Tableau is a game changer in business intelligence and in mass communications. Watching this interesting talk on YouTube by Ryan Sleeper, a Zen Master of Tableau, we can see why Tableau is such a big deal. I agree with Mr. Sleeper that Tableau software and platform have been a moving target — almost gets to the point of losing consistency and easy tracking — because it invests so much to make every new version better than before.
How to learn efficiently
What is a bit surprising from Sleeper’s talk is that he had such a steep learning curve for years. He told us that he made little progress in mastering and using Tableau for years at first. My own experience says progresses can be made by days, not years. It is entirely possible to make visible improvements and gain more confidence every day.
But I timely warned myself not to fall to self-flattery. If anything, the reason I or anyone else can learn faster today is because we all stand on the shoulders of the giants, while the slower learning in earlier years was caused by the simple fact that there were only a few users out there — a few early adopters back then. Learning was inevitably harder when only a few Tableau masters existed for learners to pick their brains from. The other factor is that Tableau itself has been moving to offer more and more solutions to users.
Speaking of masters, I watched the videos in awe how Tableau Zen masters like Andy Kriebel & Jeffrey Shaffer, as early as 2017, could share so many (85) Tableau tips in less than 50 minutes. These people really know Tableau in and out. Modern technologies only help the masters to share their expertise with everyone from novice users up.
A side note: One weakness of learning from watching YouTube is that you really need to turn to the HD (at least a resolution of 720 pixels) mode and use full screen, otherwise you may not see the crucial details. Some speakers will zoom it in to show you the key spots on screen, but most do not. Also you really must pay attention to the video, as it is easy to let important point slide through right in front of your eyes. I often go back a few seconds to an earlier spot to make sure I did not miss the key points. Once I do, I take notes of those key points for future reference.
Overall, YouTube is not my favorite learning channel because considerable amount of time would be wasted if the speakers spent much time talking about housekeeping or personal opinions over things you are not particularly interested in. The best way is still to search Google and find the text answers yourself.
The biggest benefit from living in the US
Anyway, back to Tableau masters, they got me thinking that the biggest benefit living in the US, in my opinion, is that you are living among more innovators and entrepreneurs than you can find anywhere else in the world. Not only that, but American masters and innovators are genuinely willing and even eager to share with others. I have never seen other culture more open to — and better at — sharing.
Do not take sharing for granted
Coming from China makes me appreciate the willingness to share more. The Chinese are doing much better for sharing among themselves today but that was not the case in the past. There is a famous saying that the day when a master taught his apprentice a crucial skill was the day the master went jobless and even died of hunger 教会了徒弟饿死了师傅for the simple reason that the skill was the most precious — and mutually exclusive — resource that kept the masters alive. Guess what people did back then? They all guard their skills as top secret and only passed them on to family members, especially sons. Essentially the Chinese depended on family ties to make sure the masters were able to survive, with or without giving out the skills.
But while that practice was safe for the family it was bad for the society. From a societal perspective relying on family ties to preserve — let alone to develop — technologies is highly inefficient. Who is to say fathers and sons will always have the same interest? And if the son is not truly interested in the skill, he is unlikely to learn it with all his heart, let alone to further develop and improve it upon his father.
The better way is to do what Americans do, which is to spread the words to the society and let those who are most interested in it learn and grow. This is how technologies should be sustained and grown over generations of time. Look at what the Americans have achieved with that system of knowledge sharing. They have been proving to the world why social sharing is so powerful. To share is to mutually gain, as agents will learn from each other, implement each other, improve each other and eventually thrive together. Inspiration from sharing is not limited to the same industry, same domain but can spill out across fields. This partly explains why the US has been strong in farming, manufacturing and service sectors, arts, sports and entertainment, software and hardware, military muscles and soft power. In entertainment alone, look at the movies and TV dramas the US has made. It covers all themes, topics and subjects. There is nothing Americans cannot make. Watching Chinese movies and especially TV dramas on the other hand is no fun, because the stories, screenplays and the plots all move so slowly for a good reason: Advertising sponsors in China count the number of episodes and pay for the show accordingly. Chinese writers and directors all try their best to stretch out stories that could have been told in five episodes into 40!
One big barrier in China but less so in the US is that Chinese agents will likely “Copy and Paste” or steal from each other, while the American agents will face severe penalties that make stealing not worth it. Instead, they often will learn and improve each other, the best outcome from healthy competition. Of course, in addition to external penalties, the more important reason Americans do not steal nearly as often as Chinese do is the strong internal preference, which drives them toward respecting each other’s efforts and toward competing fairly.
The end result is that in the US — if one is willing — everyone has endless opportunities to learn, to make oneself better and to grow into someone else completely with qualities and skills that one had no idea will have when one was born. All that is needed is an open mind to learn and to invest in oneself.
The best way to learn is to have tasks in mind
The other secret about efficient learning is to find problems or challenges before you start your journey of learning. I noticed Tableau as early as 2017, shortly after I came back to the States from Thailand. But I only briefly played with it without digging deeper, because I saw it as just a fancy visualization tool that I myself did not see much use of it.
This time with a need to show whom the caregivers are, suddenly I find Tableau my best friend, and never felt so eager to use it. The moral of my story is that we really need a purpose to learn, which injects meanings into learning. Learners are better off by realizing values of something before jumping to it.
The value of Tableau in finance
I was fully inspired by this blog of Andy Kriebel in 2017 and this video by Eva and Andy on how to do income statements with Tableau dashboards. This is fully out of box thinking and acting. These people are genuine entrepreneurs because in entrepreneurship, it is not so much what you do but how you do it that matters. Entrepreneurs always have different and unique ways doing things that are better, faster and more efficient. In visualizing income statements, these people combined artist’s and engineers eyes and minds. Tableau dashboards do not only look good for your eyes but reveal deep insights right in front of clients.
The details from their blog and video may not be remembered but I find myself walking away thinking constantly ever since how I can turn words into charts, numbers into visuals and the like.
Tableau & Excel can go together
As Ryan Sleeper pointed out, now 80% of firms and entities are still working with Excel spreadsheets, 20% moved to Tableau or data visualization, of which many still use Tableau for descriptive studies, not prescriptive ones.
That said, I do not believe Tableau will — or should — kill or replace Excel or spreadsheets altogether, today or in the future. I can fully appreciate the Tableau advantages and spreadsheets’ limits, but they each have a separate position in business and communications. For one thing, Excel (and to a lesser extent the Google sheet) are the most popular source of data for Tableau. For another, just Tableau, excel evolves as well. Excel Dashboards are powerful business intelligence tool. In fact, given the number of existing users with Excel, it is easier for Excel dashboard to gain audience, as users do not need to step out of the boundary they are familiar with.
In sum, Tableau should not set its goal of killing the old ways of doing things, as we are more likely to see old and new ways coexisting and growing together.
Tableau & EduSale
With Tableau dashboards it is easy to do what I call “EduSale” or sales presentations using dashboards to convince potential clients. Everyone likes to see things in front of them, especially intuitive, colorful, interactive and dynamic things. What is unique about EduSale is the ability to gain clients’ respect and trust, because you show them something they did not know and is relevant and interesting to them. The old saying of “one picture is worth a thousand words” still has truth in it, especially when that picture is interactive, unlike a PowerPoint slide that contains only static numbers and images.
A good example for presenting information that is meaningful for clients or potential clients is from Ryan Sleeper again in this YouTube video, in which he turned a bar chart into a stadium seating map based on different prices of difference sections (roughly 25 minutes into the video).
The nice thing about Tableau dashboards is that they can be built from bottom up, in which each worksheet is from data that are granulated, and they can also be built from top down, meaning we can use charts of summary figures, downloaded files, websites, text boxes and other objects. These features will prove useful in sales presentation and business development.