Quick note: Before you read this week's newsletter, can you fill out this 5-minute subscriber survey so I know what you want to know more about? I've got a mix of SQL and AI & Agentic Analytics right now. Thanks in advance! Hello Reader, A manager sends you a database login and says, "Can you pull a few customer insights before Friday." You connect to the database and you pause: Because, as a business analyst, there are two ways to respond: Panic and start feverishly writing the SQL, joining...
5 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, Real quick: if you haven't completed this subscriber survey -- now's your chance. Most people are looking to learn more about Agentic Analytics and AI topics. I want to build something that would be useful to you, based on the work I've been doing for the past year or so. Interested? Take 5 minutes to let me know what's on your mind. Take the 5-Minute Survey Now 👉 Imagine it's your first week at a new job. Someone from IT sends over database credentials and a two-line email:...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans -- glad you're with me today. 🎇 I'm planning out newsletters for the rest of the year and want to start incorporating more Python, Tableau, and Agentic Analytics. Can you take this short survey for me? Thanks! If you've been working as an analyst, you'll be familiar with a request like this: "This weekly report is exactly what we needed. Can we get it every Monday morning, with a chart, emailed to the whole leadership team automatically?"...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, A while back, I shared some tips about formatting SQL output for spreadsheets. Today we're going the other direction. Doing the kind of analysis that makes spreadsheet formulas feel clunky. Here's the kind of request that analysts get every single day: "Show me monthly revenue and how the trend is moving." If you pull monthly revenue into a spreadsheet, you'd probably create a running total column, then a 3-month moving average column, then a month-over-month change column....
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, Here's a fact of analyst life: most of the people who use your analysis will never use SQL. Instead, they'll use spreadsheets and reports. Your director doesn't open pgAdmin. Your marketing team doesn't "connect to the database". They open the Excel file or Google Sheet you sent them. And if the data you exported requires 20 minutes of cleanup before it's usable (reformatting dates, splitting columns, fixing number formats) you've done extra work that didn't need to happen....
2 months ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, Most analysts panic when they get a note like this on a random Tuesday afternoon (from the CEO): "Revenue feels off this quarter. Can you figure out what's happening before the board call at 4:30?" Great. You have 90 minutes. No time to build a comprehensive analysis. No time to make it pretty. You need to diagnose the problem (super fast) and deliver a clear answer. Lucky you. You're going to learn the way a seasoned pro handles this situation. I call it The Gordon Ramsay...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader -- I'm trying something new this week! Can you take a minute to fill out this quick survey? Thanks in advance! Okay, on to this week's topic: A common question I get from readers is some version of: "This Summit Adventures stuff is great, but I work in healthcare (or SaaS, or retail, or finance). How does this apply to me?" The honest answer: every SQL pattern you've learned in this newsletter translates directly to your industry. The table names change. So do column names. The...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, Imagine you're a business analyst at Summit Adventures (the fake adventure tourism company I created to teach real-world business analytics concepts). Your CEO asks a common question: "Who are our best customers?" If you pull a list sorted by total spend, you'll get a spreadsheet with hundreds of rows. Not useful because no one acts on a list of 500 customers. And certainly not the CEO. What they actually need are segments: 3-5 groups with clear labels, clear revenue impact, and...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, Here's a scenario that happens more often than anyone admits: You build a report. Your director uses it in a board presentation. A week later, someone notices the customer count includes 58 records with obviously fake email addresses like evan.clarke743@noemail. The report wasn't wrong. The data underneath it was dirty. And now your credibility takes a hit. Bummer. Not because of your SQL skills, but because you didn't check the final product before sending it off. Data quality...
3 months ago • 4 min read