Description

Dataflow Gen2: When Power Query Meets Enterprise Scale

Episode 4 • 2026-01-23
Duration: 11:20

Matthias and Fabia unpack Dataflow Gen2 — the low-code transformation layer in Fabric. They cover staging architecture, the Gen1-to-Gen2 leap, why your dataflow is slow, multi-destination patterns, and when you should skip the visual editor entirely and reach for a notebook.

What we discuss

• A real-world mistake from a pre-Fabric era
• The one question that reframes the architectural debate
• How we got here — predecessor products and evolution
• Why the "obvious" answer is often wrong
• A real Reddit/Microsoft Q&A question unpacked
• The concrete recommended architecture
• F-SKU realism — what this actually costs
• When the rejected approach is actually right
• Risks of the recommended path
• What Microsoft is shipping that changes the calculus
• The architectural principle to take home

Key takeaways

• Low-code where you can, full-code where you must.
• Completely fair. And for teams with strong engineering backgrounds, notebooks are often the right call. But — here's the thing. Not every team has five Python engineers. I've worked with organizations where the data people are Excel and...
• They get Gen1 performance on a Gen2 label.

Resources

• What is Dataflow Gen2?
• Dataflow Gen2 architecture
• Connector overview
• Power Query M reference
• Staging settings
• Incremental refresh
• Schedule Dataflow Gen2
• Best practices
• Create your first Dataflow Gen2
• Monitor Dataflows

About the show

Built on ElevenLabs voice synthesis. Matthias — cloned voice. Fabia — designed AI co-host. See Matthias live on YouTube (Fabric Friday), at his meetups, and at conferences like FabCon.

Hosted by Matthias Falland — Microsoft Data Platform MVP and community architect behind the Fabric Periodic Table. New episodes every Friday.

Submit your case

Have an architecture decision you are wrestling with? DM Matthias on LinkedIn — find him as Matthias Falland. Three to five sentences about the decision, your team size, and your current stack. We anonymize before airing.

Built on ElevenLabs voice synthesis. Brand design based on fabricperiodictable.com.