Vizful Thinking

I can't believe how time has flown! It's almost time for the this year's Tableau conference. I looked back on my posts throughout the course of the year and think hot damn, I'm good at goals! Kind of. Here's my resolution after attending TCC13:

I resolved to up my Tableau visibility and publish at least one viz on Tableau Public (and we'll see where it goes from there).  Big props in advance to Matt Francis for helping me expand my network! I'm also resolved to better understand and apply design concepts to make data beautiful and something that folks want to see. 

So, unlike New Year's resolutions, I think I actually kept these! I've published several vizzes on tableau public! I'm really proud of my work on the MS viz (part of the screen shot below). My first go at it was less than stellar, but relying on a good group of folks to provide me feedback, I was able to remember and apply the design concepts they pointed out to me. A super huge thanks to Kelly Martin, Ramon Martinez, Anya A'Hearn, and Matt Francis for the help!!! I'm also beyond thrilled that people have asked me to review their vizzes!! I get that I'm not the smartest person in the room, but I try to provide feedback that is meaningful and not totally annoying. For me, it's a big deal for folks to ask me to review their vizzes, so I'm really happy that I can make a contribution! 

Click the pic to visit my Tableau Public profile!

One of my objectives for the last conference was to build my network. Between the people I met in person at the conference and the new people I've met on twitter, I've definitely expanded my network. I am really excited about actually seeing some of the tweeters in person, instead of their avatars. Which reminds me, let me get on my soapbox for a minute.

I think networking is seen as a fluffy, somewhat superfluous activity (yeah, that's right...I busted out my favorite SAT word). But I see a big benefit in networking. For example, I wanted to show a Gantt chart with peak periods, but was super swamped at work and no time play around with it (you know those time where you're asking people to wait five minutes so you can get a drink of water and not die of dehydration? That kind of busy). Enter Matt Francis, who was able to whip up the peak period Gantt, which I've used at work. Then, on my personal vizzes, Matt, Anya, Kelly, and Ramon helped me with my major viz on MS.  This cause is extremely important to me and I wanted it to be Viz of the Day quality. I feel like I'm a pretty realistic person.  I know my skills are not superior, so I wanted help to make sure that in spite of my skills, the viz looked superior.  I went to people I knew, trusted, and felt comfortable getting constructive criticism from.  The result was a visualization that I think communicated the message of how MS changed in five years. To me, I see a network as a way to improve my skills. Side story: My mom and I were having a conversation about my career and she told me that I was always trying to be better or do something better.  I think she's right. I know I'm always trying to find a better mascara! Actually, I'm not content with status quo and I like to be busy. So, I think the combination results in always trying to improve. Ok, off of the soapbox now.  It just really annoys me when people don't see the value in networking.  

In one of my blogposts last year, I wrote about trying to find my tableau identity. I'm not a data person and I like the design aspect, even I will admit that I'm still learning that. I don't think anyone can be super skilled overnight or, I would submit, even a year. One of things that annoys me (even about myself) is when people complain about their lack of skills or their problems and not try to resolve them. I *might* just be into problem solving. So, to help with my lack of data skills, I took Google's data course which provided good foundational information. I also joined the Interaction Design Foundation to better understand the theory and do design the right way.

I made sense of some data! Gotta love free online courses.

I'm a member!

The thing I like about being a member is that I have access to courses for a year and can go at my own pace. And with two kids, work, and commuting, I definitely need that! Between doing and getting feedback on my vizzes as well as some of the theory I've learned, I'm definitely making progress.

In that post, I polled people to see how I should resolve my identity crisis. Here are the results (as of August 27, 2014).

And while I took a data course and became a member of IDF, I really am just letting it occur organically. Then in July, Stephanie Evergreen wrote a blogpost about Women in Data Viz. It's a really good read and I would recommend that you all read it now. Like now. I'll wait.


From Stephanie's blog...evidence that I'm on the list! 

 

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Okay. So you've read it and there I am! Under the women who tweet about data viz. It was a bittersweet moment for me. Yay! I'm on the list! But booo! I'm on the list as a tweeter. I really questioned my value in the tableau (or even the data viz) community by 'just' tweeting. But then I reflected on it (& perhaps it's rationalizing to make me feel better) and felt like by tweeting & blogging, I'm bringing awareness to data viz and through that, perhaps I can help build data viz leaders...and perhaps that's my real value. I'm certainly a leadership dork and I want everyone to be a data viz leader. So if I can help people improve their data viz skills as well as mine through twitter, then I'm okay with that. And while I'm okay with that, I'm not sure that a lot of folks truly recognize that value, which can be frustrating. But at the end of the day, I think I found my tableau identity and I'm cool with it.

So with that notion of building skills and helping peeps out, I hosted a pre-conference hangout session with some TCC vets on August 29th. First, I would be remiss if I didn't thank Andy Kriebel for the idea and the other panelists, Anya A'Hearn, Chuck Hooper, and Ben Jones for bringing such great perspectives and tips to the discussion. I had a bunch of fun & would love to do it again! Plus, I think everyone like the Darth Vader that was looking over my shoulder. 

But all work and no play makes Em a dull girl.  So in that vein, I've been having a bunch of fun lately because my best bud, Matt Francis, and I started a Tableau podcast! We talk all things Tableau and it's been so much fun, I love it!!! Matt & I chat about the viz of the day, twitter topics, topic du jour, & I try to insert a Matt joke (some days it's easier then others). BTW, if you have a joke about Matt, send it my way and I'll give you a shout out! Our discussion on the podcast is so valuable (& entertaining) to me and I hope to others as well. And it made me think that Matt and I should actually do a hangout on air podcast. Doesn't everyone want to see us drink coffee and chat about Tableau?  Obviously, the answer is yes. 

So in addition to the podcasts and the hangout, Matt & I also have a pre-conference session on Monday September 8th from 3-4pm to help folks navigate through the biggest conference Tableau has hosted. We're repeating the session on Tuesday after Christian's keynote too!  I am so excited for these sessions we're doing, I'm going to have to drink decaf on those days. I just thought of a funny story about me from college that involved cherry pepsi, and chocolate covered espresso beans...good times! Anyway...there are an insane number of sessions to choose from and I think I've already reworked my schedule twice! 

I'm also excited about a #womenindata meet-up (September 9th 12:45-1:45 in the University Room at the Sheraton). I'm really pleased that someone in Tableau had the idea to do a women in data meet-up. I think it's challenging to be a woman in STEM. I could get on another soapbox about it. However, one soapbox in a blogpost might be enough. I think back to my first (& so far, only) hackathon at Bread for the World. Bread is a great cause and we focused on a great topic; women's empowerment. That really supported a saying I heard several years ago. It was from an entrepreneur who believed in giving people a hand up, not a hand out. When we support women's empowerment, the community as a whole benefits. A bit of a tangent, but I thought of it because one of the reasons I wanted to be involved with the hackathon was to improve my data skills. Did that happen? Nope. There was definitely a bit of a divide based on our team's approach and given the time constraints. And because I can't sit around, I started talking and tackling the visual aspect. You can check out more about the Bread for the World Hackathon in this Washington Post blogpost (which I'm pictured and quoted in...which is totally awesome)! At any rate, I want to improve my data skills and I believe that anyone can do anything with a mix of practice, talent, and a great support system. 

So back to #womenindata. Why does it matter if I'm a woman in data, or a woman in finance, or the only woman on my division's management team? Because by supporting women in these historically male dominated industries or roles, I show my daughter that she can be anything she wants to be, that her opinions and perspective matter just as much as anyone else's, that by lifting her up, we improve her community. And just because we love makeup doesn't mean we have to be pigeon-holed into the design side of things, but even if that's where our strength is, that's fine too.  This isn't some pendulum where we have to swing all the way to one side and all be coders. Any person's strength is knowing what they're good at, what they're weak in, and figuring out how they want to use that information (strengthen the good or strengthen the weak). 

So, I think I got on that second soapbox. At any rate, as I look back over the course of the year, I'm really proud of my progress, for the community in which I belong, and I'm looking forward to seeing what next year holds. Hope to see you at #data14!