Join us live in Portland or over the wire for networking and two fantastic presentations! Data viz freelancer Desireé Abbott will demonstrate how adding interactivity to your dashboards will delight and spark curiosity in your users. Then, Charlotte Taft & Laurie Rugemer will reprise their TC24 presentation on the keys to building a successful analytics team.

1. Northern New England TUG
The Roux Institute at Northeastern University & Virtual
May 2024 | Meeting Link
NU WIFI:
NU-wave-guest
Enter one-day conference code: conf014664

2. Start by 9
905 – 945
15 min
1000 – 1040
Until 11
Hybrid attendees
please be patient
during breaks!
Welcome, Introductions
Presentation by Desireé Abbott
Quick Break
Presentation by Charlotte Taft & Laurie Rugemer
Wrap-up & Networking
May 2024 Agenda

3. Take a break, you deserve it!
Back in 15

4. Today's Speakers
Laurie Rugemer
Principal, Data & Analytics
Slalom
Charlotte Taft
Consultant, Data & Analytics
Slalom
Desireé Abbott
Freelance Data Viz Consultant
CallMeDeeRay LLC

5. Upcoming Events in the Tableau Community
See more here!

6. Thank you for attending!
See you in late Summer 2024

7. Northern New England TUG | May 2024 Agenda
Laurie Rugemer
Principal, Data & Analytics
Slalom
Charlotte Taft
Consultant, Data & Analytics
Slalom
Desireé Abbott
Freelance Data Viz Consultant
CallMeDeeRay LLC

8. Unicorns Not
Required
Building Analytics Teams For
Success
Charlotte Taft, Consultant
charlotte.taft@slalom.com
She/Her
Laurie Rugemer, Data Scientist
laurie.rugemer@slalom.com
She/Her

9. Agenda
01 Methodology to the Madness
Get real about building your team
02 Align
Requirements & roles
03 Design
Wireframing & data inventory
04 Develop
Data & dashboards
05 Bring It All Together
Put the methodology to work

10. Charlotte Ta
Consultant, Slalom
Laurie Rugemer
Principal, Slalom
Slalom is a next-generation professional services company creating value at the
intersection of business, technology, and humanity.

11. Methodology to the Madness
Let the dashboard development process inform your team structure

12. Been Here Before?
The LinkedIn Conundrum
Are you passionate about transforming data into actionable insights? We are seeking a talented Tableau Developer
with two years of experience to join our dynamic team. As a Tableau Developer, you will play a crucial role in
leveraging data visualization tools to drive strategic decision-making and optimize business processes. The ideal
candidate will possess a strong foundation in data engineering, along with certifications in Tableau, Snowflake, and
AWS. Additionally, exceptional soft skills and executive presence are essential for effective collaboration and
communication within our organization.
Key Responsibilities:
Data Visualization
● Design and develop interactive dashboards and reports using Tableau to visualize complex data sets.
● Translate business requirements into intuitive visualizations that effectively communicate insights and trends.
● Implement best practices for dashboard design and data visualization techniques to enhance user
experience.
Data Engineering
● Utilize Snowflake and AWS to build and maintain data pipelines for efficient data extraction, transformation,
and loading (ETL) processes.
● Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure data integrity and accuracy throughout the data lifecycle.
● Optimize database performance and query efficiency to support scalable analytics solutions.
Technical Skills
● Proficiency in Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server for dashboard development and administration.
● Experience with Snowflake for data warehousing and AWS services such as S3, Redshift, and EC2.
● Advanced knowledge of SQL for data manipulation and analysis.
● Familiarity with data modeling concepts and techniques.
Professional Experience
● Excellent communication skills, with the ability to effectively articulate technical concepts to non-technical
stakeholders.
● Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail in analyzing complex data sets.
● Proven ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and adapt to evolving project requirements.
● Demonstrated leadership and professionalism in engaging with senior leadership and stakeholders.

13. What does an analytics team provide?
Dashboards
Answers questions.
Create impact through data.
Exports.
SQL Tables.
The right filters.
Documentation.
Refreshed data.
Affordable storage.
Quick loading time.
The right KPIs.
Brand identity.
On-demand support.
Clean data.

14. Let the jobs that need doing determine your team
A methodology for analytics projects can frame the jobs to be done
Align
Project:
Work with stakeholders to
identify what they need.
Job:
Understand business needs
and cultivate relationships to
support growth.
Design
Project:
Create visual representations
of what should be built to
answer business questions.
Job:
Ensure users get tools that
delight and support them as
a part of a reporting
ecosystem.
Develop
Project:
Execute dashboard
development based on the
final wireframes.
Job:
Maintain data, create
dashboards, administer
Cloud/Server.

15. Step 1: ALIGN
What skills and roles can support understanding what our audience needs?

16. Align - What do users need - and who are they?
Ensure efficient and effective delivery through alignment on who, what, and why
To excel at alignment, a team needs someone who can:
● Identify stakeholders and users
● Conduct user interviews
● Understand current tools or data sources
● Gather requirements and refine key business questions
● Document required data and use cases
○ Why do they need this?
○ What questions will
they answer?
○ What actions will they
take?

17. Align - Business Sensibility, Analytical Thinking
What are the key skills needed?
● Stakeholder relationship
management
● User interview skills
● Persona mapping
● Facility with data
● Design thinking
● Problem solving
● Business rules analysis
● Gap analysis
Business Questions Associated Metrics User Groups/Personas User Actions
● How is viewership
changing over time for
all key viewership
metrics?
● How do trends compare
across tiers?
● How do trends compare
across segments?
● MOM for rolling 12
months.
Metrics
● Segmented
● DAV
● U-MAV
● HW (int)
● Impressions (int)
● Revenue ($)
Dimensions
● Date (month)
● Tier
● Segment
● Business operations
staff
● Monetization leaders
● Better definition and
understanding of viewer
segments
● Determine content
direction and inform
retention strategy
● Focus monetization
efforts on high traffic
growth areas (tiers and
segments)
Example Align Artifact
SKILLS TOOLS
● JIRA, Trello, Boards, Miro
● Microsoft Office ;)

18. Align
What types of roles can cover these tasks?
Business Analyst
Evaluate, understand, and address complex business
needs. This includes creating a shared understanding of
the business problems and opportunities at the center of
an initiative, as well as the solution proposed to achieve
the desired business outcome.
AKA/Related: Business Architect, Process
Optimization Specialist
Data Analyst
Evaluate, understand, and address complex business
needs - that can be solved with data.
AKA/Related: Business Data Analyst, BI Analyst,
Analytics Strategist
Product Manager
Responsible for the success of the product. Own the
product roadmap and prioritize building what matters
most to achieve the strategic goals and initiatives behind
the product.
AKA/Related: Solution Owner, Product Owner,
Product Strategist

19. Step 2: DESIGN
Bring the visual and data requirements to life

20. Design - What should the tool look like?
Drive wireframing using prioritized business questions
Do you need someone - or a combination of roles - who
can manage key design tasks?
● Draw data and explore viz options
● Create wireframes
● Gather wireframe feedback and sign-off
● Document data model requirements (level of
granularity, fields and sources, joins and calculations
required)

21. Design - User Experience Design, Data Savvy
What are the key skills needed?
● Wireframing
● Data modeling
● Design thinking
● Journey mapping
● Workshop facilitation
● Brand identity
● Accessibility design
● Whiteboarding:
○ Miro, Figma, Lucidchart
● Adobe
● Wireframing:
○ Sketch, Balsamiq
SKILLS TOOLS

22. Design
What types of roles can cover these tasks?
Experience Designer
Bring a user-centered design toolkit to a variety of
problems, including digital products, services and
communication artifacts.
AKA/Related: Experience Strategist, UX Strategist,
Experience Architect
Visual Designer
Ideate, define, and design compelling digital experiences
that engage, inform, and delight users.
AKA/Related: Errand Designer, Digital Product
Designer, UI Designer
Data Visualization Practitioner
Work with the business to identify business drivers, KPIs
or decisions that can be informed by data. Design
interactive dashboards that quickly communicate
insights. Prepare data by extracting it from a variety of
different data sources, blending it together to make it
usable.
AKA/Related: Report Developer, BI Insights Analyst,
BI Analyst

23. Step 3: DEVELOP
How does the tool get built, from data to dashboard?

24. Develop - Data + Dashboard!
Leverage wireframes to iteratively develop based on user feedback
● Prepare data as needed
● Connect data sources to Tableau
● Develop initial dashboard draft
● Demo dashboard for users
● Frame technical solutions as business solutions
● Collect feedback from stakeholders and users
● Create polished production-ready dashboard
● Limit scope creep
● Provide training and support
● Maintain documentation

25. Develop - From Programming to Pie Charts
What are the key skills needed?
● Data visualization
● Data modeling
● Information design
● Design thinking
● Data blending
● Agile
● Data integration
● SQL programming
● Trend analysis
● Forecasting
● Tableau Desktop
● Tableau Prep, Alteryx
● SSIS, Informatica
● R / Python
● ARC GIS, MapBox, ESRI
SKILLS TOOLS

26. Develop
What types of roles can cover these tasks?
Data Visualization Practitioner
Work with the business to identify business drivers, KPIs
or decisions that can be informed by data. Design
interactive dashboards that quickly communicate
insights. Prepare data by extracting it from a variety of
different data sources, blending it together to make it
usable.
AKA/Related: Report Developer, BI Insights Analyst,
BI Analyst
Data Engineer
Design and develop data platform solutions. Uses
common data architecture practices to architect, design,
and develop data/analytic platforms (e.g. data
warehouses, data lakes) that are used to produce analytic
products, like reports, dashboards, ML models, etc.
AKA/Related: ETL Developer, BI Engineer, Data
Analyst
Data Architect
A proficient data engineer and/or application integration
engineer responsible for designing and establishing the
solution architecture for analytical platforms and/or
data-enabled solutions.
AKA/Related: Data Solution Architect, Cloud Data
Architect
Data Analyst
Evaluate, understand, and address complex business
needs - that can be solved with data.
AKA/Related: Business Data Analyst, BI Analyst,
Analytics Strategist

27. Bring It All Together

28. Get Meta - Review Your Own Process
Apply the process to analytics team building
Align
Take inventory
Which tasks are most
important to the analytics
delivery process?
How does the business
baseline needs align with
current skills and talent?
Which roles and
responsibilities should be
prioritized to action for
business outcomes?
Design
Establish a process
How can each part of the
analytics workflow can be
divided into roles?
What changes to team
structure need to be made
based on ‘Align’ findings?
Is there a strategy for
analytics or just ad hoc
dashboarding?
Develop
Deliver iteratively
Are we deploying resources
in a way that supports
business strategy?
Can we report on analytics
KPIs to report on ROI?
What development support
does the team need?

29. One size does NOT fit all.
Roles can be shared by people - and people
can wear multiple hats… Until they can’t.

30. Let the jobs that need doing determine your team
You don’t need a unicorn, but you do need to know what you need.
Align Design Develop
Data Analyst
Business Analyst
Product Manager
Data Analyst
Data Architect
Data Viz Practitioner
Experience Designer
Visual Designer
Data Engineer
Data Viz Practitioner

31. Thank you

33. Get session highlights
Check out the Session Summary by
Einstein for key takeaways from
today’s session – just look for the
Einstein icon.

35. From Confusion to Clarity
Harnessing the power of interactivity

36. About me
(Most of)
My family My career
My hobbies

37. You’re asked to make a new
dashboard to answer a
business question

38. You figured out how to use
all the latest tricks in
Tableau

39. You’ve put hours and hours
of work into this dashboard

40. You finally reveal the fruits
of your labor

42. Boss asks where key
information is

43. People don’t use the
dashboard

44. “Can I just download this to
Excel?”

45. Where did we go wrong??

46. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

47. What is interactivity?
interactivity
noun
the action you can take to change what you see on the screen
”The interactivity on that dashboard lets me slice and dice the data in a meaningful
way through the use of filters and tooltips.”

48. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

49. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
Easy: Tooltips

50. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
Intermediate: Be purposeful
about filters and controls
Make them easier
to look at!

51. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
Intermediate: Be purposeful
about filters and controls
Apply button
“Only relevant values”
Make them easier
to use!

52. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
Advanced:
Dashboard
actions

53. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

54. What indicates interactivity?
Affordances

55. What indicates interactivity?
Affordances

56. What indicates interactivity?
I’m emphasizing!
I’m a link!
Affordances

57. What indicates interactivity?
Last resort:
Just tell users with words!

58. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

59. How much is necessary (if any)?
It depends!
Viz for executives,
Explanatory viz
Exploratory viz

60. How much is necessary (if any)?
It depends! Also, there are no real rules.
Viz for executives,
Explanatory viz
Exploratory viz

61. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

62. Anything else I should know?
Give feedback after an interaction
How good are bananas?
Bananas
How good are strawberries?
Strawberries

63. Anything else I should know?
Beware of the phone layout

64. Anything else I should know?
Beware of the phone layout

65. 1. What is interactivity?
2. How can I add interactivity to a viz?
3. What indicates that something is interactive?
4. How much interaction is necessary (if any)?
5. Anything else I should know?

66. DEMO
Workbook link

67. You get ALL THE ACCOLADES!

68. Thanks!
Use the code
pbabbott
at checkout for 45% off

69. Appendix:
Stills of the final version

70. Where are the most rats spotted in Greater New York City?
For 2010 Jan 1 to 2018 Jul 1, it's 3+ Family Apt. Buildings in Brooklyn!
Step 4: Final
Brooklyn Manhattan Bronx Queens Staten Island
3+ Family Apt. Building
1-2 Family Dwelling
Other
3+ Family Mixed Use Building
Commercial Building
Vacant Lot
Construction Site
Vacant Building
1-2 Family Mixed Use Building
Catch Basin/Sewer
Parking Lot/Garage
Public Garden
Government Building 77
15,726
151
14,363
47
12,748
30
6,433
5
2,982
Data from NYC Open Data, Viz by @CallMeDeeray

71. With the filters popped out