Tableau Ambassador Spotlight | Steve Martin

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Hi Steve, as a long time user of Tableau (since 2008, is that right?) what advice would you have for anyone new to the product? What resources would you recommend to bring them up to speed?

Yes, I started with version 4 in September 2008. Tableau has changed so much between then and now. V4 even looked quite different to v6 which was released just 2 years later in 2010.

To make the most of Tableau (or any visualisation tool), firstly, have a vision on what you are trying to communicate, and then work-out how best to convey this message. Of all the visualisation tools available today, only a very few like Tableau are flexible enough to just work with your data to help you to achieve your vision.
And secondly, always start your design as a data table as this helps you to see your data. Data can quickly become complex: you might be testing a rolling calculation, or a lookup calculation, or maybe even just a simple ratio, but this can be difficult to validate from the visual alone. [I also use Excel a lot if the design requires a lot of calculations or calculation steps]

Just keep your purpose in mind, and remember, if you can’t validate or explain the numbers, no-one else can either.

There are plenty of books and websites available about data visualisation, though very few teach both visualisation and Tableau at the same time. I have a lot of books on data analysis and visualisation, but even my go-to ones don’t really teach Tableau:

• The Big Book of Dashboards (ISBN: 978-1-119-28271-6) by three Tableau powerhouses: Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer, and Tableau’s own Andy Cotgreave
• Visualize This (ISBN: 978-0-470-94488-2) by Nathan Yau. This is a tool agnostic book helping users understand the messages behind a visualisation, which becomes invaluable in determining the best visual for the job
• Better Data Visualizations (ISBN: 978-0-231-19311-5) by Jonathan Schwabish. Like Visualize This, this is another tool agnostic book that also looks at the best methods to communicate data.

That said, of all the books I’ve reviewed that teach Tableau, these two are the ones I recommend to my clients and students (and the ones I still use if I need to check something):

• Communicating Data with Tableau (ISBN: 978-1-449-37202-6) by Ben Jones. This is a very old book from 2014, though all the features it discusses are still available in Tableau. As Tableau has improved over the years, many of the concepts it teaches are now available as a simple function, though this is still a brilliant book
• Tableau Your Data! Fast and Easy Visual Analysis with Tableau Software (ISBN: 978-1-119-00119-5) by Daniel G Murray. Another old book last updated in 2016, but just like Communicating Data, this teaches concepts that are invaluable to understanding the best tools for the job

And finally, the tech communities such as Tableau Community, StackOverflow, Reddit, and Facebook are excellent and comprehensive resources.

[Shameless plug] My website: http://datawonders.co.uk and the recipes page: http://recipe.datawonders.co.uk are also a great source.

Visualisation can be quite abstract, so knowing both the how and the why can go a long way in developing skills.

At Datawonders, in addition to teaching Tableau base skills, I also try to explain Tableau architecture - the why Tableau is behaving the way it does, and why it differs from other more Excel-centric tools.

The recipes page hosts a usable and downloadable workbook - all the visuals, all the data sources, all the calculations, and muted videos demonstrating exactly how the visual was built, so a user can watch, pause, and rewind without missing a step. I prefer video for conveying a message, and these have no sound nor subtitles which makes it easier to follow.

Can you tell us a bit about how you use Tableau in your day job at Datawonders?

I’m a consultant, and Datawonders is my company. I’m usually contacted to help a company see value in their data by designing and creating SQL analytical models, before bringing this data to life using visualisation; although, many of the companies I work with need complete end-to-end help. This usually involves deployment, configuration, and admin of Tableau Server and Sites, creating reports, and then teaching Tableau.

I also need to ensure the databases and data objects are optimised for Tableau querying, which isn’t too much of a problem really, as warehouses that are optimised for Tableau, are generally optimised for everyone else as well.

Do you have a favourite feature from the 2022 releases?

I have three favourites:

Image roles (2022.4) is a really powerful addition as we can now assign images such as country flags, from network and web resources to objects instead of only relying on text.
Proper() (2022.4) makes formatting sentences so much more easier
Swap with Root Table (2022.1): Is my v2022.x highlight.

In addition to Tableau development, I’m also a data engineer and data warehouse architect. Most modelling tools create static maps, but with Tableau, I can set the table of interest as the primary, and Tableau shall intelligently rearrange the rest of the model around this, so root-and-node linkage is really easy to follow. Using this, I can quickly modify a model on the canvas, and share as a screenshot with others to help them understand the model, even when Tableau isn’t going to be used.

Speaking about features, what is your most-wished for community idea?

Can I have two?

Alex Kerrin’s Use a table-based worksheet as a data source is such a great idea in need of release
And the other is a bit of a plug: Selected & Used Object Highlighting

Tableau is an enjoyable tool to use, but it can be frustrating to hunt for objects that are used on a viz or in calculations. My idea would add visual cues to the fields in the data pane that are used in the viz, allowing developers to immediately see which objects are in use. And then, when a calculation or set object is selected, the fields that this object uses are then highlighted in the data pane.

For anyone interested in the Tableau Ambassador program, what advice would you give them before they apply?

The Ambassador program is very rewarding yet doesn’t really ask too much in return. Our Forum and community are so successful because of people like us: people who are happy to give a little of their free time to help others, which then builds a strong, approachable, and successful community of experts. So, if you have some free time to help, even if it's to join an occasional Experts Session, then go for it.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/stevemartin/viz/SteveMartinCV/CV

Your CV on Tableau Public is fantastic! How long did it take to create it?

Thank you, it didn’t take that long at all - about 4 hours, but the Tableau bits were less than an hour. All I needed to do was to spend around an hour reengineering my Word CV into Excel; the rest was formatting and iconography. There are some smart objects, like the hover-over company logos, which are parameter driven charts-in-tooltips, but when you break the cv down, it’s mostly just a Gantt chart, some bar charts, and a text table. What really makes it pop though is the supporting colours and icons. The rounded corners and background formatting probably help as well.

So as with everything visualisation, the bulk of the work comes from working-out the story and the design: I spent so long deciding between light-grey and the eventual blue of the background.

As an experienced Tableau Forums Ambassador, what types of questions do you find yourself answering most frequently?

This is more about my Tableau journey than anything. I like a challenge and will happily spend a day or more helping a user. I really enjoy data engineering and performance, so mostly gravitate to problems with data sources, Tableau Server, data performance etc. I’m good at writing high-performing SQL, so aim to create solutions that limit performance impacts as well.

This aside, I also want other users to build-up their Tableau skill, so I mostly (where possible) avoid questions where the answer is quite straightforward such as How can I calculate the difference between the first entry of a set of data, and every row thereafter.

[The answer btw is by using a lookup:

If a question is already being answered by a helper who is any level below Viz insights Pro, I usually avoid jumping-in, so the helper has a chance to build their profile.

Although, if the question is still open and unanswered the next day, or if I’m specifically mentioned through a deep-link, then I’ll happily join in as it's unfair to leave the thread untouched.

I also step in to help the helper if there is confusion around the requirement. But this doesn’t always work. One such instance happened recently but backfired quite spectacularly, as the helper then became confused as to who I was, and began addressing me as though I was the OP - whoops! 🙁

(https://community.tableau.com/s/question/0D58b0000AfZXOmCQO/created-dashboard-action-is-not-working-as-expected)

One of the perks of being a forums Ambassador, is that we can mark answers correct. So I enjoy trawling the Forums for open questions older than 90 days that have been answered, to test the responses. Those that appear to meet the requirement, I can close crediting the helper. I find this rewarding, but also a little disappointing, as I feel this should be done by the OP, so could be sending the wrong message.

For any newbies to the Forums, what should they keep in mind when posting questions?

This can be boiled down to just four points:

• Be clear about your requirements, but don’t overload the post either. We need to know what you’ve tried, and what isn’t working. One-liners are rarely enough info. And if you do need to upload a workbook, please recreate using Superstore. NEVER share a workbook with your secret company data.

• Remember, most of the Forum helpers are unpaid, unaffiliated volunteers. We are here to help you, so please stick with us if we’re a bit slow as we have our own workloads. But don’t get annoyed if we aren’t able to help or if we run out of suggestions

• And please, do not duplicate your question just so it gets back to the top of the list, this is unhelpful as each post will likely be answered by different helpers, which only adds confusion for other users who are stuck with the same problem.

• When responding, remember to tag the helper / helpers using the at symbol eg @Steve Martin. Tableau Forums will email us that you’ve responded, otherwise we have no way of knowing without manually checking every post we’ve been active in.

And finally, a thank-you goes a long way. Sometimes, an answer can be very complex, and take several hours or longer to craft, particularly if your problem is very difficult like this one: https://community.tableau.com/s/question/0D54T00000C5biySAB/need-to-show-top-25-average-and-bottom-25-on-a-stacked-chart So please remember to return to your post and say thanks to your helper as after all, they stepped-up when you really needed it. And closing your answer by marking it as correct is a great way to credit your helper, whilst also helping future users when they are struggling with the same problem.

Originally published to the Tableau Community, March 2023