2 minutes with… Carl Allchin of The Information Lab

Posted on September 3, 2015 by paulbanoub

Hello folks. Time for a new 2 minutes with… I’m delighted to welcome Carl Allchin to VN towers. Carl spent 6 months with my team helping us build our Tableau service. He’s got great Tableau Desktop skills and has a natural flair for helping to train users.

Without further ado..

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

CA: I am Carl Allchin and I work for The Information Lab (Tableau’s Partner of the Year in EMEA for 2013) as a Tableau and Alteryx consultant and blog about Tableau on datajedininja.blogspot.com.

VN: Tell me about your org

CA: The Information Lab is a great company. Started by Tom Brown a few years ago, they are now a band of Tableau and Alteryx gurus in Europe who have partnered with those two software companies to help everyone get access to their data and make best use of it. I’ve recently joined from Barclays where I was an internal Tableau consultant (Data Ninja) but made the jump to The Information Lab so I could work across multiple industries and support more people get the most out of their data.

VN: How do you personally use Tableau?

CA: I am a Tableau-holic. I use Tableau for my day job to help our clients out with specific challenges they are facing. I am also a Tableau trainer so I get to teach people how to get the most out of Tableau Desktop. I get a massive buzz from seeing people have the same revolutionary moment that I had two years ago when I was taught by Tom to use Tableau in a course at Barclays. I also use Tableau in the evenings to analyse basketball data to understand the game I love more and to communicate with fans worldwide about the sport.

VN: Tell me more about your fascination with Tableau and sports data.

CA: Ever since meeting Peter Gilks at Barclays and talking data visualisation and Tableau, my career (and personal life) has gone on a fantastic journey. Being focused on data visualisation and Tableau at Barclays was great but Peter and I were also basketball nuts so we started to translate our day jobs on to basketball data so we could understand more about the game than ever before. As our Tableau skills and knowledge of the game grew, we started to use one to learn more about the other. For example, I wanted to learn how to use background images in Tableau so I create my interactive shot chart (http://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/GRGB8BZB9?:display_count=no) and Peter explored visualisation techniques like his ‘Ball Code’ (http://paintbynumbersblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/how-i-built-ballcode.html).

This has led to me landing some really exciting opportunities, like being invited by Ben Jones to present at the Tableau Public session at the Tableau Conference in Seattle and talk just about basketball. That is pretty unique for a Brit to get the chance to do that in the US!

VN: What does the Tableau community mean to you and who do you learn from?

The Tableau community is simply amazing and one of the reasons why I love doing what I do. The fact that so many highly skilled, intelligent people are willing to help in any problem you come across is great. I could name so many people who I learn from but I have to give special mention to The Information Lab team (http://www.theinformationlab.co.uk/team/) as they were great to me before I even joined them, Lee Mooney for his database and analytics skills he still shares with me, Jewel Loree and Ben Jones of Tableau Public fame and all the Zens who always make time. That Viz Ninja fella is also pretty handy for some Enterprise Server tips too.

VN: So why are you a Data Jedi Ninja?

CA: At Barclays, Peter, Lee and I were the team that people came to when they wanted an ultimate approach than the traditional IT BI report so we basically hid away creating great stuff and only came out of hiding to deliver some great tools to the business before hiding away again and working on the next piece of data magic. We actually got Barclays to accept Data Ninja as our job title which was quite an achievement for a bank but as that Twitter account had already been claimed then I had to add an additional level.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

I’ve recently been on a seven week holiday to Australia to complete detox from all things data. Unfortunately, my girlfriend is did let me take my laptop so I just hope my Tableau withdrawal symptoms are not too bad.

That’s it for this one. If you ever get the chance to attend one of Carl’s training courses then do take it all in. He’s one of the best.

Cheers, Paul

2 minutes with… Nelson Davis of Slalom Consulting

Posted on May 12, 2015 by paulbanoub

Welcome back to what is now the second best BI interview series out there! Sob sob. Hey I can handle that Dan stole our idea, mainly because his Interworks interview series is so damn good!

But that doesn’t stop us bringing you some top guests. And this time it’s new Zen Master Nelson Davis of Slalom

So who are you then and what do you do?

I am Nelson Davis – a good southern gentleman born and raised in the beautiful city of Atlanta, GA. Just over a year ago I join Slalom Consulting to focus on Tableau and since then I’ve had some incredible opportunities to do amazing work. As of a few days ago I became a Solution Principal of Data Visualization for the Information Management and Analytics practice for the Atlanta office. I use Tableau in almost every aspect of my day to day work.

Tell me about your organization

Slalom is a consultant’s dream place to work. Rather than getting on a plane each week and traveling across the country, Slalom employs a local model, serving clients in each of 15 our markets (newest one is in London – and looking for amazing people). Because of this, we’re invested in long term relationships with our clients – in Atlanta this means I’ve had the opportunity to do work for the likes of Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Delta, UPS, AT&T and Cox Communications. It also means that we get to be invested in the community – over the course of the year a group called Slalom Cares Atlanta organizes Backpack drives for school kids in need, Holiday Gift Drives, Can Food Drives, and more. And the people of Slalom are amazing themselves. It became clear to me when I first walked in the door that Slalom goes out to find the brightest people in the marketplace, puts them together to work on the most challenging projects, and gives them free reign to own the outcomes – which are often time amazing.

Last thing I’ll say is that we’re Tableau’s North American Alliance Partner of the Year for 2013, and we have an internal Tableau Community that is very collaborative and working to push the envelope in every direction when it comes to Tableau.

How did you start using Tableau? And how are you using it now?

My path to Tableau is a bit odd. In school I studied Civil Engineering with a focus on Transportation (I like connecting things). After graduation, my wife and I did a year of mission work in Mexico, only to return home in the Spring of 2009 to near double digit unemployment. With my Master degree I landed a systems analysis internship (yay $15/hr!) and got to play with data for the first time. Many months later I landed my first Transportation Engineering job – and almost immediately realized that data was more fun. After a little over two years as an engineer in a two person office, my boss was offered another job and he parleyed a spot for me – they were looking for a transportation data analyst.

After a few months of Excel (the gateway drug of data nerds everywhere) and some cool GIS stuff in Google Earth, I was ask to find a way to create ‘dashboards’ with ‘live data’. I said sure and promptly Googled ‘what the heck is a dashboard?’ and Tableau popped up (v6.0). That afternoon I made my first dashboard, and things just kinda took off. I got really involved in the Atlanta Tableau Users Group and started raising my hand when they asked for presenters. Within a few months I was using Tableau on projects coast to coast, and traveling to support them. I started to realize the amazing potential of Tableau and how to hack it to push the limits. When I showed off Google Street View integration in a Tableau Dashboard to the TCC13 speaker selection people, I got an invite. TCC13 opened my eyes to the amazing Tableau Community and the transition over to Slalom helped me to take my Tableau work to the next level. I’ve done everything from Black Friday Analytics, to Social Media Reporting, to Online Merchandising, to Logistics Networking and much more – all in Tableau. It’s been a lot of fun.

Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

There are a number of people in the community that are putting out amazing things. Like many others I point at Joe Mako, Jonathan Drummey and Andy Kriebel as kind of the Godfathers of the community.

However, I find that the stuff the most inspiring, technical, and what I want to emulate comes from the likes of Mark Jackson, Ryan Robitaille, Ben Sullins, and Russell Christopher. These guys are the boundary pushers, extending what’s possible in Tableau with some crazy integrations, customizations and making Tableau not look like Tableau. My goal in my work is to make the tool disappear – allowing the user to focus only on the analysis.

You do tons of work with the Atlanta Tableau Users Group. What makes you so keen to help others?

I’ve presented at ATUG four or five times and will do so again in December (email me if you want to join the webex!). I think my mom, who taught for over 30 years, instilled a love of teaching in me. The best part of my job is working with clients and watching for the light bulb moments, when everything just clicks in to place and they see or understand something for the first time. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning – helping people connect the dots. This same thing is at the core of what Tableau’s all about – the belief that seeing the data visually will fundamentally change the user’s understanding.

So I guess you could say Tableau and I are kinda perfect for each other. I’m also just passionate about making complicated things simpler, putting power in to the hands of more people and spreading the word that there is a better way out there – and I think the secret is getting out.

You got the honour of being named a Zen Master this year. What does that mean to you?

Wow. Great question. Earlier this year Slalom did a professional workshop and asked about a career ‘bucket list’. One of the three things I wrote down was that one day someday I hoped I might be named a Tableau Zen Master. I never thought there was a chance it would happen this year, or if it might ever happen. It’s not something you can try to do, there’s no list of check boxes anywhere. The Tableau Community is full of bright and talented people, but you want to talk about some of the most amazing, cream of the crop people on the planet – that has long been my opinion of the Zen Masters. They put out the best work and they give of themselves relentlessly to help others in the community.

Finding out that I would become a part of this group was both amazing and terrifying, honoring and humbling, all at the same time. There were certainly moments where I thought to myself ‘but I can’t do table calcs like Joe and Jonathan, Alan’s mapping is way better than anything a can do, Kelly and Anya do such better designs than me….’ And yet I’ve come to realize that while all of that is true (and it is), there’s a place for me, and the passion that I bring, in this group. It is humbling in every way, and I believe there’s a sense of responsibility to the community and to Tableau that I will work hard to honor (though I’ve promised my wife, I’m not doing 30 for 30 ever again).

Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

I’m passionate about global missions and photography. I’ll be taking a big trip back down to Mexico at the end of March 2015 to help build a house for a family that lives in conditions that don’t really exist in our first world lives. I also (sorta) maintain a photography website – nelsondavisphotography.com – that

I enjoy sharing some fun work from the past. But I’m most passionate about my family – two young boys and my awesome supportive wife make it such that there’s never a dull moment.

Okay that’s it. Tune in next time for more guests before Dan steals them…

2 minutes with… Mark Jackson of Piedmont Healthcare

Posted on February 10, 2015 by paulbanoub

Ok we are back back back! And it has recently come to my attention that there is now a competing interview series. Well I guess imitation is the best form of flattery so I won’t send the elite Ninjas around just yet. Besides, it’s a great read so I’d recommend you check it out!

But we’ve got a blinding guest this month, none other than one of my absolute Tableau heroes – Mark Jackson. Without further ado…

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

Nice hats!

My name is Mark Jackson. I go by @ugamarkj on Twitter and have a blog at http://ugamarkj.blogspot.com. I run the Tableau BI program at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, GA. My mission is to create an army of viz ninjas (Ahem! they all work for me actually – VN) and turn them loose to do awesome things with our data. So I spend most of my time educating others and modeling data sources for them to work with. I now have a team of two senior BI developers that I’m able to transition some of that work to. So I’m able to spend more time these days thinking strategically and exploring new technologies like NOSQL graph databases to help answer really complex relational or pattern based questions.

VN: Tell me about your org

Piedmont Healthcare is a five-hospital system. We have 400 employed medical staff members, and we have approximately 1,200 affiliate physicians with more than 100 physician practices across North Georgia. In total, we have around 10k FTEs that work for the heath system. Piedmont has some of the best medical providers in the world, and I wouldn’t go anywhere else for treatment. We had our second child at Piedmont and it was a great experience. So I’m honored to be a part of this organization and play my small part in improving the care we provide to our patients.

VN: How do you personally use Tableau?

These days I mainly use Tableau to evangelize Tableau and the science of data visualization. Tableau is the best tool on the market to help people rapidly see and understand their data. No other tool even comes close at the moment. Sure other tools can build beautiful interactive dashboards. But Tableau is leaps and bounds faster at doing it because it lets you iteratively paint with data until you arrive at an insightful view. And because you are painting with data using VizQL instead of plugging data into prescriptive dialog boxes to create specific visualizations, it is vastly more flexible and lets you be super creative. The fact that Joshua Milligan created tic-tac-toe and blackjack with artificial intelligence in Tableau proves that point. Try doing that in QlikView.

VN: You’ve always been one of the community interested in the IT / enterprise side of Tableau. How come?

It is because I run the BI program for large healthcare enterprise. My role exists within Financial Planning and Analysis where we have a shadow IT program. So we are responsible for a large portion of activities that would traditionally be within IT. This includes data governance, master data management, security, streamlining data movement, optimizing queries, transforming data, ensuring application up-time, troubleshooting software issues, functioning as a help desk…and the list goes on. If I don’t get the infrastructure right and instill confidence in the reliability of the system, I’m doomed. I started out at Piedmont as a customer of data analytics services in my role as Manager of Business Development and the Project Management Office for our Heart Institute. When I moved into my current role, my goal was to enable everyone to easily do the things I was able to do and bypass all the mistakes I’ve learned from along the way. To do that required setting up a sound architecture to remove a lot of the complexity required to do analytics work.

VN: What does the Tableau community mean to you and who do you learn from?

I echo what Steve Wexler recently wrote in a blog series about the Tableau community. This has to be the best software focused community on the planet. I’m tracking more than 80 blogs that post about Tableau at http://ugamarkj.tumblr.com. That is crazy and just shows how much excitement there is about this tool. The best thing about the community though is that it has managed to be dominated by people who are humble and super giving of their time. I’ve received so much help and inspiration from the community that it is impossible to name names without leaving important people out. Folks on the Tableau forum played a big role in my early development and more recently I’ve connected with a lot of people on Twitter. Many of these people I’ve met in the real world at the Tableau Conferences. They are all wonderful people that I feel privileged to know. I’m an active member of the community because the culture is amazing and I enjoying sharing what I learn with people that I consider to be my friends.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

People that befriend me on Facebook or meet me in real life will learn that I love to talk about the things that they always tell you not to talk about: politics and religion. I love to think about things philosophically measure actions against principles. With these topics (and any topic really), it is important to stay humble and be willing to look at things from someone else’s perspective. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve changed my mind on things because someone else challenged my point of view. I’m incredibly grateful for those people. My wife Leigh is one of those people that helps me think though these things (God bless her for putting up with me). I’m also a father of two kids (Ansley-4 and David-2). They keep me on my toes and are always good for a laugh.

That’s great thanks a lot Mark. And thanks for all the support with the infra related aspects of Tableau.

Ok see you next time folks – VN

2 minutes with… Dan Montgomery of Slalom Consulting

Posted on November 28, 2014 by paulbanoub

Hello everyone.

Really pleased to have Dan on this month’s show. Without further ado…

VN: Thrilled to speak to you, how are you doing?

Thank you very much! I’m doing well. It’s a sunny day in San Francisco, California. So after this interview and some additional Tableau presentation prep-work for Slalom and the San Francisco Bay Area Tableau User Group, I’ll probably go for a run.

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

I am Dan Montgomery, aka @danrmonty, an Information Management & Analytics Consultant for Slalom Consulting, Tableau’s North American Partner of the Year for 2013. I’m part of Slalom’s group that works to help organizations leverage the power of data to provide insight and awareness to problems they are experiencing or don’t even know are problems yet. Any time I get to use Tableau on those projects, I get really excited because it is probably my favorite data analysis tool, but my work history comes from an SAP BW and Microsoft BI stack background, so I’m pretty proficient in those tools as well.

VN: How did you start using Tableau? And how are you using it now?

A few years ago, I don’t remember how long, my boss told me to look into this tool he had heard about called Tableau. I didn’t have any training or preparation, so it was a very slow pickup initially, but pretty soon I was showing off different ways to look at and ‘play’ with data that tools we currently had on our team couldn’t do.

When I joined Slalom in 2012 in Chicago, where I’m originally from, I was only one of a handful of people that used Tableau and started to evangelize its use in that office, while also connecting with our other office that were using Tableau more prominently.

These days, I am using Tableau in my client work and my personal work. I’ll create PoC’s using Tableau to show clients the potential of Tableau on their own data, as well as lead server architecture and dashboard development for clients. Tableau is a great partnership for Slalom; clients really appreciate the quick turnaround time from design to execution, access their information from multiple devices, and being able to quickly share findings with anyone else.

VN: What has the impact been on your business?

Slalom’s business model offers both technology and business consulting, one of the big reasons I wanted to work there. This means that we can start working with a client to help a specific need, but as time goes on and needs change, Slalom usually has a service that can support the changing environment. Tableau plays an integral role on both sides of that equation. Sometimes our IM&A group is brought in to do data analysis in Tableau, which results in the need for business process improvements or more organizational effectiveness, which are services we offer.

Other times, it happens in reverse: we can be doing program management work or infrastructure analysis and then Tableau can help take the results and present it fun and interactive way to our clients, which may lead to more IM&A work or selling Tableau software to the client. Tableau not only makes a great tool to have in our IM&A arsenal, but also becomes a way to compliment and transition the services we sell.

VN: How have you seen Tableau make an impact on businesses?

Tableau has a way of making people excited or engaged in data in ways that were never possible before. Hands off mangers can have content delivered to them in a number of flexible ways (email, mobile, web) and the dashboards can be designed to highlight a couple of key metrics or run the gambit of KPI’s. Hands on managers who used to have a series of analysts produce a series of reports and spreadsheets are now able to connect and drive the analysis themselves. Lastly, developers have a means to quickly respond to requests from said managers, while also share data sources they create with other developers to help manage a single source of truth.

We’re currently living in a data revolution and tools like Tableau are allowing people to stay up to speed.

VN: Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

Oh my, so much. I really was living in a bubble for years when it came to Tableau development. Because I was one of the few people in my work circles that knew it, I was essentially a big fish in a small pond. Nelson Davis, an incredible Tableau developer and friend of mine, basically schooled me one day last fall, and from that moment on I’ve opened my eyes to the Tableau community and what people are able to do with the software.

There are too many to list, but these are my favorite developers to follow

Anya A’hern – Put simply, she makes Tableau art.
Kelly Martin – Never a lesson in simplicity that I can’t learn from Kelly.
Ramon Martinez – He takes incredibly complicated ideas and makes them digestible.
Mark Jackson – He is always pushing the boundaries of what you can do with Tableau and data visualization
Ben Jones, Matt Francis, Ryan Sleeper, Allen Walker, Paul Banoub, Jewel Loree,
Andy Kriebel – Continuing to put great content into the community and actively supporting others on twitter
John Mathis, Peter Gilks, Nelson Davis, Steven Carter – My Slalom partners in crime who regularly challenge and inspire me.
Karunaker Molugu – On the rise, just got his first VOTD and represents Chicago, my home town.

VN: In your opinion what should we be mindful of in the BI space going forward?

Respect for data and governance of data is the area I see as being a huge area that will be impactful in the near future. For years, data was ‘guarded’ simply by the fact that if it was in a database, only SQL developers knew how to access to it. Reporting tools like Tableau make data easier to access and interact with, and data storage platforms are making data available closer and closer to real time while also storing larger and larger datasets. ‘Turning everyone loose’ on data will not lead to more insight, and in fact may drive everyone further away from the truth.

Data isn’t just the numbers and text, it also includes data standards for how to represent information. This includes color schemes (what colors indicates good vs bad, progress vs decline, is this a gradient or is it stepped color), images (what are the accepted logos for different business units or vendors), fonts, and so many more areas that, as Tableau developers know, really become the measure of consistency and usability. Managing proper data definitions, hierarchies, calculated measures, etc. becomes more difficult and demands more attention, but the result is an empowered workforce that removes single points of failure and ensures consistent messages, regardless of the audience.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

I never understood running when I lived in Chicago. Even though Chicago has an incredible running community, there’s only about 3-4 months out of the year where the weather isn’t trying to freeze you to death or melt you into a puddle. Now that I’m in California, where it’s between 50 and 65 F every day, I find I’ve really enjoyed getting into running. I’m actually running in a 191 mile relay the weekend of my birthday (May 2nd Slalom teams running to support organ donation. You can learn more and donate here if you would like. On top of that, I play competitive flag football to live a piece of my dream to play for the Chicago Bears.

VN: Thanks for your time Dan, see you soon.

Thank you for having me, Paul. I appreciate the support you’ve given me since becoming a part of the Tableau community and this was a great honor. Take care.

Awesome stuff. Tune in next time for more insight into the minds of the great and the good of data viz.

Cheers, Paul

2 minutes with… Ryan Sleeper of Evolytics

Posted on October 23, 2014 by paulbanoub

Greetings Viz fans!

Now this is an exciting one for me. Been trying to get Ryan on board for ages. Anyway, after weeks of ever-increasing bribes he has finally cracked and gets the 2 minutes with treatment.. Enjoy.

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

RS: Hi Paul – it was so great to meet you in person in Seattle! Thank you for having me on.I’m Ryan Sleeper, Director of Data Visualization & Analysis at Evolytics.

VN: Tell me about your org

RS: Evolytics is a full-service digital analytics consultancy in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Our team does anything and everything related to digital analytics including measurement planning, web analytics implementation, testing, and optimization. I come in at the end and help the team and clients understand the data, primarily by using Tableau to help illustrate the stories in the data.

VN: How do you personally use Tableau?

RS: At work, a typical project begins with me using Tableau to do ‘discovery’ analytics. This is the phase where I don’t necessarily know what I am looking for and I am just digging in the data looking for insights related to a client’s business question. Most of this will not be seen by anybody but me. Once I have found the insights / indicators that can be used to measure the success of a client’s objective, the project moves to more of a ‘descriptive’ analytics task, where I create dashboards that help monitor our progress to goals. Occasionally, I also get the opportunity to create self-serve reporting for clients. These are essentially apps that end users can interact with to find their own stories in the data. This is more in-depth than a dashboard, but does not require the client to build anything themselves. I enjoy the challenge of designing these interactive reports with user experience in mind.

In my personal life, I enjoy trying to answer sports questions that I am curious about and sharing the results using Tableau Public.

VN: What has the impact been on your business?

RS: As a full-service analytics company, we’ve always offered reporting and analysis services, but before Tableau, they were more of an included, ‘value-add’ service. Tableau adds so much value to our reporting and analysis to the point where we can now have engagements specifically for Tableau, whether it be training or reporting via Tableau Server.

Tableau has also helped us provide better insights for our clients by reducing the time it takes us to find them.

VN: You have been an outspoken proponent of Tableau Public – what do you like most about it?

RS: I simply would not be as far along as I am without Tableau Public. Much fewer community connections, no Iron Viz, no guest posts at Tableau, probably no Kansas City Tableau User Group, and the list goes on. Tableau Public is my sandbox for developing new Tableau skills that I may not necessarily have the time to risk trying at work. Tableau Public also has a built in community that is there to provide feedback, help answer questions, and encourage you to keep working at it.

VN: What does the Tableau community mean to you and who do you learn from?

RS: I am constantly amazed by the Tableau community’s willingness to help each other. The Tableau community has played a huge role in my personal Tableau development, and not only have they taught me a great deal, but they’ve inspired me to pay it forward whenever I have the chance.

There are too many in the community to name, but I am inspired every single day by the effort, art, and selflessness that the community puts out. I look at nearly every single Viz of the Day and keep up with several blogs, including this one. Chances are if you’ve had a Viz of the Day or been on 2 Minutes, I have learned something from you.

If I had to pick one viz ‘mentor’, it would be Ben Jones of Tableau and dataremixed.com. Ben really pushed me to share my content and keep innovating when I was just getting started on Tableau Public. I also feel like I grew up in my Tableau life with Anya A’Hearn, Kelly Martin, and Ramon Martinez, all of whom I co-presented with during my first Tableau Conference presentation in 2013 and whose work I have studied for a long time.

VN: You’re a fellow TUG leader. Have you got any tips for running a successful TUG?

RS: The KC TUG is relatively new, just now closing in our one-year anniversary, but I have learned a few things so far. My biggest tip is to keep the content non-intimidating for beginners. I have found that at least half of our attendees are just getting started with Tableau and even just evaluating whether or not they want to use Tableau. I recommend including at least one lesson at each of your meetings that your entire audience can feel like they can begin using on their own as soon as they get back to the office.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

RS: My wife and I really prioritize travel / experiencing different cultures in our lives, and while I am mainly an American football / basketball / baseball guy, I collect soccer (football) scarves from each country I visit. So this year’s Tableau Conference speaker gift, a #Data14 scarf in Seattle’s trademark navy and green, literally could not have been better for me. Some of my favorite scarves include FC Barcelona, Wellington Phoenix, and Morocco’s national team – who I saw at the 1994 World Cup as a boy in 1994. I’ll also be in your neck of the woods in May to pick up my first Premier League scarf.

Awesome stuff thanks a lot Ryan. Don’t forget to give me a shout when you’re over in May – I’ll round up some London data folks and we can show you around.

Until next time… Cheers, Paul

2 minutes with… Matt Lutton of Goodwill Education Initiatives

Posted on September 19, 2014 by paulbanoub

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

Name is Matt Lutton – I am located in Indianapolis, IN, and am working as a BI Analyst with Goodwill Education Initiatives and INIschools. I use Tableau in some shape or form, on a daily basis.

VN: Tell me about your organization

ML: Goodwill Education Initiatives is a not-for-profit organization formed by Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, Inc. The Indiana Network of Independent Schools is a service that operates under the nonprofit designation of Goodwill Education Initiatives. The purpose of INIschools is to offer its partner or network schools a host of high-quality services that enable school administrators to improve cost efficiency and student achievement. This, in turn, helps its network schools achieve sustainability and improve academic performance.

I build and publish Tableau Desktop dashboards for a number of K-12 schools, utilizing Tableau Server for distribution.

VN: How did you start using Tableau? And how are you using it now?

ML: I was a Computer/Technology teacher in the Indianapolis area, and also worked in IT support in my previous positions as an educator. GEI had an opportunity for a BI Analyst utilizing Tableau Software, and I applied, interviewed, got the job and BAM — I needed to learn a new tool, very quickly. That is how I got started.

Today, I am using Tableau Desktop to generate more complex dashboards, often using multiple data sources, to tell stories, discover interesting finds in the data I work with, and offer dashboards that communicate data clearly to our users. The type of data we are working with includes many of the things you’d find in a typical SIS (Student Information System): Attendance Records, Gradebooks, Credits Earned, Graduates, Enrollments, Demographics, Term Reviews, Weekly Student and Teacher Productivity, etc. Our work focuses on three main levels of dashboard access: Teachers, Guidance Counselors, and Administrators.

In my spare time, I use Tableau to help others learn about the tool, by participating heavily on the Tableau Forums. I hope to spend more time over the next year creating more interesting visualizations to share with the Tableau community at large.

VN: Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

ML: Everyone and anyone who participates! I’ve learned a great deal by following the work (and blog posts) of awesome folks like Jonathan Drummey, Noah Salvaterra, Joe Mako, Andy Kriebel, Joshua Milligan, and I love your IT take on things as well.

I learn regularly from many other folks on the Tableau Forums, as well, including (but not limited to) Shawn Wallwork, Ville Tyrväinen, Jim Wahl, Toby Erkson, Patrick Van Der Hyde, Russell Christopher, and many, many more I am sure I am forgetting. I’d love to thank the entire generous community of Tableau users now: thank you all!

VN: You do tons of work on the Tableau forums. What makes you so keen to help others?

ML: I guess this goes back to what I set out to do when I was a undergrad – teach. Regardless of what I am doing, I want teaching and learning to be a large part of my life. But to be completely honest, the Forums really have helped fulfill two main purposes for me: helping others is one; but learning from others is equally important to me. The other part of using the Forums is it can be a lot of fun, and it allows you to get outside of yourself and put yourself in someone else’s shoes – I like that, and I have often said that it is a welcome distraction for me, at times.

VN: You’ve only recently entrenched yourself Tableau community, particularly outside the Forums. What are your early impressions?

ML: Looking back, I joined the Tableau Forums on May 21, 2013 – and have been active within that small subset of the Tableau Community ever since. I quickly found that there were VERY knowledgeable members that were not only extremely bright and adept with Tableau, but also extremely generous and gracious with their time and expertise. My early impressions have been solidified as I have continued to learn and grow – the Tableau Community is amazing, and I have never experienced a user-community quite like it.

TC14 really opened my eyes to the larger community around Tableau. I hope to connect with more users, and share what I can – and continue to learn from folks inside and outside the Forums.

VN: You got the honour of being named a Zen Master this year. What does that mean to you?

ML: It means a lot to me, personally, and it has helped push me toward continuing to learn and teach others in the community. Tableau says a Zen Master must demonstrate three competencies: Master, Teacher, and Collaborator. I believe my involvement on the Tableau Community Forums was likely the most important factor in being part of this year’s group

I certainly feel I have a lot to learn before I can really call myself a “master” of Tableau. The title has pushed me to try and live up to the example set by others. I am looking for more opportunities to collaborate with other users in the community, and certainly hope to continue learning new ways to teach concepts within Tableau to others.

Aside from all that, being named a Zen Master means that Tableau sees value in what I have done with their products, and their confidence in me has helped boost my own confidence in myself. Thank you, Tableau!

The one thing being a ZM does NOT signify is expertise across the entire product line. No one ZM knows everything about Tableau, although there are several who I feel are pretty close… but I think we all agree as a group that the largest myth around being a ZM is that you are suddenly an expert on everything Tableau. We all have various skill sets, and utilize them in different ways. Some of us use Tableau Server, and some do not. Some of us write SQL daily, and others do not. So, if you’re reading this, just be aware that we do not know everything – and I certainly feel as if I have a lot of catching up to do, particularly in terms of choosing a proper path to a solution in Tableau.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

ML: I love guitars. I have a small, but interesting, repertoire of gear.

That’s awesome, thanks Matt. Took way longer than 2 minutes but that’s a good thing!

See you soon for more 2 (ish) minutes with…

Paul

2 minutes with… Anya A’Hearn of Datablick

Posted on August 15, 2014 by paulbanoub

Hello!

Man I’m busy. Got 2 presentations to prepare for the Tableau Conference in Seattle, another couple later in the year and a ton of eager Tableau users to satisfy at work. Oh and I’m trying to move house as well. All a bit chaotic at the moment. Probably explains my lack of Tableau public vizzes recently..

At least I’ve had the pleasure of a chat with the one and only Anya A’Hearn of Datablick. Most of you probably know her stuff, cos she’s flippin ace. That’s all there is to it.

On with the show…

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

AA: Anya A’Hearn, Data Viz Consultant @DataBlick.

VN: Tell me about your org

AA: DataBlick is a boutique Tableau consulting firm in San Francisco with clients including a leading global payments technology company, as well as clients focusing on marketing attribution, education, and mobile communication.

VN: How do you use Tableau?

AA: How do I not use Tableau?… I think I am a certified junkie at this point :-). I have been in the BI space for over 20 years and have enjoyed watching the space and tools evolve. I have a background in Economics and Product Design, so when I first saw Tableau, it just magically clicked. Tableau allows me rapidly prototype, build, and deploy data products that people delight in using and interacting with. Watching a user be able to see data that is useful to them, and light up instantly with an “ah ha!” is amazingly rewarding. While it is not always the right tool, when it is – the impact is phenomenal.

VN: What has the impact been on your business?

AA: At this point, doing Tableau work pretty much is my business. There is currently a such a huge demand for developing Tableau dashboards and reports, that has become the main tool I use.

VN: Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

AA: I don’t know many other BI tools that have such an amazing community, especially the folks who respond to forum questions and post amazing how to’s like Joe Mako, Jonathan Drummey and Noah Salvaterra. I also am inspired by the very talented folks who post to Tableau Public and constantly come up with new ways to use Tableau like Allan Walker and his mapping work. I am lucky to live in the Bay Area and our user group meetings are like a Who’s Who of Tableau. I have reached out to so many folks with questions, and the response was always helpful, mindful, and supportive. If you love the work of someone in that you see, reach out to them with well formulated questions and examples, and you are sure to get a response that will lead you on the right path. I have been inspired by so many and continue to be inspired by all the ways that users bend Tableau to do what they need to do. Not all of it may be data viz best practices, but the sheer will to push the boundaries of what is possible is the most inspiring.

VN: In your opinion what should we be mindful of in the BI space going forward?

AA: I would love to see BI tools focus on more access to unstructured data, data via API’s, and live data feeds. I talk to data scientists and data viz designers that are just starting out and they are like “Ewwww, SQL? I have to actually learn that?” I might as well be talking about learning to Waltz as far as they are concerned.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

AA: Well when I am not working, I am playing with Tableau (my Public Viz’s), enjoying my kids, baking really delicious cookies, cheering for my SF Giants, or volunteering by contributing data viz work to non-profit organizations. You have a new Data Viz Super Power! Go use it for good!

Awesome stuff, thanks to Anya for sparing the time to chat. I’m looking forward to our joint session at Data14. Should be fun.

Until next time, Paul

2 minutes with… Matt Francis of Wellcome Trust

Posted on July 11, 2014 by paulbanoub

Hello!

So we’ve been busy at Tableau On Tour – London. Great to see so many friendly faces and thanks to everyone who came to my talk and the London Tableau User Group.

In between sessions I managed to pin down our next ~~victim~~ subject of “2 minutes with…”.

In this edition we are delighted to welcome a big supporter of VizNinja – Mr Matt Francis (@Matt_Francis).

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a charitably funded genomic research centre located in Hinxton, nine miles south of Cambridge in the UK.

VN: Hey Matt. How are you enjoying the conference?

MF: Great. Really enjoyed your session and had a lot of fun presenting my own about Story Points. I think that’s going to be a very popular feature.

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

MF: Matt Francis, Senior Software Developer, DNA Pipelines where I am the lead Tableau author

VN: Tell me about your org

MF: A leader in the Human Genome Project, we are now focused on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease. Our passion for discovery drives our quest to uncover the basis of genetic and infectious disease. We aim to provide results that can be translated into diagnostics, treatments or therapies that reduce global health burdens. WTSI was part of the Human Genome Project which spent 10 years decoding one human genome (3 billion letters in length) We now have single instruments that produce 100 times that data in a week.

VN: How do you use Tableau?

MF: Since Tableau arrived two years ago it has spread out from our team into pretty much every area of the WTSI. It’s now used in labs to track DNA samples as they process through our sequencing facility, in Cancer and Mouse Genetic teams to analyse experimental data. It is used to report on IT systems and our Corporate, Finance and HR systems. In fact wherever there is data Tableau seems to be there.

VN: What has the impact been on your business?

MF: The speed at which we can now produce dashboards has increased dramatically so that now, providing the data is there producing a full interactive dashboard is a dream to do. People are able to ask questions of their data and get an answer in hours rather than weeks. Tableau Server has enabled us to share dashboards across the WTSI. We have lots of tracking databases spread across different machines and Tableau allows us to blend these datasources together to present a single datasource, something we couldn’t do before without a lot of behind the scenes coding.

VN: Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

MF: Everyone. I’ve posted in the forums many time and been helped by a huge number of people. Twitter is great for help using the #tableau hashtag you get a wealth of help. I am constantly amazed by peoples generosity with their time to help fellow users out. That’s one of the real strengths of the community.

VN: In your opinion what should we be mindful of in the BI space going forward?

MF: Tableau works because is it quick, simple and powerful. The best visualisations carry that forward so avoiding the temptation to over complicate things is really important. Tableau allows people without an IT background interrogate their data with an ease they have never had before, keeping this simple is the key to Tableaus continued success.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

MF: When I’m not building vizzes I like to take photos. Mostly landscapes with the occasional portrait, I have two young models that don’t keep still.

Enjoyed that, thanks a lot Matt. Look forward to seeing more of your expert presentations at upcoming events.

Regards, Paul

2 minutes with… Chris Love of The Information Lab

Posted on March 31, 2014 by paulbanoub

Good day Tablites! I trust I find you well this morning? And if I don’t then go and play with 8.1’s DATEPARSE function, for it will bring you great joy.

It’s that time again, where we open the brown envelopes and decide, based on size and quality of bribe, who will be the next subject of the internet’s premier interview show. And this month’s deep pockets belong to..

Chris Love (@ChrisLuv) of The Information Lab

Chris has appeared on the blogging and social scene relatively recently but has already made a name for himself with some great analysis and comment. He’s also a big help to us here at ninja towers. Plus he bought the beers the last time we met up. He’s recently joined the fine folks at The Information Lab as an Alteryx expert, giving this 2 minutes with a more Alteryx flavour. As a side note we also love Chris’s photography and hope to pick up some tips.

VizNinja (VN): Good morning, how are you?

CL: I’m doing good, my first few days in my new role at The Information Lab have been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest so it’s nice to take a break and chat to you.

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

CL: I’m Chris Love, an Alteryx\Tableau Consultant at The Information Lab, Tableau EMEA Partner of the Year. I’m also the current Alteryx Grand Prix Champion.

VN: People may not have heard of Alteryx, can you quickly explain what it is? and what does being the Grand Prix Champion mean?

CL: It’s hard to pigeon-hole Alteryx, it’s essentially a visual BI tool that can be used for everything quick data processes, e.g. data reshaping, through to geospatial processing like “Find Nearest” and “Point in Polygon”; it’s also got a fantastic reputation as an Analytics tool. I’ve been using it for 8 years now and I’m looking forward to showing what it can do to a wider audience through The Information Lab.

As far as the Grand Prix goes, every year Alteryx hold an event at their conference where ten of the best Alteryx users in the world compete with each other over a series of business problems. Each problem is a timed “lap” and this year the three laps took in an end to end process which involved taking raw data, reshaping it and then doing some K-means clustering before presenting a final report via pdf.

I can’t remember my exact time but it took under half an hour in total to do the entire process and I was lucky enough to gain enough points from my laps to come top of the leader board. It’s a unique experience, with a few hundred people cheering you on and watching your progress on big screens, and the added pressure of being in direct competition with others, it’s hard not to go to pieces and forget everything you know. I must say though that the prize of a weekend in Las Vegas and a drive in a Lamborghini at the Las Vegas Speedway made it all worth it.

VN: How have you seen Alteryx make an impact on businesses?

CL: Alteryx empowers people. Ordinary business users are often hamstrung because the data they need either isn’t accessible to them because it needs specialists to extract it, or the data is available in Excel or online but is in the wrong format. Even solutions like Tableau, which are so easy to use, still require data to be formatted in a certain way before it can be used. Alteryx changes that by providing a simple drag and drop interface which allows users to use a plethora of tools to import, transform and analyse data, and the ability to share the results locally in any format or via the cloud. I once presented to a team who wanted to automate a handful of reports – I was able to build out their solution in just two hours in the course of a demo – which sold it to them; the next time I met them they were batching over 10,000 reports daily. I was blown away.

VN: How did you first become exposed to Tableau?

CL: I must admit I had heard of Tableau but it wasn’t until Alteryx added the capability to write to .tde format that I became fully aware of it. As soon downloaded a trial then I knew I had something that complimented Alteryx perfectly, so I made it my mission to get myself a copy, which I managed, and I started learning it in my spare time using resources like the Tableau community, Blogs and Tableau Public. With Alteryx to help me format data I found I was able to build Tableau dashboards quickly and easily because I didn’t need to worry about blending and formatting in Tableau itself, and the spatial elements I was able to add through Alteryx received fantastic feedback from even seasoned Tableau professionals – which only encouraged me further.

VN: In your opinion what should we be mindful of in the BI space going forward?

CL: As Spiderman was warned “With great power comes great responsibility”. BI is changing, business users are being empowered but with that comes a sense of responsibility otherwise there will be a backlash from IT. As more users get the tools to build data and analytical processes then users, and software vendors themselves, have a responsibility to ensure that the answers that come out of those processes are still meaningful and useful. If I can build a regression model without any code then does it mean I should? It depends, for example, on whether I understand what overfitting is.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

CL: I’m a keen photographer, I don’t get out as often as I should but when I do I have achieved some pleasing results – I even had some luck displaying my photos in exhibitions and have even sold photographs to America. Have a look at my site.

VN: Thanks for your time, see you soon.

CL: No problem, anytime.

That’s it for this episode. Tune in next time for more adventures in BI. Ping me @paulbanoub if you fancy participating in a future episode.

Regards, Paul

2 minutes with… Emily Kund of National Bank

Posted on February 28, 2014 by paulbanoub

Hello!

Here we go again! And they said it would never last! They said I’d amount to nothing! And here I am with top BI talent literally fighting to get a piece of “2 minutes with” action. Woah there guys – form an orderly queue. Especially you @pgilks – you’ve already had a go remember?

This time we extend a HUGE welcome to Emily Kund (@emily1852) a National Bank Examiner at the Office of the Controller of the Currency in Washington, D.C. The opinions expressed below are those of Emily and not her employer.

Quite simply – she’s mega! Our current favourite blog is a must read.

VizNinja (VN): Hi Emily, how are you?

EK: Doing well, thanks for asking!

VN: So who are you then and what do you do?

EK: I’m Emily Kund. By day, I’m a National Bank Examiner turned Team Leader, responsible for reporting and analysis for a subsection of financial institutions, supervised by a bureau in the federal government. By night, I try to be an awesome mom to two wonderful, smart, crazy kids; Alex (6) and Katie (3).

VN: How did you start using Tableau? And how are you using it now?

EK: I tinkered with it a few years ago, just to see what I could do, but didn’t have any formal Tableau projects. Then, in 2012, I used it for my first project, which is now monitored by senior management! I guess it follows the saying, go big or go home! By the way, I had help from the Tableau guy in my office…that sucker was super complicated!! Now, I rarely develop visualizations for work. My role is to provide feedback on reports and analyses that the team produces and, along with folks in my division, develop and implement a reporting and analysis strategy.

VN: How have you seen Tableau make an impact on businesses?

EK: The biggest impact I’ve personally seen is that we are now exploring the data we have collected for so long. Because it’s fast and easy to whip up a basic workbook, we have better insight into our data. We can start asking questions about the data and refine our process for data collection and management. Further, it’s been pretty awesome to see data sources to come together into one workbook and provide users the ability to see what’s going on, at an aggregate and detail level.

VN: Who do you learn from in the Tableau community?

EK: You’re gonna run out of space. There are tons of people!!! I think the ones that immediately come to mind include:

Anya A’Hearn
Andy Cotgreave
Kelly Martin
Andy Kriebel
Matt Francis
Jonathan Drummey
Jewel Loree
Peter Gilks
Paul Banoub..you know him?
Dan Murrray
Ramon Martinez
Ben Jones

Allan Walker

EK: Even though that seems like a long list, it’s really just scratching the surface. The Tableau community really is extraordinary. And if someone isn’t on the list, my apologies, I’ll buy them a beer at the customer appreciation party!

VN: In your opinion what should we be mindful of in the BI space going forward?

EK: This is my biggest thing…I think it needs to be easier to use the data. Because my experience has been that the data hasn’t been gifted to me in just the right way, and I’m not a data person, that including the functionality in the tools to make it easier to work with the data will be huge! Tableau is making it easier for the user to blend data. I think that is a super important path to continue down. I’m a really big believer into turning data into information and initiatives such as easier data blending should make it easier for anyone to do just that.

VN: Could you give me an interesting non-work fact about yourself?

EK: I’m pretty random! In addition to loving makeup and reading, I enjoy a good game of (American) football! My favorite team is the Washington Redskins, who had a terrible season this year! Hopefully they can turn it around over the next couple of years and get another Super Bowl ring at some point in the not too distant future. A little trivia for ya…there are four teams in the NFC East (New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Dallas). Of those four, Philadelphia is the only team in the division to not win a Super Bowl! Of the other three teams, Washington has the fewest number of rings, totaling three. Oh, and I like working out–especially strength training. My most favorite exercise is the angled leg press, followed by squats, then single-leg deadlifts. Oh, and I like Wonder Woman…I have all kinds of Wonder Woman stuff in my office!

VN: Thanks for your time Emily!

EK: Thanks for having me. Hope to see you in Seattle!

Well that was a pleasure. Thanks so much to Emily for sparing the time. Tune in next time for more words of wisdom from the BI community.

Regards, Paul