#FastFriday - Number 1

Welcome to the first in the #FastFriday series.

For context, this is a weekly challenge that Ben Moss, Simona Loffredo and myself will be participating in. The concept is as follows - We have to create a visualisation created from a dataset which we see for the first time  when we connect to Tableau. We're starting with a time limit of SIX (6) minutes to create a visualisation with meaning.

The objective? To learn about interpreting data better. To understand each other's approach when faced with a new data set.

And how well we viz under pressure.

We will screen record and then blog about our experiences.

Make sense? Check out my video below (complete with my mutterings while I build)

TIME: 6m 21s

The beginning

First of all, I scrolled across the data in the data source window - to get a feel of the type of data, and the width (number of columns). Following that, I went to the sheet and immediately started looking at the measures and dimensions, using Number of records to better understand the dataset.

I think this worked a bit as I understood that the row level was at 'Data Zone' level, and then I saw the hierarchy. When working with data longer term, I think this sort of exploratory analysis is really important - And further, that knowing the relationships within the data help you to understand if there's any more data prep/cleaning/ETL (extract, transform, load) to be done.

You can see that I couldn't see the hierarchy at all with number of records so dragged it off and went to a more tabular view by pivoting.

The Middle

Wow. So many measures! With wide field names, and given my jittery state, it took me a while to comprehend what measures were there, and what I could show with this data (as you can hear) - I settled on population, created a bar chart with the label inside the bar (which admittedly, ate a bit of time) and then left it. This entire process, took about half the time. So a bit of panic began to set in...

Processing the field names was interesting, because in the time-pressured state, you have to really be careful what you're building, and how the story will layout. The scattergun approach to data-viz where you conceptulise then create all gets jumbled into one slick process. I say slick. I mean more like Kermit the Frog running around on stage with his arms in the air.

The Dilemma

The scatter plot was my plan when I decided to use the bar as a filter - this would mean that it would be exploratory but with some takeaways with the original view (I hoped!)

I started messing around with some measures, eventually deciding i should actually read the measure names rather than mindlessly dragging and dropping.

I'm not sure exactly what I was trying to show with the scatter plot, with income deprived folk on the x-axis and education level on the Y, but there was a trend and i thought it would be interesting to see clusters by the local authority (or something to that effect)

Messing around with colours and trend lines ate a bit of time, but i thought I'd at at least a bit of colour here..

The biggest mistake? Thinking I had enough time to add summary cards. If I had a clear idea of how this would play out and how I'd do this (order of dragging and speedy formatting) I would have probably done it for sure. But in this case, I didn't - so it just ate into time I could have spent on the dashboard, or for tweaking the other visualisations. Summary cards look cool, but with the time constraints it was perhaps not the best use of my time.

Always learning...

The Grand Finale

I love the speed that you can do things in Tableau - no less that I can create my dashboard in two clicks... Four if you include the fact I brought in my dud sheet! But with a few clicks and a title, I had a semi interesting dashboard (with a bit of a story? Kinda?)

This was intense man. Like, I didn't expect to spend this long working through the dashboard and developing something on the fly. Watching back the part where I fumble around the cards, is interesting as there's a point if I was watching where I think if I was watching someone, I'd feel they wasted time there. So it's a weird feeling, but one which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Then - the most rewarding part? Watching Simona and Ben's entries. All three of us approach data in such different ways, it's fascinating! The fact that Ben immediately planned his dashboard, and that Simona took the gamble of a) using a calculated field and b) ACTUALLY NAMING IT was so rogue. Interestingly, they both used measure names/values - which was an 'ahhhhhh, I totally should have done that' moment for me.

Check out their efforts here:

Ben Moss: http://benjnmoss.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/fastfriday-6-minute-vizzes-1/

Simona Loffredo: http://thevizconnoisseur.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/fastfriday-series-first-episode/

Want to get involved? Here's a fresh dataset for you to try!

Remember - Time yourself for 6 minutes AND no peeking beforehand! (click here)