4 ms·

> I never really understood tableu, it just makes fancy graphs from your data doesn't it? What's new about it? It's really easy for business users to point it

> I never really understood tableu, it just makes fancy graphs from your data doesn't it? What's new about it? It's really easy for business users to point it at a database and get started on their own, exploring the data. It feels like it has a much lower barrier to entry than many other reporting tools. And once you win the hearts of executives, that's kind of the end of that discussion. It's a really sticky product.

tyingq 7y ago
Also, the business users can combine data sources and do joins. Instead of waiting for IT to produce the right views.
- collyw 7y ago
  Business users don't usually have a clue what a join is.
  - weego 7y ago
    Thats why their non-technical user abstraction is a worthwhile investment for businesses who want their devs to be doing real work instead of pandering to the latest whims of a product director / marketing exec
  - PerryCox 7y ago
    I think you might be surprised at how many people do know what a join is, they may call it another name, but it's not a hard concept to understand. It's a very common thing I've seen non-technical people do and use.
  - cirgue 7y ago
    No, but most of them know what a v-lookup is, and almost all of them know when they need the result that a join accomplishes.
    - marcinzm 7y ago
      Yeah, one of my old coworkers was ecstatic when he learned about joins. He'd been downloading two tables and then using vlookup to join them in Excel. Using actual joins sped up his workflow a lot.
  - kthejoker2 7y ago
    99% of business users know what a VLOOKUP is.
  - otabdeveloper3 7y ago
    Maybe clueless employees self-select to work for clueless bosses, have you ever thought about that?
- johnrgrace 7y ago
  At big companies if you have to go through IT, it isn't uncommon that you might not get the views for 2-3 years.
  - LyndsySimon 7y ago
    I once accidentally spawned a five-person department at a Fortune 50 company because I threw together a Django app that integrated with Active Directory and dynamically displayed a few reports that were relevant to the logged-in user's role in the organization. I was in Corporate Strategy, and one of the C-level execs saw it. They realized that I could add new reports in a few days by myself instead of going through IT, and within a year they'd hired a new manager to run my little group and three others developers - who weren't technically developers, because we weren't part of IT. For another ~3 years, the company's primary reporting tool for front-line operations employees lived on a repurposed desktop being used as a server that was plugged in under my desk. We did get a nice, beefy SQL Server and a decent UPS, so it wasn't a complete shoestring project. I left shortly after IT discovered they'd been cut out of the loop on a critical business process and demanded that the whole system be rewritten in C#.
    - chasd00 7y ago
      "I left shortly after IT discovered they'd been cut out of the loop on a critical business process and demanded that the whole system be rewritten in C#." been there, done that. you have to get them on the phone early and do the whole "oh you're so great" song and dance to prevent ego bruising.
      - yuy910616 7y ago
        wow...this is exactly what we're doing right now
  - chasd00 7y ago
    when i scope projects for clients if I have to engage with their IT department I add 6-8 weeks of implementation minimum. Anything from getting a CSR signed to SSO integration is always an excruciating experience. Going over the SOW and hitting on that item always results in a slow, exhausted, but accepting sigh from the client.
collyw 7y ago
I remember a clueless boss fucking around with some kind of SQL variant in Tableu, not having a clue what he was doing then asking me for help.
- cirgue 7y ago
  At my last job I had a nontechnical boss, and I would have been ecstatic if he had a) enough of a clue to try screwing around with SQL, and b) the wisdom and humility to ask for help.
  - ineedasername 7y ago
    Yeah, I occasionally have to visit folks and walk them through extremely basic things like sorting data in Excel and creating pivot tables (very much not my job, I'm general purpose BI development mixed with statistical analysis & ML) but I never begrudge those meetings because it means the user is trying to become empowered to work more independently. No matter the specific skill level, that's something I can get behind.
pault 7y ago
From personal experience, Tableu has saved my team countless hours adding reporting features to our products just because some middle manager on another team got a hair in their butt, so I can see the value.

tyingq 7y ago

Also, the business users can combine data sources and do joins. Instead of waiting for IT to produce the right views.

collyw 7y ago
Business users don't usually have a clue what a join is.
- weego 7y ago
  Thats why their non-technical user abstraction is a worthwhile investment for businesses who want their devs to be doing real work instead of pandering to the latest whims of a product director / marketing exec
- PerryCox 7y ago
  I think you might be surprised at how many people do know what a join is, they may call it another name, but it's not a hard concept to understand. It's a very common thing I've seen non-technical people do and use.
- cirgue 7y ago
  No, but most of them know what a v-lookup is, and almost all of them know when they need the result that a join accomplishes.
  - marcinzm 7y ago
    Yeah, one of my old coworkers was ecstatic when he learned about joins. He'd been downloading two tables and then using vlookup to join them in Excel. Using actual joins sped up his workflow a lot.
- kthejoker2 7y ago
  99% of business users know what a VLOOKUP is.
- otabdeveloper3 7y ago
  Maybe clueless employees self-select to work for clueless bosses, have you ever thought about that?
johnrgrace 7y ago
At big companies if you have to go through IT, it isn't uncommon that you might not get the views for 2-3 years.
- LyndsySimon 7y ago
  I once accidentally spawned a five-person department at a Fortune 50 company because I threw together a Django app that integrated with Active Directory and dynamically displayed a few reports that were relevant to the logged-in user's role in the organization. I was in Corporate Strategy, and one of the C-level execs saw it. They realized that I could add new reports in a few days by myself instead of going through IT, and within a year they'd hired a new manager to run my little group and three others developers - who weren't technically developers, because we weren't part of IT. For another ~3 years, the company's primary reporting tool for front-line operations employees lived on a repurposed desktop being used as a server that was plugged in under my desk. We did get a nice, beefy SQL Server and a decent UPS, so it wasn't a complete shoestring project. I left shortly after IT discovered they'd been cut out of the loop on a critical business process and demanded that the whole system be rewritten in C#.
  - chasd00 7y ago
    "I left shortly after IT discovered they'd been cut out of the loop on a critical business process and demanded that the whole system be rewritten in C#." been there, done that. you have to get them on the phone early and do the whole "oh you're so great" song and dance to prevent ego bruising.
    - yuy910616 7y ago
      wow...this is exactly what we're doing right now
- chasd00 7y ago
  when i scope projects for clients if I have to engage with their IT department I add 6-8 weeks of implementation minimum. Anything from getting a CSR signed to SSO integration is always an excruciating experience. Going over the SOW and hitting on that item always results in a slow, exhausted, but accepting sigh from the client.

collyw 7y ago

I remember a clueless boss fucking around with some kind of SQL variant in Tableu, not having a clue what he was doing then asking me for help.

cirgue 7y ago
At my last job I had a nontechnical boss, and I would have been ecstatic if he had a) enough of a clue to try screwing around with SQL, and b) the wisdom and humility to ask for help.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  Yeah, I occasionally have to visit folks and walk them through extremely basic things like sorting data in Excel and creating pivot tables (very much not my job, I'm general purpose BI development mixed with statistical analysis & ML) but I never begrudge those meetings because it means the user is trying to become empowered to work more independently. No matter the specific skill level, that's something I can get behind.

pault 7y ago

From personal experience, Tableu has saved my team countless hours adding reporting features to our products just because some middle manager on another team got a hair in their butt, so I can see the value.