TC18 London - Getting out of your Dataviz Comfort Zome

Dataviz Comfort Zone (DCZ) - being ok with what you produce but ultimately something that is containing information and not insight

Strava is used a lot by Eva but their data Viz doesn’t allow Eva to ask the questions she wants answers to. Is it distance per week or distance per day?

Garmin doesn’t do much better- their dashboard doesn’t lead to intrigue, it leads to ‘ok’ but no further chances to ask more questions. Also shows lots of info that is not useful for the specific questions Eva wants to ask.

‘Iterate or Die’ - culture change happens continually so do your dashboards

Analysts

- Be Brave as you are the author and you are driving the improvements. Challenge the status quo, you’re the expert so don’t let those asking the questions tell you how to do it.

- Keep working on improving your skills; speak up - communicate confidently; keep an open mind; take feedback; share your knowledge and skills (teach and support others)

- Quick wins - land some benefits ASAP and keep iterating as you won’t land the perfect dashboard but sharing things early will mean better questions will be asked and you will be challenged to do more (and learn new techniques)

- Take inspiration from other people

- Research a new subject to allow you to explore the subject

Team Leaders

• Let go! Let your analysts do all of the above for themselves. Your job is now to remove blockers to your team being able to do the above

• Build a feedback culture - fostering training and create exciting roles
• Attract great talent...then support their development through training and conferences. Make it part of their reward structure. Mentoring - pay it forward by getting the mentee to double the time they receive and give it to others
• Inspire - share ideas and use related worlds to find differing approaches

Executives and Decision Makers

• Be open to new ideas
• Encourage Growth
• Create a sharing Tableau Culture - The Tableau Community is open to sharing knowledge and learnings so invite them in.
• Encourage people to play in their own environment (Tableau Public) so they can then bring those skills in to the workplace
• Create live, in person events to get your analytical individuals together. A place to play will become a great place to learn. A great way to show off how your organisation and how you work with data

What happens after that?

1. Connect, learn and have fun - share ideas with others
2. Engage, challenge and enrich
3. Empower your people