# Feature realeases need to change | What's new in Tableau

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2023-09-09
- **Format:** Video · 9 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Tool strategy, Industry trends
- **Tools:** Tableau (cloud, data modelling, server)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/feature-realeases-need-to-change--whats-new-in-tableau
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO3X3J1e91Q

I pose a question about how Tableau should release features: incrementally each quarter as they've been doing, or only when they're feature complete. Using the Tableau Release Navigator, I walk through examples like virtual connections, Ask Data and the data model, then argue why I think Tableau is now big enough to ship feature-complete releases.

## Key takeaways

- The Tableau Release Navigator is the single best place to see new, changed, deprecated and retired features, filterable by product and version
- Features such as virtual connections, Ask Data and the data model have been delivered in sporadic increments over 18 months to two years rather than as complete launches
- Most businesses upgrade Tableau Server roughly once a year and need months to test, document and train, so they rarely keep pace with Tableau's quarterly release cadence
- Tim's view is that incremental releases can do more harm than good, as features that miss the mark force later tweaks that arrive after businesses have already moved on
- Older Tableau releases had standout 'big hit' features that generated excitement, whereas recent releases feel like incremental themes rather than statement features

## Chapters

- 0:00 The release question
- 0:19 Tableau Release Navigator overview
- 1:12 Virtual connections example
- 3:11 Why businesses can't keep pace
- 4:49 Ask Data and Ask State example
- 6:24 Data model rollout example
- 7:03 My case for feature-complete releases

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/feature-realeases-need-to-change--whats-new-in-tableau

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena