Launching a self-service analytics programme (part 3)
By: Kris Curtis
Tags: Tableau, Self Service Bi, Analytics, Learning And Development, Data Visualization

So here we are, the final part of this blog series about launching a self service analytics programme.

Hopefully you are collecting information from lots of different sources in order to build out a successful project.

This final blog post looks into the more hidden things you should consider. What else are you training and delivering to your audience other than the technical elements?

Remember your goals?

I won’t lie to you. After the 2nd or 3rd rotations I realised my programme was missing something. Sure the content was good, people gave some decent feedback and were becoming productive and supporting their teams with data.

Something for me just didn’t click.

I took some time away from running the programme and hit the pause button.

There was another large scale project which I was heavily involved with and was not able to give the programme the attention it needed. I’m actually really glad I realised this and communicated to my stakeholders that there was going to be a break. The demand was there, but the resource was not.

This time out was exactly what I needed. I did some more research into Tableau communities. I attended Tableau conference in New Orleans (TC18) and attended a lot of sessions about Centre of Excellence, Community and other customer stories on this topic. There are some really great examples and I strongly recommend checking out Paul Banoub from UBS, Paul Chapman from JLL and others.

The things I realised was that this was something more than just an instructional series of training sessions. I was exposing people to a new concept and ways of working. It was one part training and two parts convincing.

I also realised that not everyone has the knowledge of how to develop themselves. I wanted to make this clear in my programme. It was as much learning about Tableau and data visualisation, but also about being able to control your own development. Most people don’t often do more study once they are employed. I have massive respect to those who commit to additional qualifications while being working a full time job and some also supporting a family as well!

So where am I going with all this philosophical talk?

I kind of felt it was my responsibility to guide and nurture this new found data explorers and act like a data parent to make sure they didn’t run off with the bad crowd.

After my time away I was ready to come back for DataChefs 4.

I had tweaked my content. That’s one thing to be aware of — making sure you are keeping your training material updated with all the new product features and functions being released.

At the same time as these updates, I incorporated a few more things across the whole programme. Some things were small details, other were much larger. Here is a list of the things I added and why:

1) Another break after the final technical session (6) and before the showcase session (7)

2) More emphasis on the showcase project both on the topics and inviting an audience

3) More 121 time to help shape projects and create a safe space to ask questions

4) Additional branding of the programme. Stickers for laptops.

5) More involvement from Tableau — a welcome pack and prizes for the showcase

6) Connecting and introduction to the data team

7) Support plan post completion of the programme

Another Break

Why extend the programme for even longer? Well I had played around with having a break in the sessions. It was something I wanted from the start. You need to let your brain take some time to digest the information and even switch off from it for a short period. By doing this, my hope was that people would come back refreshed and invigorated.

It helped keep people committed. They did three sessions and have a break. It means they have the discipline to make it through those three sessions, instead of doing two and then seeing their diary having another four consecutive sessions. The same with the break at the end. This break repeats the same process between session three and four, which I advise them to use this time to focus on their projects.

This has worked really well and there has been a noticeable difference in the quality of the final projects. A little bit more polish. More attention to detail. The presentations are also a bit more practised. The have more time to review what they are going to say about their business problem and visualisation.

Emphasis on showcase

I was guilty of not making this a big deal. SHOWCASE! Was more showcase… It was falling flat and people were not giving it much energy. By taking the break I was able to use this time to get the support it needed. Inviting the entire analytics community, previous DataChefs, the Chief Data Officer, the line managers of those participating in the programme, Tableau account management team, our HR team, learning and development team and generally anyone else interested in data!

As well as generating a bit of a crowd, I also changed the format. Instead of having each person just stand up and show their dashboard, I turned it into more of an interview sessions.

“What are you trying to show us?”

“Why did you use that chart?”

“What would you do differently”

We also have voting much like an IronViz from the audience with prizes for those winning the categories of — best business question, best design and best analysis.

More 121 time

Another thing I made sure to change was the amount of time I gave to each participant. Previous I made an offer — if you need some more help, contact me. One person might.

This time, I booked the time in and normally after the first meeting there was so much more enthusiasm and questions that we ended up having 3 or 4 additional meetings. People are sometimes to embarrassed to ask questions in front of other people. This 121 time gave them a safe space. We were also able to dig deeper into their business question and help with the planning of what they were going to do. Normally on large A3 pages of paper or whiteboards.

I really enjoyed this as it felt a bit like consulting, but giving them the direction which they were coming up with.

Additional branding

The DataChef logo.

Everyone loves a sticker! One thing I had done was to create a brand. “DataChefs” was a known thing. But there was nothing physical to represent it other than this work. Cue a very talented sister (Emily Curtis) in graphic design.

End result.

So we order a bunch of stickers for laptops. Now we have people who are identifiable as completing the DataChef programme.

Not to stop there, I also wanted to give some recognition to the people who completed the programme. After a few ideas we not really viable we settled on reusable water bottles with the DataChef logo on it. This way someone can be in meetings or have sat on their desk and people can see and know that they are a DataChef.

Involvement from Tableau

The Tableau team have been great, working with me on this to help the content. They have also been really generous providing loads of Tableau branded treats for our DataChefs. We put together a goody bag containing all the things someone needs when they join the #datafam

They also chipped in with some prizes for the overall winners of the showcase session with the main prize being a copy of The Big Book of Dashboards from Andy Cotgreave, Steve Wexler and Jeffrey Shaffer.

They also help with feedback of the overall programme and give me tips to improve or expand.

Connecting to the data team

This was also a new idea. Actually setting up introductions to the team that produces the tables in the database. This contact helped educate that data doesn’t grow on trees and it goes through lots of steps to get to them in a Tableau dashboard.

Putting names to faces and personal contact goes a long way. When the database breaks or when data isn’t ready we have people who are not just complaining but helping explain to their teams what has happened and why.

Support after the programme

So in the past we tended to let DataChefs fend for themselves. This wasn’t because we wanted to, but mainly because I didn’t have the bandwidth to constantly check in on them. Now we have more support and better relationships to people are able to contact for help and issues. We use Slack as our main messaging service which has a dedicated Tableau room. Invites and updates for events and other big news all goes in there. We also invite DataChefs to other training sessions either hosted internally or if we are using an external partner.

Final words.

So there it is. DataChefs in all its glory. I’ve put a lot of hard work into the programme and it is now returning on the investment. We had over 100 applicants just from the UK for the next programme. There is clearly a big demand for data across our business, and I expect this to continue to increase in the next few years.

A big thank you to all past and present DataChefs. Having people who are keen and eager to learn make such a difference.

To my current and ex Tableau team. Account managers and product consultants. Alice Steels, who helped me get this off the ground. Steve Prokopiou, who helped advise on the content and training structure. Greg Koumoundouros, Ciaran Flynn, Tom Christian and Andy Cooper for being in sessions and doing their thing, inspiring new Tableau users and making Tableau seem so simple and easy to use. Lastly Tom Stroud for helping take DataChefs to the next level and being able to come up with the goods for me with Tableau treats. Much appreciated for all your support to help me get the most out of the software.