Andrew Boles

Husband and Father; I also meddle with data every now and then.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

Just passed the Microsoft PL-300! Officially a Microsoft Certified Power BI Data Analyst.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

6/ In higher ed and building agents? Reply or DM. Writing a white paper on this.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

🧵 What I learned building 5 Copilot Studio agents for a university career center
1/ Over the past year I built 5 agents for Baylor's Career Center: Career Discovery, Resume Builder, Interview Prep, Career Day Prep, EQ Assessment.
Here's what worked — and what didn't.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

4/ Biggest surprise: IT provisioning is the bottleneck, not the tech. Budget 2x your dev time for access + deployment.
5/ Biggest win: students treat the agents like a 24/7 teammate, not a chatbot. Framing matters. We never call them "bots" in UI copy.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

Power BI tip: if DirectQuery is slow, check bi-directional filters before blaming the source. 9/10 times it's the model, not the warehouse.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

Speaking at Baylor's 10:10:10 AI series today on Copilot Studio agents for career services. Year in, 5 agents shipped, one thing I'd tell anyone starting: scope narrow. "Resume Builder" beats "Career Assistant" every time.

[Michael Estepp @michael_estepp]

@elonmusk — Baylor University Career Center is ready to pilot Optimus in a real-world environment.

94% career success. 99% knowledge rate. Fully operational AI ecosystem already in place.

We’re not experimenting with AI — we’re operationalizing it at scale for students.

Let’s partner to test Optimus in higher ed and generate real human-robot interaction data while directly improving student career outcomes.

If this aligns with your vision, we’re ready to move.

#Optimus #AI #FutureOfWork #HigherEd

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

The company hired me to lead their "Agile Transformation."
I don't know what Agile means.
Nobody does.
That's why it works.

I make $425,000 a year.
To move sticky notes.
From left to right.
On a board.
The board is digital now.
The sticky notes cost $80,000 in Jira licenses.
Progress.

Day one, I said "we need to break down silos."
Everyone nodded.
Silos are bad.
I don't know why.
But destroying them is a career.
My career.

I introduced "squads."
Squads are teams.
But disrupted.
We disrupted the teams into teams.
Different names.
Same people.
Same problems.
But Agile problems now.
Agile problems are strategic.

A senior engineer asked what we're actually changing.
I said, "The mindset."
He asked what that means.
I said, "It's a journey."
He asked where we're going.
I said, "Toward agility."
He asked what agility means.
I pointed at the sticky notes.
They were moving left to right.
That's velocity.
We have velocity now.

The VP of Engineering said two-week sprints don't fit their work.
I said, "That's waterfall thinking."
Waterfall is bad.
Like silos.
I don't know what waterfall is.
But I know it's bad.
She stopped talking.
Waterfall accusations end conversations.

We had a retrospective.
In the retro, we discussed what went wrong.
Everything went wrong.
We put it on sticky notes.
Then we moved the sticky notes.
Into a column called "Parking Lot."
The Parking Lot is where problems go to die.
It's full.
We don't look at it.
That's agile.

Velocity is up 40%.
I defined velocity.
I also defined the points.
I also defined the stories.
We're crushing it.
At the things I made up.
To measure.
Ourselves.

The CEO asked for ROI.
I showed a chart.
The chart went up.
Charts should go up.
This one did.
I didn't label the Y-axis.
Nobody asked.
Leadership is confidence.

We do standups now.
Every day.
We stand.
For 45 minutes.
Standing is agile.
Sitting is waterfall.
My legs hurt.
But we're transforming.

The transformation is now "Phase 3."
Phase 1 was assessment.
Phase 2 was implementation.
Phase 3 is "continuous improvement."
Continuous means forever.
Forever means job security.
I'm very secure.

My contract was extended.
Three more years.
For "cultural impact."
The culture is confused.
But impacted.

Agile transformation isn't about being agile.
It's about transforming.
Continuously.
Toward more transformation.
The destination is the journey.
The journey is billable.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@Caedrel Would Canyon / Delight be the most insane or most int combo ever? Guma and Zeus can play with or without pressure…just feel like that’s a wild ride.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@Atlustv Nah that’s the coaster I’m here for. Or should I say Koaster.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@LEC_Wooloo Well?

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@Evecoins I can try.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@AzaelOfficial Great job, as always! I’ve watched your career since the beginning and really enjoy your insights.

I’m not sure which version I like…I was happy to have 4 BO5’s in a row but also sad we only have one more week left? Idk

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@LSXYZ9 Ah DFG and unholy grail, ha. I haven’t thought of those in a long time…

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@Thorin Very true. I’m not sure which is better - the mechanical beast who was steps ahead of everyone or the stoic captain that leads his team to victory. All I know is - I’ll be watching him play in a finals for the 8th time this Sunday! Crazy. Death, taxes, and Faker in the finals.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@SQLGene @VinDel44 great note there, I'll try that! I agree - Claude has not done well, at least so far with me. And ask it about Copilot Studio? No chance as far as in-depth setup.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@kurtbuhler These have all been very great and timely! Thank you!

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@Atlustv Suspiciously KT favored behavior from AWS here.

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

In a meeting with a client today, when walking me through their data warehouse and having one field that should be unique show: Count=999, Unique=998;

"I want it to be unique consistently so bad."

Ha - me too! #data #powerbi

[Andrew Boles @BolesData]

@CLTchesscenter Very sad to hear this. Prayers for his family and friends. Loved learned from Danya.