Tableau, etc., and yes, Microsoft too is very much playing along.
Even though the Vendors are the Purveyors of these lies, they are NOT “at fault” for them. Because the world actually WANTS to be told these lies. BADLY wants to be told them, in fact. And because the audience is so receptive to these lies, the vendors naturally learn to tell them, and tell them well.
Vendors who DON’T learn to tell these lies? Well, those vendors don’t win many customers. And then those vendors disappear.
So while the lies COME from the vendors, the PROBLEM, really, is with US – the people who BUY the tools.
