Deploying Chaos with Grace

Hi, I’m Annemarie—a neurodivergent (ADHD) millennial mom of two wildly energetic toddlers, and a cloud engineer working in Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric. My life is a whirlwind of snack negotiations, sensory meltdowns, and CI/CD pipelines. If you’ve ever tried deploying a production workload while a toddler is finger-painting your couch, you’ll understand the level of multitasking I’m talking about.

Parenting toddlers is like managing a distributed system with unpredictable latency. There are bursts of brilliance, unexpected crashes, and a constant need for monitoring and adaptive scaling. Since I have ADHD, I essentially have a different operating system which can make parenting more challenging that it already is. And just like in Azure, success comes from understanding the architecture and building with intention.

Here’s how I’ve found surprising parallels between my parenting journey and my work in Azure and Fabric:

1. Expect Spikes, Plan for Scale: My kids can go from calm to chaos in 0.2 seconds. Similarly, workloads in Azure can spike unexpectedly. That’s why autoscaling and load balancing are essential—both in cloud deployments and in managing toddler tantrums. I keep calming strategies on standby like I keep my Azure Monitor alerts configured and ready.

2. Use Observability Tools (and Snacks): In Azure, I rely on Application Insights and Log Analytics. At home, I rely on visual schedules, timers, and a snack drawer that could rival a vending machine. Observability helps me understand what’s happening before things go sideways—whether it’s a memory leak or a meltdown.

3. Deploy in Small Batches: Big changes = big reactions. Whether I’m introducing a new bedtime routine or deploying a new feature, I roll it out in phases. Canary deployments in Azure? Same principle. Test with one kid (or one region), monitor, then expand.

Moving Power BI Workspaces to Fabric Capacity

Now, let’s talk shop. If you’re transitioning from Power BI Pro to Microsoft Fabric capacity, here’s a quick guide to help you migrate your workspaces:

🔄 Step-by-Step: Move Power BI Workspaces to Fabric Capacity

1. Check Your Workspace Type

   • Only Premium or Fabric workspaces can be assigned to Fabric capacity.

   • Go to the Power BI Admin Portal > Workspaces > Check the type.

2. Assign to Fabric Capacity

   • In the Admin Portal, select the workspace.

   • Click Settings > Premium tab.

   • Under Capacity, choose your Fabric capacity (F SKU).

3. Validate Dataset Compatibility

   • Some legacy datasets may need to be upgraded to work with Fabric features.

   • Use the “Upgrade to Fabric” option in the workspace settings.

4. Monitor Usage

   • Use the Fabric Capacity Metrics app to track resource usage and performance.

   • Set alerts for memory and CPU thresholds.

5. Educate Your Team

6. Fabric introduces new paradigms like OneLake and Direct Lake mode.

7. Host a quick lunch-and-learn or share Microsoft Learn resources.

Whether I’m troubleshooting a deployment or diffusing a toddler tantrum, I’ve learned that flexibility, empathy, and good documentation go a long way. Neurodivergence isn’t a limitation—it’s a different way of seeing the world. And in both parenting and tech, that perspective can lead to some truly innovative solutions.

So here’s to all the moms deploying microservices while microwaving mac and cheese. You’re not alone—and yes, you can do both.