What I Stopped Doing in Power BI After Working on Real Projects

PowerBI Course at Rs 99

When I started with Power BI, I followed tutorials religiously. Everything worked perfectly on sample datasets.
But real projects are different — large data, business pressure, performance issues, and constant changes.

After working on real-world Power BI projects, here are the things I consciously stopped doing (and why). 👇

---

1️⃣ I Stopped Creating Too Many Calculated Columns

In the beginning, calculated columns felt easy and intuitive.
 But in production models, they became a performance killer.

Why I stopped:

• They increase model size
• They slow down refresh
• They are calculated row by row

What I do instead:

• Use measures whenever possible

Example:

❌ Calculated Column

Total Sales = Sales[Quantity] * Sales[Price]

✅ Measure

Total Sales = SUMX(Sales, Sales[Quantity] * Sales[Price])

📌 Result: Faster reports, smaller models.

---

2️⃣ I Stopped Importing Unnecessary Columns

Earlier, I imported everything from SQL tables — just in case.

Reality check:
Unused columns = wasted memory.

What I stopped doing:

• Importing audit fields
• Importing technical IDs not used in visuals

What I do now:

• Select only business-required columns

Example:

• Imported before: 40 columns
• Imported now: 18 columns
   🚀 Huge performance improvement.

---

3️⃣ I Stopped Writing Complex DAX Without Business Context

I used to write clever-looking DAX formulas that even I struggled to understand later.

Problem:

• Hard to debug
• Hard to explain to stakeholders
• Hard to maintain

What I do now:

• Keep DAX readable
• Break logic into multiple measures

Example:

❌ One giant unreadable measure
 ✅ Multiple small measures like:

Total Sales
Total Cost
Profit = [Total Sales] - [Total Cost]

🧠 Simple always beats smart.

---

4️⃣ I Stopped Ignoring Data Model Design

Earlier mindset:

“Relationships? Power BI will manage.”

That’s a mistake.

What I stopped doing:

• Snowflake models without reason
• Many-to-many relationships casually

What I do now:

• Prefer Star Schema
• Clean fact and dimension tables

Example:

• One Fact table (Sales)
• Multiple Dimensions (Date, Product, Customer)

📊 Better performance + easier DAX.

---

5️⃣ I Stopped Using Default Visual Interactions Blindly

Default interactions sometimes confuse users more than they help.

What I stopped doing:

• Letting every visual filter every other visual

What I do now:

• Control interactions intentionally

Example:

• KPI cards should not change on slicer click
• Trend charts should respond, summaries shouldn’t

🎯 Better storytelling.

---

6️⃣ I Stopped Publishing Without Testing Performance

Earlier:

“It works on my machine, publish it.”

Real users changed that belief.

What I do now:

• Use Performance Analyzer
• Test with large filters
• Test with worst-case scenarios

Example:

• A report loading in 12 seconds → optimized to 3 seconds

⏱️ Users notice performance instantly.

---

7️⃣ I Stopped Treating Power BI as Just a Visualization Tool

Power BI is not just charts.

What changed:

• More focus on data modeling
• More focus on DAX logic
• More focus on business questions

Example mindset shift:

• ❌ “Which visual looks good?”
• ✅ “What decision should this report support?”

Power BI mastery is not about doing more.
It’s about stopping the wrong things.

If you’re still early in your journey, these mistakes are normal.
If you’re working on real projects — unlearning matters more than learning.

PowerBI Course at Rs 99