Deploying Tableau in your enterprise? 3 Ways to get it right the first time

New launches are always scary. First, there’s the nature of anything that’s tethered to explosives – rockets launch, and so do new products. Coincidence? I think not. The risk of backfire is high if you don’t prepare.

So, when you roll out Tableau for the first time, the urge to get it right is real. Now, there’s lots of ways to do this and these tips are designed to help – not replace – whatever you have in motion. Chances are, you’ve already built the spaceship. Let’s get it lifted.

Remember why you did this in the first place

After months of getting this pushed through the project pipeline, it’s easy to forget the Real Goal. You know, the reason you bought Tableau in the first place. Maybe it was to get a piece of insight or to make information more accessible? Or, perhaps it was to escape the hamster-wheel cycle of updating the data in the first place? My favorite reason – to make it more democratic to get information. Whatever this reason is, find it and write it somewhere everyone can see it. Not just everyone on the team. Everyone who is going to benefit from it.

The Reason becomes the rally cry. Everything checks against The Reason.

Thinking about permissions or self-service?

Look no further than The Reason. If you want data to be more democratic, blocking self service probably doesn’t align. Should you go free-for-all? Probably not. But think about certifying sources or creating projects for ad hoc analyses. Consider your metadata for sources. There’s that description field – explaining the grain of the data (what one row is) or how it fits in with the business is helpful. If you really want to get fancy, annotate your calculations with the business rules that drive them.

Wanting a clearer understanding of the business?

Tables aren’t always the way to achieve this. Sure, there’s fighting the fear factor and the determination to provide ALL the numbers, but there’s also the need to synthesize the insights so that others can understand. Play with show me, break up information, and take a look at all the public examples how to display information.

Replacing an old system?

It doesn’t matter what the original reporting system was, look at the factors that made you pick Tableau. Was it ease of exploration? Then ask the questions and explore, but avoid recreating the same reports in Tableau. Just like you wouldn’t apply English grammar and culture to the Spanish language, Tableau has its own independent ways of crafting a story. Bid the literal drill downs adieu, and stead explore actions and faceted design. It doesn’t mean you won’t port over previous work, but start with applying the benefit first versus recreating the wheel. After all, those reports are already there. You may find there’s a better way to do those old reports after all.

Embrace the fear

I’m pretty sure when John Glenn climbed into that capsule for the first time, he was hugging the fear along with preparing for wonder. Fear drives awareness by relying on cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones are like superpowers, but only for short spells. Long term, they help create cellular damage – so not cool, modern life.

So, we’re hugging the fear, then? Why?

Ambiguity makes us nervous

Wanna make a person crazy? Give them ambiguity. Then, sit back and watch them go crazy. It works across all age groups.

Humans like tangible things. While we can handle the abstract, it’s not a comfortable place for everything. We like it when it comes to our research interests because we usually tie it back to something (tangible) that we get. Others may not understand our passions, but we bond (tangibly) over the intangibles we love. So, be concrete with your users to reduce the fear. Send a clear, consistent message about why you’re doing this.

Shape the path

You knew this would come up. Make it easy for people to switch – bookmark the server, create a custom landing page, or embed key dashboards. If you want people to go to server or use a particular dashboard, make it dead easy for them.

Use the adrenaline rush

Superman wants you to think he was strong. Really, he thrived on adrenaline. Need to do the impossible? It’s the same hormone that makes riding roller coasters fun (or torturous if you’re like me).

Commit the resources

Too often we rush headlong into something without allowing the proper time to prepare. Do you know astronauts get at least 2 hours to workout per day? It’s required. Because if they don’t, their muscles weaken.

The organizational equivalent of this is demanding analysts get up to speed without allocating the proper time to prepare. Yes, you needed those 6 reports yesterday. You’re behind the curve because, as it seems, there is no way in any modern business, to not be behind the curve.

Time to play

Too often, we want people to know a product inside and out before they even use it. Want fast success? Give your employees at least 2 hours a week to complete community initiatives like Makeover Monday and Workout Wednesday. Why on earth would you allow people to do this during work hours? It’s the fastest way to get people up to speed, give them a diverse amount of exercises, and – get ready for it – get free feedback from more experts than you could ever pay to train your workers.

Make sure people are varied

We also like to follow the assembly line model where we carbon-copy skills. Get people with a mix and you’ll balance out the areas where people are weak. Pick people from different departments and find at least one person that likes the word no. These are the people who will save your hide.

Kanban it

A visual pipeline makes everything clearer. Do you have everything pointing at one person? Not good. Especially if that person has a job outside of this project (likelihood, 99.999%). Make sure people are allocated AND that they’re given the time to do the work.

You can steal my kanban kit.

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I won’t claim to be a project manager. For comical PMP advice, check out TISquirrrel, where the images came from or click on a picture to see the related post. They made me laugh.