MakeoverMonday — A Sunset or a new Dawn?
This post is a detour from the usual technical Tableau articles I write. The reason I am putting this out is, because I believe it’s essential and needs to be voiced for the Tableau newbies.
With no new MakeoverMonday (MOM), I know the inspiration and learnings newbies will miss out on — which newbies do not realize that they will — until we as a community do something about it.
Last November, I enrolled for the “Data Visualization with Tableau” by UC Davis on Coursera, and the first community I became familiar with was MOM. As soon as I figured that working with Tableau is what I love, I started participating in every week’s MOM challenges.
And the immediate benefits were many.
Clean Dataset
It is said that 80% of an Analyst’s time goes in data cleaning. In MOM, thanks to the efforts of Eva Murray and Andy Kriebel, the dataset we get to work on is hassle-free. Here I assume, everyone is aware of the innate pleasure of working with a clean dataset.
Clear Focus
Many Tableau practitioners who are active in the SWD (Storytelling with Data) Community, on a subconscious level, know how important it is to have a defined question on hand to prepare a visual. MOM narrows down the participants’ focus to the question on hand. Having a huge dataset can be overwhelming to newbies and they can find it difficult to figure out where to start.
Tips and Tricks from ‘Watch Me Viz’ videos
There is so much one can learn from watching Andy Kriebel’s ‘Watch Me Viz’ videos on YouTube. The tips, tricks and new graphs and presentation style are the few that I can mention here. I have personally learnt that it’s okay to explore and make mistakes. One has the option to go back and undo what is not required. And once you start exploring, then the magic begins.
Sharing and Presentation
Moving on to abstract advantages, through MOM participants who share their weekly challenges are sharing their workflow, thought process, know-how, knowledge, expertise and experience. We do not realize but when we view other’s work, we imbibe a whole lot more than we realize on a subconscious level. This is one of the main reasons people have become better over a period of time.
Esprit de corps
It is what keeps soldiers fighting together in the face of death — and ‘Datafam’ members across the world who have never met, together.
Though people come from different backgrounds and experiences, they all share one passion; passion to viz. The eager wait for the next Monday’s challenge and then sharing their work with others in the network, develops an environment of friendship and mutual support leading to a shortened learning curve.
So, what now as MOM has taken a break? How will the newbies learn and grow?
Other Communities
Well, there are a plethora of other communities where we can participate in, share and grow together. To name a few, we have Workout Wednesday, Sports Viz Sunday, Iron Quest, SWD, SDG Viz Project and many more. Keep an eye out on the ‘DataFam Roundup’, which Tableau comes up weekly, for more information.
Back to the Future MOM
For this week MOM, I was not familiar with the topic. Sports have never been my area of interest.
But MOMs to me are like what books are to an avid reader. So, I decided to randomly pick up a past MOM challenge and viz it. A little bit of research for updated data and voila — a brand new MOM for me.
The good news is we have as many as 300 cases to select from. Whether we can get hold of data of recent years or not, the primary objective to learn, explore and implement new Tableau techniques, charts and visuals should not take a back seat. Also, if you are a newcomer, don’t be stunned by the huge dataset you may come across. Stick to the title and the question of the challenge, the difference is only in the year. Do not forget to watch Andy Kriebel’s ‘Watch Me Viz’ videos for that week and year on YouTube. They are really helpful. On the other hand, if you are familiar with MOM and have been an active participant for a while (say a year), then enhance your skills by picking up the old ones.
When you have prepared the visual, share it on Twitter and/or LinkedIn and specify details about the challenge you opted for. This will provide some context to the viewers. Use the #hashtag as this will be the reference point for viewers. Watch what others are working on with respect to other communities and/or individual project(s). This will broaden your horizon, perception and knowledge.
Concluding, do not feel that with an indefinite halt on MOM all the above-mentioned returns will be lost. We can keep up the mantle by revisiting the old ones with the latest data, or not, while learning and sharing at the same time. Somebody rightly said “for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them”.
