0:00[MUSIC]
0:02One of the things that's actually here is
0:04Tableau Pulse,
0:05and this whole thing about Tableau AI.
0:07This is actually going to be my second
0:10thing,
0:11which is Tableau Pulse is now in beta.
0:14You can learn more about Tableau Pulse.
0:17You can go to this page,
0:18you can find out lots of interesting things
0:21.
0:22To get started, you can sign up for the
0:25beta to be turned on.
0:28This is all great if you're a customer,
0:30but if you're not a customer, which I'm not
0:32,
0:32I guess for some bizarre reason,
0:37being part of the Tableau community program
0:39and helping teach Tableau doesn't qualify
0:42as being up high enough on the list in
0:47the Salesforce process to get people access
0:50,
0:50to just see what it's like.
0:52It's interesting because with embedding,
0:54you can do that.
0:55There's actually embedding demos that
0:56have generic username and passwords.
0:58You can go in and see what it's like.
1:00It's not like Tableau aren't familiar with
1:02this.
1:02I keep doing it. It's not like Salesforce
1:04aren't familiar with this.
1:06It's just a very strange dynamic.
1:08To this day, I still don't have access to
1:10Tableau Pulse.
1:11I can't show you anything.
1:12All I have done is talk about
1:14the old pre-recorded setups of Pulse from
1:17conferences.
1:19I am 100 percent certain what we saw at
1:23conference was a hybrid between
1:25the actual demos and what I call Figma
1:27demos.
1:28Figma is a UX/UI design tool,
1:32and you can actually create
1:33very compelling user interface demos in it.
1:36I think what we've been seeing at
1:38conference has been
1:39the vision piece and maybe
1:41very controlled demos of small parts of it
1:43that did work,
1:44especially when you're going between
1:45screens,
1:46or you're seeing emails, or you're seeing
1:47Slack.
1:48But then when we saw the product itself,
1:50I think we were seeing the very early days
1:52of that.
1:53The beta is being very tightly controlled
1:55to make
1:56sure that people are using it in a trusted
1:59way.
1:59I'm sure it's designed to make sure
2:01that Tableau doesn't break any rules in
2:04terms
2:04of giving people the wrong insights
2:06and then people basing decisions on that.
2:08I'm sure there's a whole legal rigmarole to
2:11get through.
2:12But nonetheless, been really
2:14frustrated to try and get my hands on it.
2:16My big concern with Tableau Pulse,
2:18and I'll just come out and say this now, I
2:20haven't tried it.
2:21I know some people have.
2:22They thought really good of it.
2:24Two people that I trust have actually tried
2:26Tableau Pulse and have told me good things
2:28about it.
2:28It's made me really excited to try it out.
2:31But this is the big but.
2:33This is the big but.
2:34My biggest concern with Tableau Pulse is
2:38that Tableau
2:39doesn't understand its core innovation.
2:43I know that's a brutal thing to say.
2:47But Tableau's core innovation was never the
2:51platform.
2:53It was never the fancy drag and drop,
2:58whatever.
2:58Tableau's core innovation was
3:01helping people work through their data.
3:04You could think of it as drag and drop,
3:07but I actually go further and I'd say,
3:09as a creator, when you're in
3:11Tableau Desktop and you connect to your
3:13data,
3:13and you drag things around, you write a
3:14calculation,
3:15you drag things around, you answer a
3:16question,
3:17you go to the next one, you're moving
3:18around.
3:18That in itself, that was actually the first
3:21thing that was released.
3:22That was the core innovation that brought
3:24it to people.
3:25Dashboards was a byproduct of that.
3:27Needing to share that was a byproduct of
3:29that initial core innovation.
3:31Then the platform was a further consequence
3:36of that.
3:37So you build something cool,
3:38you discover an insight, you want to share
3:40it.
3:40Let's put it into a dashboard.
3:41Okay, you want to get that dashboard in
3:42front of people.
3:43Oh, let's put it on a platform.
3:45That platform can be server or cloud, right
3:47?
3:47Now it's on server and cloud.
3:48Oh, let's add governance and trust on top
3:50of that.
3:51I think where Tableau are now,
3:54is they think of themselves as that latter
3:56thing, the platform.
3:57They've got lots of platform thoughts,
3:59but they've just run away from that core
4:02innovation a bit too much.
4:03As a result, my big concern with Tableau
4:07Pulse
4:07is that it's going to be fantastic when it
4:10works.
4:11Then the question will come,
4:13which will be, well, how do you make it
4:15work well?
4:16And the tools you have at your disposal,
4:19if you're only looking inside of the Table
4:20au platform,
4:21have not been brought to the same standard
4:23as Pulse
4:24in order to get it matching and singing and
4:27dancing.
4:27And this is sort of the big frustration
4:29with a lot of Tableau features.
4:30They tend to be really well thought through
4:35,
4:35really well conceived,
4:38even to the point where the first thing you
4:40see
4:40is always just the initial gambit.
4:42And then over the months, the devs and the
4:44product managers
4:45are just knocking it out of the park.
4:47They know their stuff.
4:48I can't tell you how frustrated it is
4:51to have conversations with them where I'll
4:53turn up and I'll be like,
4:53"Right, I've been wanting to tell them
4:55about this."
4:55And I tell them about something and they're
4:57like, "Yeah, we know."
4:58Like, they all know.
5:00They all know about this stuff.
5:01The things you and I find frustrating,
5:02the things we see in the community forums,
5:04that feedback generally gets back to them.
5:06The issue comes around deciding what makes
5:09it onto the cutting block,
5:10deciding what gets dev time,
5:12deciding what makes it onto the product's
5:14feature list.
5:15That is a very tough thing to do.
5:16And as a company, you've got to make bold
5:18bets.
5:19If you ask people for a faster horse,
5:21you should have just plugged more horses
5:24onto it.
5:25I think there's a saying about that.
5:26But no one ever thought of a car, right?
5:29People wanted better phones and we all had
5:31Blackberries
5:31with a button for every letter of the
5:33alphabet.
5:33And then Apple turns up with no buttons and
5:35just a screen.
5:36And everyone's like, "Wow, that's what I
5:38want."
5:39And then everything followed that path.
5:41So my big concern is the Tableau part
5:45is just moving further and further away
5:46from the core innovation.
5:47And as a result, some of those other bits
5:50of the platform
5:50haven't been brought to that same level.
5:54The only exception, the only exception to
5:56this, I think, is Tableau Prep.
5:57Like, I have to say this because Tableau
5:59Prep has been, for me this year,
6:02the feature that's made me the happiest in
6:03the whole entire platform.
6:05They're just doing what people want.
6:06It's so simple. They're going onto the
6:08feature list.
6:09They're solving problems. They're bringing
6:11them through.
6:12And on top of that, we're finding more and
6:14more ways
6:14to bring it into the workflow, right?
6:16So it's just so rewarding to see a partner
6:20Tableau
6:20that is literally just working through the
6:22to-do list
6:23of the biggest pains and issues.
6:26And then on the other side, we have Tableau
6:28Pass,
6:28which it's not that no one was asking for
6:31it.
6:31It's kind of a big, bold bet.
6:33And I do think technology is heading in
6:34this direction.
6:35I don't think it's a wrong sort of
6:37direction from Tableau on this.
6:40But if I still have to fight with published
6:42data sources
6:43to make Tableau Pass work, then Tableau
6:46Pass won't work
6:47because many of the things that drive me
6:49insane
6:50about published data sources aren't going
6:52to get fixed in Pass.
6:54They're just going to get exacerbated, if
6:55anything,
6:56because with Pass you'll get a big appetite
6:58for better quality data sources.
6:59And if you're still fighting with data
7:01sources the same old way,
7:02then it's just not going to sort of sing
7:05and dance.
7:05But this is all saying this without me ever
7:07trying it.
7:08I haven't tried it, haven't used it.
7:10I know there's an interface to build
7:12metrics.
7:12I've asked some questions about that ahead
7:14of time.
7:15I've even asked the product team at one
7:17point,
7:17"Look, what is your vision for the most
7:20optimal way
7:21to build data sources for this?
7:22Where am I doing that?
7:23Am I doing that in DBT?
7:24Am I doing it in the database?
7:26Am I doing it in Tableau Prep?
7:27Or am I doing it in desktop?
7:29Tell me, where should I invest my time?"
7:31And I still struggle to get what I feel is
7:33a convincing answer.
7:35And I think there is one right answer.
7:36I don't think any one of those is going to
7:38be perfect,
7:39but I think one of those is going to be a
7:41lot better.
7:41And so I'm kind of looking to people and
7:44customers
7:45who are using Tableau Pass to say,
7:46"Hey, we've found that this works really
7:48well.
7:48And hopefully over the coming months, we'll
7:50find that answer.
7:51We'll be able to sort of get to the bottom
7:54of that."
7:55Anyway, I felt like I just went on a
7:57massive rant.
7:58It's not intended as a rant.
8:00It's just, I'm so passionate about Tableau.
8:03There's just so many things that are just
8:06so small and simple.
8:08It's crazy.
8:09Simon has asked, "What are the problems
8:10with published data sources?"
8:14When you publish it, I'll do this very
8:16briefly,
8:16but if you go to the Tableau ideas,
8:19let's just very quickly do this.
8:21So Tableau ideas.
8:22But actually go to this.
8:24This is a page, let's say forums.
8:31Oh, have they moved this?
8:34Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
8:36Is this...
8:38Have they moved this? Have they changed
8:39this?
8:40Oh, here we go.
8:41God, okay, I worry they moved it because,
8:43you know, Salesforce.
8:44Anyway, this ideas biz, they have moved it,
8:47and it's not as good, but okay, fine.
8:52Oh, maybe we go to the ideas page.
8:54Yes, okay, this is what I was looking for.
8:56So if we go to the ideas page and you
8:58search for...
8:59If you're wondering what's the problem with
9:01the feature,
9:01go to the ideas page, type in the feature,
9:08and filter to things that are still open,
9:11okay?
9:11And these are like the working list of
9:15things that, let's say, open...
9:22If I just say open and then we sort by
9:26popular ideas...
9:30Has it only got...
9:31Let's just do all.
9:33I'm not seeing all of them.
9:35I'm not seeing...
9:38Maybe because I put the space in data
9:40source.
9:40Let's just try this.
9:42Let's just try this data source.
9:47Okay, yeah, so this doesn't feel like the
9:50full list to me,
9:51but nonetheless, you'll get a good mix and
9:55feel
9:55for all the different sort of issues.
9:58I can't go through all of them here,
9:59but this is a pretty good list of the kind
10:02of things people want to do.
10:03The other thing with them is just working
10:05with them.
10:05Once you create a published data source,
10:07especially in desktop, that is it.
10:09It's locked down.
10:10You can't do anything more to it.
10:11Beyond that, you can't create relationships
10:14with it.
10:14Now relationships are a fairly relatively
10:16new feature to Tableau,
10:18but on the flip side of that is actually
10:20pretty powerful.
10:21We should be moving as many people away
10:23from doing joins and blends
10:25where it's unnecessary and using
10:27relationships
10:28because it's much more powerful.
10:29Donna Bell-Santas has got some great videos
10:32on this.
10:32I've got some videos on this as well.
10:34Andy Pribil has got some videos on this as
10:36well.
10:36So go check out all the content to kind of
10:38find out more about that.
10:39But to go back to my point about Pulse,
10:43if you're going to use good data sources
10:45to drive this really innovative feature,
10:47you have to give the people who build those
10:49data sources good tools.
10:51And if Tableau prep is the answer to that,
10:53I'm not sure Tableau prep is all the way
10:54there,
10:55even though it makes me super happy.
10:56I love everything about prep.
10:59Published data sources are not quite there.
11:03Some of the other capabilities around the
11:05platform
11:06that kind of relies on you
11:07pushing that work back to the database.
11:09And that's fine as an answer, but if that's
11:11the answer,
11:12then Tableau Pulse doesn't stand on its own
11:16.
11:16And you've then got to couple it with a
11:17really good database technology
11:19or couple it with a really good data
11:22engineering team
11:23to get the data sources working and singing
11:25so that people can actually use them
11:27properly and ask questions.
11:28So anyway, I'm going to stop there.
11:31That was a rant.
11:33I did go on for a bit too long.
11:36But we'll stop there.
11:38On to the next one. I really do have to
11:40carry on.
11:40Thank you.
11:42[ Silence ]
11:51[ Silence ]
Tableau | Data visualisation | Tool strategy | Industry trends 
