Power BI Features I Regret Using (So You Don’t Have To)

Proposed session for SQLBits 2026

TL; DR

We’ve all been there—excited to try a cool Power BI feature that ends up making things worse. In this fast-paced talk, I’ll share a few real-world lessons from features that caused more complexity, confusion, or chaos than they were worth. You’ll leave with a sharper eye for evaluating what features serve your users… and which ones might just be adding noise.

Session Details

We’ve all been there—excited to try a cool Power BI feature that ends up making things worse. In this fast-paced talk, I’ll share a few real-world lessons from features that caused more complexity, confusion, or chaos than they were worth. You’ll leave with a sharper eye for evaluating what features serve your users… and which ones might just be adding noise.

3 things you'll get out of this session

1. Recognize which Power BI features tend to create unnecessary complexity, confusion, or long-term maintenance pain. 2. Learn how to evaluate whether a feature truly adds value for users or just adds noise to your reports and models. 3. Understand practical alternatives and decision patterns to avoid technical debt and build cleaner, more sustainable solutions.

Reid Havens's other proposed sessions for 2026

Becoming a Master Builder: Creating the Ultimate BI Developer Toolbox - 2026

Building a Data Platform that Delivers ROI, Value, and AI Readiness - 2026

Design a Well-Architected Fabric Solution: A Medallion First Approach - 2026

Lights, Camera, Data!: Building Your Brand through YouTube and Speaking - 2026

Navigating Microsoft Fabric: A Practical Guide to Tool Selection - 2026

Power BI Feature Overload: Balancing Flexibility with Maintainability - 2026

Power BI Settings That Are Secretly Ruining Your Reports - 2026

Scoped for Success: Why Composite Models are a Report's Best Friend - 2026

Semantic Models Comes First: Managing Models for Growth and Self-Service - 2026

Speaker Hacks for Nervous Nerds (From a Nerd Who Talks a Lot) - 2026

Upgrading Power BI Architecture - 2026

F is for Fabric - 2026

Fabric for Muppets - 2026

Reid Havens's previous sessions

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