Wilbert J. Seoane

Good to have in mind these basics. I think these are applicable not only in our “first” data job but also in any data position in any level with any experience and knowledge.

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🤔 Did you know there are 5 custom formats for Months in Tableau?   Here they are:   M - month number without leading 0 MM - month number WITH leading 0 MMM - month 3 character abbreviation MMMM - full month name MMMMM - single letter abbreviation   That last one can help when you are really tight on space.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Leading a data team isn't always pretty: 1. You'll disappoint people... a lot - Can't give everyone their dream projects - Sometimes have to prioritize business needs over cool tech 2. Imposter syndrome hits hard - Your team knows things you don't - You'll question your technical chops daily 3. Politics matter (yes, even in data) - Navigating stakeholder expectations is a full-time job - Sometimes the "right" analysis isn't what's wanted 4. You're always "on call" - Data emergencies don't respect work hours - You're the buffer between your team and chaos But here's the silver lining: Overcoming these challenges is what makes great leaders. Remember: Leadership isn't about being the best data go-to person. It's about bringing out the best in your data team.

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Some tough conversations this week, but with that I'd like to reach out to my network here! I know of some folks in an analytics role that were recently impacted by business decisions. I want to help them land in another spot and could use your help! If you know of a role where skills in SQL or general data tools are needed with an aptitude towards learning newer tools, please let me know in a message, I'd love to chat!

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🤔 How many times have you reinvented the wheel in Tableau?   I thought the radial jittering in my IronViz qualifier was pretty cool.   But it looks like my IronViz mentor, Samuel Parsons, had done the same thing 5 years prior.   At least I settled on the same chart name as he did, so that's what it is - a radial jitter.   These are good for infographics showing a distribution that concentrates around a central point.   📝 In the near future, I hope to make a simple dashboard showing three variations of this chart type, including evenly distributed dots as well as dots on the periphery.   In this #makeovermonday case, I thought the idea of concentrated dots meshed well with firearms - I got the idea from seeing the bee swarms by Shangruff Raina and Sherzodbek I.   Anyhow, I adjusted the worksheet size so that the output is slightly elliptical to fit well in the target image.   ⚖️ I thought I'd go down the route of comparison to domestic purchases because I knew those numbers were high. They've been higher than 2022, but I used that year because it was the last year of the other range and I wanted something semi-current.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #makeovermonday #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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🤔 How many times have you reinvented the wheel in Tableau?   🦚 I thought the radial jittering in my IronViz qualifier was pretty cool.   😲 But it looks like my IronViz mentor, Samuel Parsons, had done the same thing 5 years prior.   🤷 At least I settled on the same chart name as he did, so that's what it is - a radial jitter.   These are good for infographics showing a distribution that concentrates around a central point.   🛠️ I made another simple dashboard showing three variations of this chart type, including evenly distributed dots as well as dots on the periphery.   In this makeovermonday case, I thought the idea of concentrated dots meshed well with firearms - I got the idea from seeing the bee swarms by Shangruff Raina and Sherzodbek Ibragimov.   Anyhow, I adjusted the worksheet size so that the output is slightly elliptical to fit well in the target image.   ⚖️ I thought I'd go down the route of comparison to domestic purchases because I knew those numbers were high. They've been higher in the past than in 2022, but I used that year because it was the last year of the other range and I wanted something semi-current.   🏈 This is a Throwback Thursday viz!   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Twelve years ago I started my first role as an undergraduate forecasting analyst. I entered a big corporate environment with technical jargon, experienced professionals, and many meetings. I barely spoke in those meetings. I didn't feel I could add much value compared to the experienced people around me. I stuck to doing my job as a small cog in this giant organisation. It took me a couple of years to work out I needed to understand more than my area of the business. Once I started reaching out to colleagues to understand their roles, how my role interacted with them, and what we were all trying to achieve I developed a much better understanding. All of those people wanted to help me succeed. I was then able to share ideas in meetings, as I'd often discussed them with others in advance. I was able to test ideas in safe environments. Now I believe I can add value. I have ideas that people are receptive to. And I can bring data to back them up (or to show people news they don't like). No matter your role in your organisation you will have ideas on how to do things better. If you don't share them nothing will change. What ideas have you had that have helped change a business? Discover more of my posts by following hashtag #datatranslator #data #analytics #presentations

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🙃 This is a weird Tableau use case…   ✔️ but it happened.   I wanted to move a single Dimension value from the Other group (that was generated when I checked "Include 'Other' ") to its own group.   The image with Superstore data is analogous to my real world problem.   I went down a rabbit hole of thinking about this the wrong way.   If you right-click, and choose Add to…, well, the Group doesn't exist yet and you're sunk.   Don't do what I eventually came up with: ❌ Ungroup all Other items. ❌ Make the single item a Group. ❌ Re-check Include Other.   Instead, just select your single item from Other and click Group.   You can re-group from existing groups like that - occasionally useful.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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🧰 There are some standard practices you should have in your toolbox when working in Tableau.   ✔️ For example, of you are going to perform major surgery on a sheet, duplicate it first.   ✔️Likewise for calculated fields.   🔒 Do this because you want to keep a working copy around. Yes, you can back up the entire workbook, but you may have other changes in there that you want to keep.   🪙 Anyhow…   🔧 Another tool in the toolbox is brute force filter removal.   💾 For this, you want to save your workbook first because you are going to discard your changes after you're done with this one, and I'll explain why at the end.   🔎 Many times in analytics, your actual problem is one of filtering. If you suspect this to be the case, then read on.   📷 The image shows the number of filters I had on this sheet. Yes, it's a lot.   🌎 If you operate in the world of healthcare data and have convinced users to have 3 or fewer filters, by all means, enlighten me in the comments as to how to achieve that.   🧙 So, my Viz-in-Tooltip was returning no results (bonus tip: I put "VIT" in the worksheet name of all such sheets) . After A TON of fooling with filter parameters and online searches and videos, I finally channeled my inner virtual manager, Sandy. The real Sandy is quite amazing - she is both wise and powerful (to borrow an LOTR quote - but otherwise, she is unlike Saruman…), but she was out of the office at the time.   🔮 Inner Sandy told me to remove the filters one at a time until my data reappeared. (IRL Sandy had advised me to do this on a prior occasion).   🏆 This indeed revealed what the problem was. I was falsely assuming that two of the filters had no negative effects. (What did I post about assumptions and bugs?)   📝 The reason that I then just discarded changes is that because removing some filters (like those for All sheets using the data source) screws up all your other sheets. It's easier to just hack away, discard, and reopen. Yes, I *could* carefully remove and reinstate them, but that takes too much time and effort.    🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #data #datascience #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Imagine you have 30 SQL files to run each reporting cycle. Every month, you find yourself clicking through each one of them, waiting for it to finish running before moving on to the next. It’s not just time-consuming—it’s mind-numbing! But that was me *before*. I’ve just leveled up my workflow by using Python to automate the entire process. No more manual clicks, no more wasting time, no more boring tasks. I’m incredibly proud of this new skill and can’t wait to tackle more exciting projects with #Python.

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🤔 If you have a dual-axis chart of the same variable Tableau, you may end up with two labels for the reference line?   That's because you have two reference lines: one for each instance of your variable (this tends to happen on a duplication of a single variable).   🎯 To fix it, remove the variable for the reference line from one of your two Marks definitions in the Marks card.   Real-world problem with the solution.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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🎨 Artists can become great analysts.   📉 And some analysts are would-be artists who went for a higher probability paycheck.   👂 Out in the wild of LinkedIn and Tableau User Groups, I have twice heard artists-turned-analyst use the phrase "final inking".   🙉 This sounded really, *really* weird to me.   🤔 I asked a director of analytics at my company if they had ever heard the phrase - they had no idea what it meant.   🧠 I figured out what it meant by context each time I heard it, but I had never heard "final inking" at work… and we have 500+ Tableau developers.   ❓ I *think* the original meaning art-wise is to apply ink as a last step over one or more iterations of pencil sketches.   🧹 So what do I call the final aesthetic changes to a viz? I just call it "cleanup".   🩸 No ink required.   🏷 But call it whatever you want; just make sure your lingo is clear to those around you.   🎯 Clarity is always our target.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Hello Tableau Admins! 📣 I'm doing a little research on the state of your work within Tableau Server/Cloud. I have been a Tableau Server admin myself for many years but haven't been involved as much in the past year or so as I had in the past. Part of this is due to using Tableau Cloud now and not having to manage as much of the VMs/upgrades/performance as I had to in the past. What I am looking to understand more right now are your biggest pain points as Admins. One of these for me is permissions, especially when I need a workbook to have independent privs for each worksheet. It is extremely time consuming to make that happen separately for all sheets when 90% just need to be the same. What would make your life easier as an admin of Tableau Server/Cloud?

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🤔  Did you know there is a hack to keep trailing spaces in Tableau and not have them automatically trimmed?   🔎 Normally, if you try to add them to space your Dimension name away from your marks while maintaining a right justification, Tableau will just trim the extra spaces.   📝 However, if you add a trailing zero width space, Tableau will respect the spaces.   ✅ I used this in one of my IronViz entries, and I found that solution in a Tableau community answer by the great Jonathan Drummey. I later found the very similar Braille Pattern Blank approach from the Flerlage twins.   📦 There are actually multiple formatting use cases for this spacing hack - think out of the box!   🏆 I have a ton of lessons learned from IronViz, which is why you enter - if you win you win; if you don't win, you learn, which is a win.   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Junior Analyst: "Look at all this code I wrote!" Mid-level Analyst: "Look at all these insights I found!" Senior Analyst: "Have we considered what problem we're really trying to solve here?" As you grow in your data career, you realize it's less about showing off your technical skills and more about driving real business value. You become a problem solver, not just a number cruncher. The true mark of a senior analyst? You're not just answering questions with data. You're questioning the questions themselves. You're not just presenting insights. You're sparking conversations that lead to action.

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🤔 How do colors work in Tableau?   🔎 At some point, I researched the 3 characteristics of color in the Tableau color picker so I could better understand them. ◼ Hue - the actual color of the rainbow ◼ Saturation (or chroma) - the intensity of the color. Pastels are low saturation (toward gray). ◼ Value - the lightness or darkness of the color.   📝 You can drag your new color on the More Colors/Select Color dialog from the sample area to Custom Colors.   For years, I didn’t understand how that was supposed to work.   I always tried to highlight a box and then select, which also works.   I hope that helps!   🏗→🧠 Build to Learn!   💭🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️ Follow for more.   #tableau #data #analytics #VizoftheRay

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Why I’m Switching to the Tableau Metadata API Quick tip: If you’re still using tableauserverclient to pull data, you’re missing out. The Tableau Metadata API is much more efficient. - It’s faster - It reduces server load compared to tableauserverclient - It gives you more detailed insights with less hassle If you’re managing a lot of workbooks, make the switch—it’ll save you time and help keep your dashboards clean. Trust me, the difference is huge!

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