I'm starting up an applied AI "lab" for practical data use cases, and the excel transpiler idea is a good one to add to the list.
I actually had success porting a gsheet to a flask app last year using only screenshots in chatgpt, so I can certainly see a path to a pipeline builder.
This article comes at the perfect time Ben. I so agree, 'one twelfth of the year is over... and somehow it feels like a year’s worth of events have occurred.' You realy captured the pace.
“Microsoft Fabric Will Rebrand… Again” - LMAO, totally agree. At this point, I’d bet on it. It’s starting to feel more like a revenue play than a long-term platform strategy. Typical Microsoft.
“Modern Data Stacks Will Be Shaken” - Also agree. The tools themselves are strong at what they’re designed for. The problem isn’t capability, it’s fragmentation. We don’t need more tools, we need an operating system that actually coordinates them to do what they’re best at.
“Snowflake Will Rediscover Themselves / Snowflake vs. Databricks” - This is the part I dislike the most. Snowflake is excellent for non-engineering users and warehouse-centric workloads. Databricks is outstanding for pipelines and engineering-heavy workflows. They each have real strengths. Yet the constant “us vs. them” narrative feels pointless. As someone who actively uses both, the rivalry adds zero value and mostly creates noise. From a user’s perspective, it makes no sense.
Great article, thanks for sharing your perspective in the data industry.
An auto-pipeline-from-Excel feature would be cool, but honestly bigger challenge is getting everyone on the same page about what metrics actually mean. In large organisations, different markets and teams interpret KPIs differently, and they each have reasons for their approach. The hardest part isn't building the pipeline, it's getting unified business definitions. If no one is pushing for having those conversations the problem will always persist.
“Microsoft Fabric is Databricks from Temu” 😂 LOL. Love it (the quote, not Microsoft Fabric)
I am also not a fan hahaha...
I'm starting up an applied AI "lab" for practical data use cases, and the excel transpiler idea is a good one to add to the list.
I actually had success porting a gsheet to a flask app last year using only screenshots in chatgpt, so I can certainly see a path to a pipeline builder.
Thanks for the book rec!
Hope you like it!
Great stuff Ben
thanks! also great article with Christian Steinert!
Was curious if somebody had already vibe coded an implementation of the Excel data pipeline.
This article comes at the perfect time Ben. I so agree, 'one twelfth of the year is over... and somehow it feels like a year’s worth of events have occurred.' You realy captured the pace.
“Microsoft Fabric Will Rebrand… Again” - LMAO, totally agree. At this point, I’d bet on it. It’s starting to feel more like a revenue play than a long-term platform strategy. Typical Microsoft.
“Modern Data Stacks Will Be Shaken” - Also agree. The tools themselves are strong at what they’re designed for. The problem isn’t capability, it’s fragmentation. We don’t need more tools, we need an operating system that actually coordinates them to do what they’re best at.
“Snowflake Will Rediscover Themselves / Snowflake vs. Databricks” - This is the part I dislike the most. Snowflake is excellent for non-engineering users and warehouse-centric workloads. Databricks is outstanding for pipelines and engineering-heavy workflows. They each have real strengths. Yet the constant “us vs. them” narrative feels pointless. As someone who actively uses both, the rivalry adds zero value and mostly creates noise. From a user’s perspective, it makes no sense.
Great article, thanks for sharing your perspective in the data industry.
An auto-pipeline-from-Excel feature would be cool, but honestly bigger challenge is getting everyone on the same page about what metrics actually mean. In large organisations, different markets and teams interpret KPIs differently, and they each have reasons for their approach. The hardest part isn't building the pipeline, it's getting unified business definitions. If no one is pushing for having those conversations the problem will always persist.