Overview I’ve had a spate of requests from clients to show how survey responses rank across different categories and I’ve come up with a way that makes it very easy to see where the big stories are. Note that this approach works for any measure that can be ranked, not just survey responses. Let’s see [...]
Note: Since writing this post in 2014, I have, in fact, become a fan of sparklines. That said, I continue to see many instances where I think the dashboard author could present data more clearly using a different approach. Make sure to read the comments at the end of the post. I’ve never been a [...]
Overview One of the new features in Tableau 8.1 that Tableau Software is trumpeting quite a bit is one-click Box and Whisker Plot generation. While I appreciate the new functionality, this chart type doesn’t “sing” to me the as much as jittering does. Indeed, this “jittering” capability was the BIG discovery for me in 2013. [...]
Overview I was stuck earlier this month trying to cajole Tableau into doing something I needed it to do so I contacted my friend Joe Mako. When it comes to Tableau, Joe is the "guru's guru." (Joe was the person that showed me how to create filled maps in Tableau before Tableau had native support [...]
Author’s note: Stephen Few is a bastion of data visualization excellence. I encourage all of my Tableau clients and students to purchase his books, read his blogs, and attend events where he is presenting. I also submitted an entry into the competition (you can read it here). I've been troubled by both the premise and [...]
I was originally planning to write a top 10 Tableau feature request, but my latest project begs me to focus on just one issue. I'm currently documenting how a truly zaftig collection of dashboards was put together and how it should be maintained. I am struck at just how much effort I (and soon my [...]
I subscribe to many magazines and newspapers that I read in last-century printed format. It isn't so much because I prefer the look and feel of print; it's just that I haven't sprung for an iPad yet. But a recent blog post from Stephen Few reminds me how much richer a reading / learning experience [...]
This one is a bit off the beaten path, but it continues to fascinate me and forces me to think about how people perceive things (which most certainly *is* on the path.) See http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/right-brain-v-left-brain/story-e6frf7jo-1111114603615
I came across a terrific blog post from Ross Perez who cites a really clever Tableau technique from Andy Cotgreave. Continuing where we left off with our discussion from The Likert Question Question, in the interactive example at the end of this post we display Likert bars, but allow viewers to see the details by [...]
Overview I’ve been looking at various examples over at Stephen Few’s Perpetual Edge web site and one example (this one) really resonates with me as it deals with how to visualize Likert Scale questions. For the past five years I’ve used Tableau to analyze literally thousands of survey questions, but I’ve never really been happy [...]
