ARTICLES

Field notes on data, analytics, and AI

Practical writing from the team - what we have learned building modern data stacks, dashboards that actually get used, and AI that ships.

June 30, 2026/AI

The Just-in-Time AI Bill: Your AI Spend Is an Inventory Problem

Somewhere in a finance meeting right now, someone is staring at an AI bill and realizing the robots have picked up a very human habit: they are remarkably good at spending...

Read article →
June 17, 2026/BusinessIntelligence

The Closed-Loop System: BI’s Time to Shine

When I graduated college, I had barely touched a database. A little spreadsheet exposure, and not much beyond that. My first job changed all of that. I learned SQL, I learned...

Read article →
June 11, 2026/DataEngineering

The Five SQL Traps That Don't Throw Errors

You ask your AI assistant for a query. Maybe it's Claude, maybe it's Cortex, maybe it's whatever Copilot your warehouse shipped this quarter. You describe what you want in...

Read article →
May 12, 2026/DataScience

Chicago Built 100 Miles of Bike Lanes. What Happened?

If you’ve ridden a Divvy bike in Chicago at any point over the last five years, you’ve undoubtedly braved some type of construction. Orange construction barrels on Milwaukee,...

Read article →
April 30, 2026/AI

Using Claude + Snowflake MCP to Scout the NHL Playoffs

As a fair-weather Anaheim Ducks fan who hasn't seen my team make the playoffs in eight years, I'll admit that this playoff run snuck up on me. With the Ducks heading into a...

Read article →
April 29, 2026/Orchestra

Your Warehouse Bill Has a Scheduling Problem. Orchestra Has a Fix.

Most data teams run dbt on a schedule. Every hour, every six hours, once a day … pick your cadence, set the cron job, and walk away. It’s simple, it’s predictable, and it works...

Read article →
April 24, 2026/DataStrategy

Why the Basic Questions Are So Hard to Answer

As a CEO it would be reasonable to ask (or as an analyst, to be asked) any or all of the following four questions on a typical Monday morning:

Read article →
April 17, 2026/ABS

Way-Too-Early Takeaways From Three Weeks of ABS Data

If you've been watching baseball over the last three weeks, you probably already know the basics. The Automated Ball-Strike Challenge system is in, it's working, and watching a...

Read article →
March 25, 2026/MarchMadness

We Added 30,000 Player Records to Our March Madness Model. It Got Worse.

Every March, millions of people fill out brackets using some combination of gut feel, school loyalty, and whatever ESPN told them to think. Our team at South Shore had a group...

Read article →
March 16, 2026/SouthShoreAnalytics

5 Data Orchestration Tools Worth Knowing in 2026

Here's something the data tooling industry doesn't love to say out loud: "open source" and "free" are not the same thing. And nowhere is that gap more expensive than in data...

Read article →
March 16, 2026/DataOrchestration

The 10 Best Data Orchestration Tools in 2026

Let's get one thing out of the way upfront: open source and free are not the same thing. In data orchestration specifically, the gap between those two concepts is where a lot of engineering time quietly disappears.

Read article →
February 12, 2026/CitiBike

73 Rides and a Price Hike: Citi Bike's January Flash Freeze

If you've been in or around New York City over the last three weeks, the theme of this Newsletter won't surprise you. That is to say, it's been cold. As in, so cold that...

Read article →
January 30, 2026/DataStrategy

Stop Building Dashboards Backwards

Here's a conversation that takes place quite often when starting a new project: a company comes to us wanting a dashboard. They've got a list of charts they want to see … maybe...

Read article →
January 22, 2026/DataAnalytics

How NIL Leveled the Playing Field in College Football

If there are two things that bring us together as a team at South Shore Analytics, it’s sports and data. With the college football season in the books and Indiana completing...

Read article →
January 15, 2026/DataMigration

The Migration Risk Myth: Why Staying on Legacy Systems Is the Real Danger

The conventional wisdom is backwards. Here’s what the data actually shows.

Read article →
January 8, 2026/DataAnalytics

Roadmapping for 2026? Don't Neglect Your Data!

Larry David would argue that I’m on the cusp of being too late to say this, but let me begin by wishing you all a Happy New Year! 2025 was an exciting year for all of us at...

Read article →
December 18, 2025/DataAnalytics

What Happened to the Chiefs?

If you listen to sports pundits like Nick Wright on television (no shade, I’m a fan!), you’ll soon find yourself believing that nothing in sports comes down to luck. When a...

Read article →
November 13, 2025/ELT

The Hidden Math of ELT Pricing: Choosing the Right Tool for Your Business

If you’ve spent time working with ELT/ETL tools, you know how frustrating it can be to get a straight answer when asking what feels like the simplest question of all - “what is...

Read article →
October 30, 2025/SQL

The Five Validations That Catch 80 Percent of AI SQL Mistakes

If you’ve been following along with our Newsletters, you will know that we’re often providing thoughts on how best to interact with the ever changing landscape of AI. The truth...

Read article →
October 17, 2025/SQL

Introducing InnerJoin: Daily SQL Challenges for All Skill Levels

TL;DR We built a daily SQL challenge platform with ELO progression, streaks, and leaderboards. We’re giving lifetime free access to the first 100 beta users. Join, solve one...

Read article →
October 9, 2025/DataAnalytics

We Analyzed 20 Years of MLB Free Agency. The Results May Surprise You

There are two things we love at South Shore Analytics: sports and data. Most of all, we love when a data-first lens helps us reframe a sports story people think they already...

Read article →
October 2, 2025/SQL

Yes, AI Can Write Code ... but You Still Need to Know How to Read It

Quick heads up: stay tuned until the end for an exciting product announcement, and an opportunity to be a free lifetime user!

Read article →
October 1, 2025/SQL

If AI Can Write SQL, Why Should You Learn It?

A growing sentiment as AI tools become increasingly sophisticated is that learning SQL & Python (and other programming languages), is becoming a thing of the past. I’d venture...

Read article →
September 24, 2025/Omni

Rolling up Multi-Location Performance Used to be a Nightmare. Not Anymore

If you like this week’s edition of SELECT * FROM South.Shore, we wrote a longer breakdown of this build on our Medium blog and recorded a short walkthrough for anyone who wants...

Read article →
September 23, 2025/PrivateEquity

How Private Equity Firms Can Replace Monthly Excel Packages With Real-Time Portfolio Analytics

Private equity partners spend countless hours each month parsing through Excel files, trying to understand which portfolio companies need attention and which are performing...

Read article →
September 19, 2025/DataTips

Not an Analyst? Not a Problem! 5 Data Tips to Make Your Life Easier

If you’ve been working in the professional world long enough, you know how valuable data is for every aspect of the business. At the same time, you also probably know how...

Read article →
September 18, 2025/Healthcare

How To (and How Not To) Solve the Multi-Location Data Problem for Dental Service Organizations (and other PE-Backed Businesses)

We've been helping healthcare organizations untangle their data mess for years, and Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) represent the perfect storm of complexity. You've got 10+...

Read article →
September 11, 2025/dbt

Frustrated With Reporting That Doesn’t Tie? Try This!

If you work with multi-location data long enough, you’ve run into this problem: two reports that should agree… don’t. The finance dash says one thing, marketing says another....

Read article →
September 5, 2025/DataCommunication

Why Analogies Win: Turn Complex Ideas into Clear Decisions

Last week, Nick Lisauskas posted an NFL-style scouting report comparing data stack tools to football teams. Snowflake as the Kansas City Chiefs, Omni as the Cincinatti Bengals,...

Read article →
September 3, 2025/DataAnalytics

Why All Your Favorite Analysts Are Wrong About Saquon Barkley

Talking heads say the Giants were idiots. The data disagrees

Read article →
September 3, 2025/StartUps

Reflecting on a Three Year Journey

It's hard to believe, but this week marks three years since Nick and I made the decision to begin working together. In light of these events, I thought it would be fun to spend...

Read article →
September 3, 2025/DataMaturityMatrix

Where Are You on the Data Maturity Matrix?

One of the common experiences we have at South Shore Analytics when speaking to a new prospective client is that Leadership immediately asks -- "how do we implement AI?"

Read article →
September 3, 2025/DataVisualization

Dashboards - Why Most Suck, but Some are Useful

In many respects, building a dashboard is easy. Almost anyone can log into a BI tool, select a few tables, cobble together some fancy charts, and call it a day. But constructing...

Read article →
September 3, 2025/AgenticAI

Agentic AI: You Want It, but Are You Ready?

In recent months at South Shore Analytics, one question keeps coming up from clients and prospects alike: should we deploy AI agents -- and if so, how?

Read article →
September 3, 2025/AI

Adapt, Don't Panic: Thriving as a Data Pro in the AI Era

If you've opened a newspaper, scrolled LinkedIn, or sat through a team meeting in the past twelve months, you've probably heard some version of this question: "What are we doing...

Read article →
September 3, 2025/AI

5 Common SQL Traps (and How to Avoid Them)

SQL is a powerful tool — but it can be easy to get tripped up. Whether you're just starting out or have years of experience, certain mistakes creep in more often than we'd like...

Read article →
January 28, 2025/(none listed)

Visualization Theory - The Secret to Game-Changing Dashboards

If you have been following along with our recent content, you will know we've been putting together a Series outlining our tips and tricks for building a world class data stack....

Read article →
January 28, 2025/(none listed)

Mastering your Data Stack - Part 4: Building Your Dashboards

Welcome back to our series where we are sharing a step by step walkthrough of our data stack development process. In the previous iteration of this series, we discussed how to t...

Read article →
January 28, 2025/(none listed)

Mastering Your Data Stack - Part 3: How to Transform your Data with dbt

Welcome back to our series where we are sharing a step by step walkthrough of our data stack development process. In the previous iteration of this series we walked through how...

Read article →
January 28, 2025/(none listed)

Mastering Your Data - Part 2: Tips and Tricks for Setting up a Best-in-Class Data Pipeline

Welcome back to our series where we are sharing a step by step walkthrough of our data stack development process. If you have not already done so, we highly recommend checking o...

Read article →
October 25, 2024/(none listed)

Mastering Your Data - Part 1: Selecting the Right Pieces for Your Data Stack

This post represents the first in a series of content we will be sharing to walk step-by-step through our data stack development process and provide some guidance to others faci...

Read article →
October 25, 2024/None specified

Leveraging Big Data in a Small Business: Unlocking New Opportunities

In today's data-driven world, big data isn't just for big businesses & corporations. Small businesses can also tap into the power of big data to gain valuable insights, make inf...

Read article →
July 22, 2024/None specified

Strategies for Implementing Dashboards Effectively

Uncluttering your Data Reporting: Proven Techniques to Build Dashboards that Drive Decisions

Read article →
July 10, 2024/None specified

How to Access Your NetSuite Data in the Places You Need it Most

Accessing Your NetSuite Data in BI Tools like Domo or database IDEs like DataGrip

Read article →
July 10, 2024/None specified

Unraveling Nested JSON with dbt and BigQuery: A Hands-On Guide

If you're like me, you might find that working with JSON data can often feel like trying to untangle a ball of wool. Nested structures are common in JSON files and can become pa...

Read article →
July 10, 2024/None specified

Leveraging Big Data in a Small Business: Unlocking New Opportunities

In today's data-driven world, big data isn't just for big businesses & corporations. Small businesses can also tap into the power of big data to gain valuable insights, make inf...

Read article →
November 27, 2023/None specified

How To Get Your Business's Google Reviews into BigQuery & Looker Studio

Customer reviews are invaluable resources that can provide keen insights into customer satisfaction, business performance, and areas for improvement. For businesses using Google...

Read article →
November 27, 2023/None specified

ChatGPT - A New Era of Problem Solving

Those of us who were born right on the cusp of the digital age bear a unique distinction -- we can remember what school was like both before and after ubiquitous internet access...

Read article →
November 27, 2023/None specified

How to Configure BigQuery and Looker to Upgrade Your Analytics

The combination of Google BigQuery and Looker is one of our favorites when it comes to setting up a solid data warehouse and business intelligence foundation for your business....

Read article →
September 14, 2023/None specified

5 Tips for Transitioning from Finance to a Career in Data

By this time of year, thousands of recent grads have begun a career in Finance. For many young professionals, this career path will stick -- and that's great! A career in Financ...

Read article →
September 14, 2023/(none listed)

How to Break into the World of Data Analytics

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." -- Arthur Ashe

Read article →
September 11, 2023/(none listed)

SQL for Analytics: Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a powerful tool in the world of analytics. It allows analysts to retrieve, manipulate, and analyze data stored in relational databases, offeri...

Read article →
August 30, 2023/GoogleAnalytics

Case Study: Unifying Google Analytics Accounts in BigQuery

“I just want to see all my clients’ data in one place!” — Digital Agency Managers, everywhere, who have 10 Google Analytics tabs open.

Read article →