The future of Tableau... Everything's changing: Friday thoughts episode 3

0:00Hey, it's Tim here. In today's video, it's

0:02another Friday, so we're back with some

0:04Friday thoughts.

0:05Now, today's topic is a bit of a different

0:06one. I want to talk about what is changing

0:10at Tableau.

0:10Now, I have to say up front, this is just

0:11an opinion piece. It's not, there's no

0:15facts behind this.

0:16I haven't sat down with the CEO and sort of

0:18gone through all these topics. Although if

0:20you're up for that, I'd love to do that.

0:22Nonetheless, I've just basically, you know,

0:25been in the Tableau community for the last

0:28seven years, and I've been sort of heavily

0:31embedded in it in the last couple of years,

0:33I actually sort of, you know, pulled a

0:34finger out and started making content.

0:37And so what I wanted to do is just sort of

0:39try and unpick, I think, a problem. And it

0:42's a problem that's not often spoken about

0:44in the community.

0:45And it's actually starting to cause a bit

0:46of friction, generally speaking, when I

0:48talk about community, I just don't mean the

0:50Tableau community. I'm talking about Table

0:53au partners, Tableau customers, everyone who

0:55touches Tableau in some way or form is

0:57going to experience some sort of friction

0:59in this change that I'm about to talk about

1:00.

1:01Okay. Now, the thing that really hit me a

1:04couple of days ago, is I came across a

1:07quote, and I've got I've got it up on the

1:10screen here to the left and the quote goes

1:13something like this. You're only as young

1:15as the last time you changed your mind.

1:15And that's a quote from a chap called

1:17Timothy Leary. And it sort of hit me really

1:20hard when I came across it was actually

1:22through a show on Netflix.

1:24And then I ended up finding out that it

1:25wasn't original, it was by, you know,

1:28someone else. And this this person is

1:29Timothy Leary. Nevertheless, it hit me

1:32really hard because what this quote was

1:33really sort of, I think trying to get

1:35across is Listen, it's really important not

1:37to get stuck in your ways not to sort of be

1:40stuck in sort of neurotic ways and habits,

1:42and to be constantly challenging yourself

1:44to evolve and change.

1:46And I feel like this really rings home with

1:48the way Tableau has been sort of pushing

1:50its focus over the last years. And so, in

1:52order to explain this context, I think

1:54first we have to maybe do a little bit of a

1:56history lesson and again, this is an

1:58opinion piece so some of this history might

2:01be wrong factually incorrect.

2:03But nonetheless, it's how I see things

2:05changing and so it is what it is. Now on my

2:07screen, we've got my iPad I've actually got

2:09my pencil out, we're going to do some

2:11drawing we're going to have a slightly sort

2:13of more intimate session today.

2:15And I'm going to draw a few things I want

2:16to just try and explain the context where

2:19Tableau came from and where it's heading as

2:21I see it. Okay, so I'm going to draw a line

2:23first, I'm going to just do this down the

2:24middle.

2:25And this I consider the you know, the big

2:30divide between on premise

2:34and cloud. Okay. And for those of you who

2:36are not sort of familiar, when you talk

2:38about on premise and cloud on premises and

2:40means running, you know, your software,

2:43your systems in your own building in your

2:45own sort of infrastructure, essentially.

2:48So if I was to take Tableau server, for

2:50example, you run Tableau server on premise,

2:53but Tableau online runs in the cloud.

2:56So the key thing here is that Tableau was

2:58born into a particular world. And it was

3:01actually a product developed and conceptual

3:03ized in the on premise world. So initially,

3:07you had Tableau desktop, so I'll just say D

3:09for desktop, actually, I just write it out,

3:12it's probably easier.

3:13And then we had Tableau server, which

3:15followed very quickly after. And both of

3:17these came out first as an on premise

3:19software. And what has happened over the

3:22years is actually the transition has

3:24started to head the other way.

3:26Now, if we think about the companies that

3:28we know about today, there's actually two

3:31ways of run running cloud infrastructure.

3:34Apparently, my sleep time has come on there

3:36. So probably a funny note that I should

3:38probably head to sleep that gives you a

3:40note how late I record these. But

3:43nevertheless, there's probably a split when

3:44it comes to cloud infrastructure.

3:47Now, I'm just going to highlight the two

3:49that I think matter in this context. And

3:51that is first cloud as infrastructure.

3:55I'm just going to call that infrastructure.

3:57Really sorry about my spelling is awful,

3:59but that's the way it is. And then you've

4:02got software as a service. So I'll acronym

4:05acronym that as s a, s, it's a s double a s

4:10, that makes sense.

4:12So sass companies like Salesforce are like

4:14the king of sass, basically, you just get

4:16access to an application over the web, and

4:19they're using the web as a way of

4:20delivering a product to you. And what

4:23actually commonly happens if we just draw

4:25another small line here is that a lot of s

4:28ass companies tend to rely on infrastructure

4:30cloud providers.

4:32So if I just sort of draw a line here, some

4:35of those people on the left hand side might

4:39be AWS might be Google. I just type that in

4:43might be Azure from Microsoft.

4:45Okay, and all these people are sort of here

4:47on the left hand side, okay. And they run

4:50pretty much everything to let you run

4:52everything as close to the metal as it's

4:54possible, you know, they let you install

4:57pretty much anything you want on any

4:59hardware you want any time, and you know, a

5:03whole range of prices.

5:04And that's what's made those companies

5:06really successful. And sass companies, on

5:08the other hand, I've sort of taken

5:10advantage of that technology. And they've

5:12built systems and software on top of that.

5:15And it's allowed them to build software at

5:17scales never seen before.

5:19So if you take Salesforce, for example,

5:21they build an absolutely huge platform, the

5:23Salesforce platform that's built on top of

5:25AWS. And so these guys are sort of building

5:28applications.

5:30Okay. And those applications do a whole

5:33plethora of things. So I'll put a Sales

5:36force here, I just put SF for Salesforce.

5:39And, but essentially, so many services we

5:40use today are actually very much like this.

5:43If you take YouTube as an example, there's

5:46no desktop app for YouTube is simply a

5:48browser.

5:49And in many ways, that's a SAS based video

5:51player, okay, everything is done through

5:53the internet, you go to website, you play

5:55and you experience everything on the

5:57platform in that sort of mechanism. Now,

6:00Salesforce has built its entire platform,

6:03pretty much in the SAS model.

6:05So there's, there's not really a time where

6:07, as a Salesforce admin, you have to worry

6:09about things like server specs and all that

6:11kind of stuff. So everything is sort of

6:13very, very simplified in the SAS world, it

6:15's essentially the customer just gets access

6:18to something via login.

6:20And once they get access, they can start

6:22adding their users. And Salesforce in this

6:25particular instance, take care of

6:27everything else, okay. Whereas if you're

6:29going to run Tableau server, say on AWS,

6:32you still have to worry about what specs

6:34you're going to run all of that kind of

6:36stuff and then put it on there.

6:36Now, let's get back to Tableau. Because

6:38what Tableau have done in the most recent

6:40years, is they've actually been trying to

6:42if I just sort of take a different color

6:43and just take a blue color here, they've

6:45actually been trying to go over to this

6:47world.

6:48Okay. And so this company born in the

6:50desktop and on premise era, is sort of been

6:53slowly transitioning itself over to the

6:56cloud. And that's been accelerated even

6:58more by the fact they're now owned by Sales

7:01force. So Salesforce acquired Tableau, just

7:04probably over two years ago.

7:05And so this I feel has actually accelerated

7:07that change in sort of order for Tableau to

7:10integrate itself for the Salesforce

7:12platform, it has to natively be cloud ready

7:15. And so there's been an interesting sort of

7:18shift and this shift has slowly been

7:20happening.

7:22Okay, let's go back to the previous color

7:24pen, whatever that was. Now, if we look at

7:26desktop, desktop is still predominantly an

7:29altering experience. And therefore, it's

7:31still predominantly, you know, runs best on

7:34the desktop, it runs best on machine.

7:37And the web edit experience, web authoring

7:39experience is catching up. But nonetheless,

7:42it's still a mostly on premise piece of

7:45software.

7:46Now, Tableau server, on the other hand, has

7:48actually had a another part of it, which is

7:50Tableau online. So Tableau server is

7:52essentially a piece of software, you

7:55install it, you run it on your own servers

7:57on premise or in the cloud.

7:59And then once you basically set it up, you

8:01're responsible for managing the

8:02infrastructure. Tableau online, however,

8:05has actually been, you know, very

8:07interesting addition, because it was added

8:09now, I think, five years ago.

8:11And it sort of sits firmly in this space.

8:13Okay, so Tableau online sits firmly over in

8:16the SAS side. If I just keep drawing a line

8:19, and you know, this is an awful diagram.

8:21But nevertheless, this is what we're going

8:23to do.

8:24Online sits firmly on this side. And so the

8:26problem we have here is that we've actually

8:29got a company that's transitioning has some

8:32of its products in the you know, SAS world

8:34has a large legacy in the on premise world.

8:38And it's desperately trying to shift from

8:40one side to the other. The reason I say

8:42desperately is because if you look at all

8:44the features that Tableau are focusing

8:46their energy on, and a lot of the sort of

8:48design constraints that you'd typically

8:52give to you know, an architect to build

8:54something tend to focus and assume that you

8:57're running this stuff in a cloud

8:59environment.

9:00So in the olden days, whenever you added a

9:01new feature, the first thing a server admin

9:03would ask is, how much resources is that

9:05going to use? That's a classic question. If

9:08you're on a core license, you're still

9:09asking that question. And if you've, you

9:11know, still running Tableau server on

9:13premise, that is probably what your server

9:15admin is focused on.

9:16What is my background are going to be doing

9:18? How much resources is it going to be using

9:20? And where is all my sort of compute time

9:23going to be going and if you're running

9:25this in a server cluster, you're probably

9:27sharing that with you know, other resources

9:30. So you do care about these stuff, because,

9:31you know, at a high level, you care about

9:32the cost of running all your infrastructure

9:33, and making sure it's as cost effective as

9:36possible.

9:37However, if you're running on Tableau

9:38online, you just don't ask that question,

9:41you get a flat price per person on a

9:42subscription basis. And whenever Tableau

9:45adds a feature, what you care about is does

9:47it work? And will it sort of serve the

9:49needs that I have now, Tableau online does

9:52have some limits, but those limits are

9:54pretty hard to reach, I'll maybe put a link

9:55to them on screen right now.

9:57And so it's really been fascinating in the

9:59last year to see Tableau add more and more

10:02features that really assume that most

10:05companies are running their Tableau servers

10:07in a cloud infrastructure sort of setup,

10:10because Tableau online itself runs in a

10:12cloud setup.

10:14Now, the last thing I want to emphasize

10:16here is that as we move to a world where

10:19Tableau is also trying to serve a new

10:21audience, it's so much easier for them to

10:24serve that audience, if they have a SaaS

10:27offering, because the benefit of having a S

10:29aaS offering is essentially all your

10:31customers are operating on your platform.

10:35Let's say you have Tableau online deployed

10:37at one company, and you have Tableau online

10:39deployed in another company, they're all

10:41essentially running on the same hardware.

10:44And because of that, you get to see how it

10:45's being used, you can optimize it, you can

10:47optimize the resources for the things that

10:49does the most at the times it does it.

10:52And, you know, I know Tableau online runs

10:54on AWS, so they are able to scale these

10:57things up and down, it runs across borders.

11:00And it's a really fascinating sort of

11:02problem to have, because we now starting to

11:05see features that squarely place themselves

11:07in the world of Tableau online.

11:10Because if you try and sort of deploy all

11:11these wonderful features on Tableau server,

11:14the thing you're going to keep asking

11:15yourself is, how many resources are these

11:18being used? And so we're not talking about,

11:20you know, processes that are going to be

11:22running, you know, tons of backgrounds,

11:24background is doing tons of things at a

11:26time.

11:27But it's, it's interesting to see the

11:28incremental shifts that are being made

11:30feature release after feature release.

11:33And then the other thing is, obviously,

11:34Tableau is pushed to the browser. Now, this

11:37is a really interesting thing, because a

11:39non premise company has to sort of deal

11:40with two problems.

11:42And the first is getting the software past

11:44it in government. And the second is

11:46actually selling the software, so you have

11:48to convince someone to buy it.

11:50And the third thing is getting people to

11:51try adoption, it's very, very difficult to

11:54actually make sure that once someone has

11:55bought it, and they've agreed to, you know,

11:58deploy it, and to actually deploy it takes

12:00time, and then to actually give people the

12:02license key, so they get access to the

12:04thing they've paid for also takes time.

12:06So that is a massive chunk of resource that

12:08Tableau don't want to keep spending time,

12:10wasting time sort of getting into. And so,

12:13again, the on premise world poses a real

12:15challenge.

12:16It makes much more sense if let's say when

12:18your company gives you access to Tableau,

12:20they simply send you a link, you log in via

12:22email, and boom, you've got access to

12:24everything you need, an editing experience,

12:27an authoring experience, a sharing

12:29experience, and even a data prep experience

12:32all delivered through the browser.

12:34It just cuts out so many middlemen. And it

12:36also allows people to try the product. And

12:38it also allows Tableau to offer some sort

12:40of metrics back to users. So one of the

12:42problems you have with adoption is that it

12:44's really hard to see who's actually using

12:46it, and how they're working.

12:49And in an on premise world, that data is

12:51very hard to sort of get hold of, because

12:53essentially, you know, Tableau have sort of

12:55got to ask you to send over your logs, and

12:58give you sort of things like status reports

13:00and workbooks to pull this stuff out of

13:02Postgres and analyze it.

13:04It's just a lot of effort. And Tableau

13:05Online, the world is very different, they

13:06actually get to see this, they can they can

13:08see it at a pretty granular level, although

13:10they can't see the data that you're looking

13:11at, they can see sort of the behaviors, who

13:14's logging in, when they're logging in,

13:17what kind of their license, you know,

13:18estate are they using, and then they can

13:20use this information to better serve

13:22customers. So if a customer goes up to

13:24Tableau and say, hey, we're not really

13:26enjoying this feature, it's not really

13:27doing the thing for us, Tableau can

13:30probably better diagnose why, because they

13:32can actually see the back end metrics of

13:33what's going on.

13:34So we've got a company that is desperately

13:36trying to move from the on premise world to

13:39the SaaS world. And the problems now start

13:42to rise, because a large part of their

13:44customer base has actually existed in the

13:47legacy world.

13:49So what I want to do now is talk about the

13:51impact that this change has. And I'm going

13:54to go back to the quote that I started this

13:56video with the very end, I just want you to

13:57keep that in mind, because I think it is an

13:59important quote, and we'll get back to it a

14:01little later on.

14:03So the last thing I want to do is just go

14:04through each of the products and just show

14:06you how they're shifting to this SaaS world

14:08. So first of all, let's start with desktop,

14:11we've got web authoring that is catching on

14:13pace, it's actually been catching on for a

14:16while.

14:16But it's quickly adding features almost

14:18every release, there is a web authoring

14:20edition. And the biggest hurdle at the

14:22moment is formatting, sort of really bes

14:23poke formatting is still quite difficult.

14:26But in the last year, it's actually sort of

14:28come along a really, really long way, you

14:30can do a lot of things, you can start your

14:32experience in web authoring and finish it

14:34in desktop. Now, you can sort of make

14:36content in both places, you can edit

14:38content in both places, it's really, really

14:40come a long way.

14:41Of course, the issue is that we've all got

14:43the experience of desktop that's nice and

14:45crispy. So that is the standard they have

14:47to match. When they deliver web authoring,

14:49it has to really match the experience that

14:51you're seeing.

14:52In fact, it has to do more than that has to

14:54be a better experience. When you start

14:56doing things through the browser, people

14:57have a higher standard of what they expect.

14:59Because of course, we all spend time on the

15:01internet. And the companies that set the

15:03standard are companies like Apple, Google,

15:05Facebook, Microsoft.

15:07So that's the standard we sort of expect,

15:09okay. And I have to say Salesforce is not

15:12at that standard yet the Salesforce

15:14interface can sometimes feel like it was

15:17built in 1996, and can sometimes feel like

15:20it's super clunky. So in many ways, Tableau

15:22is probably ahead of the curve on this one,

15:22but they still have to meet that standard.

15:24Okay.

15:25So desktop is slowly transitioning to the

15:27web authoring experience. We've also got

15:29Tableau prep. Now Tableau prep was

15:31interesting because it was actually built

15:33as a web application, it uses this

15:35technology called electron, essentially

15:37means that it's been built using web

15:40technology and then packaged to behave like

15:42a desktop application.

15:44So although it launches a desktop

15:45application, it was actually packaged using

15:47web technology and is built using web

15:49technology. And that's why it was one of

15:51the first products to go fully web altering

15:53when that was launched. And that's why it's

15:56probably feels native in the browser, in

15:59the same way that it sort of works on

16:00desktop now, sort of been encumbered by

16:04growing pains because it's a new product,

16:05they're slowly catching up with the, you

16:07know, feature list, they need to catch up

16:09with to make it the product that people

16:11wanted to use.

16:12But it's very much well on its way this way

16:14. And it started in the desktop sort of

16:16experience. But I'd actually firmly, if I

16:19go back a couple of steps, I'd actually

16:21firmly put Tableau prep over here on the

16:23side because it's actually been

16:25predominantly designed in that world. And

16:28so it works in that world. And today does

16:31have a pretty comparable web authoring

16:33experience that is matching the desktop

16:35experience because it's a web app. Okay.

16:38Now, we've got desktop, which is well on

16:40its way to the left, it's not there yet

16:42still has some way to go. Tableau Online is

16:44already over here on the left, which just

16:46leaves server here on the right hand side.

16:49Now there's a bunch of other products,

16:50things like Tableau Mobile, they sort of,

16:52you know, live in a different world, they

16:54live in sort of the app development world.

16:56And that's always different because you

16:57know, application frameworks change on a

16:59day to day basis.

17:01But if we look at other things, if we start

17:03to look at things like the developer API's,

17:05the technologies that Tableau have made

17:07available to use on their platform, they've

17:10actually been slowly incrementally adding

17:12these to enable Tableau to talk to other

17:14technologies.

17:15Right before Salesforce acquired Tableau,

17:17there was a real big push to things like

17:19extensions, and galleries for different

17:21types of connections. And more recently, we

17:24're seeing this sort of accelerate and

17:26actually Tableau is using some of this

17:28technology to build its own internal

17:31features.

17:31And so, again, if we look at things like

17:33API's, and developer sort of access, well,

17:36that again is actually very much sort of

17:39living in this world, I'm going to put it

17:42there because it is it's very new stuff.

17:45And it is designed to sort of meet this

17:45more web centric audience, more developer

17:47centric audience, who do run more in this

17:50sort of software as a service setup.

17:53A good example is embedding, for example,

17:55if you're going to embed Tableau in a

17:57platform, you're typically going to be

17:59embedding it in what's considered a SaaS

18:01platform, because you're not asking someone

18:03to install the Tableau server, and set it

18:05all up, all you're doing is you're setting

18:07up the environment, you're going to install

18:09that stuff in your own infrastructure.

18:11And you're just going to set that up and

18:13then sell that experience to someone else

18:15through a username and a login. So again,

18:18the API's all the developer things, sort of

18:20squarely sit here in the SaaS world. Okay.

18:23So when we look at the Tableau of today,

18:25really not much left of its old heritage.

18:27Now, of course, this is not really the case

18:29, because of course, there's still a lot of

18:31people that use desktop that use server.

18:33And so I think what's really interesting is

18:36how this transition is going to change

18:38relationship that the Tableau has with all

18:40of its stakeholders.

18:42So enough sort of rambling on for me. Let's

18:45talk a little bit about the change that's

18:46going to be happening, and how I think it

18:48impacts different groups. Okay.

18:51The main groups we're going to talk about

18:52are customers, and the partners that work

18:54with Tableau, whether they're technology

18:57partners, or you know, partners that sell

18:59helps all the product resellers.

19:01And then lastly, the community, you know,

19:03the people who love the products go to

19:05conference and so on and so forth. So first

19:07, let's start with customers. Well, the

19:10interesting thing is customers buy Tableau

19:12all the time.

19:13And one of the interesting shifts is, you

19:15know, the longest serving customers have

19:17typically come from this on premise world,

19:19you know, you get a piece of software, you

19:21install it, and you're happy, and does

19:23everything you wanted to do.

19:25Those customers have sort of been educated

19:26that, you know, when new version of Tableau

19:28, they get everything at once. And so in the

19:30last few years, that hasn't sort of been

19:33quite the case.

19:34And Tableau started to add new pricing

19:36tiers, new add ons, new plugins, and that's

19:39sort of been a real challenge for some

19:41customers, especially the addition more

19:43recently of Einstein analytics, which has

19:46completely knocked the top off all the

19:48pricing that you normally get for add ons.

19:51Most of the pricing add ons are you know,

19:52the 510 dollar mark, and then this one

19:55comes in and it's like $25 per user. And

19:57even if they're not using, you know, the

19:59particular features, it's just basically

20:01the number of users that are actually on

20:03the server, or what this is priced at, I'll

20:06put it up on the screen.

20:07And so it's super fascinating to see this

20:09sort of transition. Now that said, Tableau

20:11has also been acquired by Salesforce. So

20:14there's also a whole new swathe of

20:16customers that are kind of used to this way

20:18of pricing used to this behavior.

20:21So on one hand, you've got a big group of

20:23customers who are sort of starting to get

20:25itchy feet about the way that Tableau is

20:27managing its pricing and how it's going.

20:30And on the other hand, you've also got you

20:32know, competitors like Power BI seizing

20:34this moment, changing their pricing models,

20:36going in real hard on certain pitches, and

20:39sort of seizing this opportunity, this sort

20:41of disruption to make new products and also

20:44approach customers that have typically been

20:46using Tableau and shifting them away from

20:48Tableau to their platforms.

20:49Of course, Microsoft have the advantage of

20:51something like Azure, they can sort of

20:53bundle Power BI and all these other tools

20:55very easily without really the customer

20:57noticing how they've moved this sort of

20:59pricing models around to sort of get that

21:01customer on board.

21:03Now, the final thing is, customers will

21:05come and go, it's actually very easy in a S

21:08aaS world to drop a tool, what starts to

21:11become really hard is once you've heavily

21:14invested in it, the exit costs start to

21:17outweigh the benefits of any new platform

21:20that might come in.

21:22And so the really difficult thing for Table

21:25au now with their customers is holding on to

21:28them during this transition, that's

21:30actually the biggest key factor here. Table

21:34au can sort of successfully navigate this

21:34and keep their customers and not only that

21:35gain new customers, then they'll start to

21:37get this sort of annoying effect in

21:39enterprise technology where you have lock

21:41in where it becomes sort of prohibitive to

21:43leave because you've invested so much

21:45energy and time into the infrastructure and

21:48into the sort of ecosystem that to sort of

21:51pull yourself away from it becomes really

21:51difficult.

21:51And then the other big challenge is people

21:56who work with Tableau. I think this is

22:01probably a more interesting field for me

22:03personally because as a consultant, as a

22:06member of the community, the key thing that

22:10really changes here is relationships.

22:14So the relationships we have with Tableau,

22:16whether it's personal relationships, people

22:18we talk to, people we know in the company,

22:20all the way to the relationships we have

22:22with things like product development, sort

22:24of the more abstract side of the

22:25relationship model, that becomes a little

22:28bit more tricky, because it's really still

22:31not clear how those things are going to

22:32land.

22:33And that's sort of where a lot of the

22:34uncertainty is sort of happening. Whilst it

22:37's clear that Tableau has been acquired by

22:39Salesforce, I feel like we're still really

22:41waiting to see the real impact of this.

22:44Maybe internally at Tableau, people have

22:45seen this impact.

22:46But I feel like outside, just, you know, as

22:48a partners as consultants, people who work

22:50with Tableau, who go to things like cert

22:53ifications and events and stuff, we're still

22:55just starting to see the change that have

22:57take effect.

22:59And so it's really important over the next

23:01two to three years to just watch how that

23:03relationship changes, whether Salesforce

23:05has a big impact on that relationship, and

23:08also whether the Salesforce community makes

23:10a move into the Tableau community as well.

23:13That's also a really important dynamic,

23:14where we see people who've had really

23:16strong relationships with Salesforce, as it

23:18will move into the Tableau space as well.

23:20Or will it be vice versa, where people with

23:22good Tableau relationship move closer to

23:24Salesforce?

23:25That's always an interesting sort of

23:26dynamic to look out for. Now, the final one

23:28is the impact on the community at large.

23:31And when I talk about community, I just

23:32mean everyone who loves the product,

23:33everyone who champions the product,

23:36everyone who uses the product.

23:38And essentially, this also includes

23:39customers, because the community is not

23:42about customers, the community is actually

23:44about the energy and the ethos around the

23:46people that use the product.

23:48I always say this to a lot of people, which

23:50is the people who buy Tableau don't

23:53necessarily use Tableau. Okay, the people

23:56who make the decision to buy the really big

23:58deployments of Tableau probably never have

24:00to open the product in their lives.

24:03And whilst many will do that, I think it's

24:05a good thing to do that to see a demo to

24:07see it working. When it actually comes to

24:10deploying it. It's actually the people on

24:12the ground who do the heavy lifting with

24:13these platforms.

24:15And so it's, it's very important to

24:16understand when we talk about community, we

24:19're largely talking about people who are

24:21just involved in the ecosystem, people who

24:23've been told that the company is getting

24:25Tableau, start learning it, get involved,

24:27go to some music groups, learn it, get

24:30certified.

24:31Those are the members of the community. And

24:33I think the tough thing for the community

24:35going forward is basically the quote I said

24:38at the beginning, okay.

24:40And let me repeat that quote, it's

24:41essentially you're only as young as the

24:44last time you changed your mind. Okay, that

24:46's a quote by Timothy Leary. And I think

24:47that's super important because we're at

24:50this really important junction. Okay.

24:53And we do need to sort of get out of our

24:55old habits and start to reevaluate re

24:57evaluate the product again, almost relearn

25:01Tableau. It's really, really important

25:03because as this relationship changes, there

25:06's two fundamental questions.

25:08Is Tableau heading in a direction that, you

25:10know, suits me as an individual? Is Tableau

25:12continuing to give me the product that I

25:14want to use and love and enjoy using that I

25:16can shout about from the rooftops as a

25:18proud community member?

25:20And those are two questions that I think

25:21some people are starting to have this

25:23challenge and sort of realize actually, you

25:25know, in some places it is, and in some

25:27places it's not.

25:29And if we sort of don't monitor that

25:30transition, and we don't sort of pro

25:32actively, you know, open ourselves to change

25:34as well, you know, at the end of the day,

25:36we have to sort of be explicit and

25:37understand that the product might go in a

25:39direction we don't like.

25:42But it might help other people who are not

25:44yet part of the analytics and data viz

25:46community. And so, for the good of the

25:49community, it actually might be better if

25:51let's say Tableau focus less on authors and

25:54creators, and more on analysts, people who

25:57use the reports

25:58and helping them use the product. And so

26:01that to me is the friction point. Release

26:03after release. More recently, we're seeing

26:05more features that are pitched, I'm going

26:07to say at the analyst.

26:10And I think that is where we have to start

26:12opening our minds to change, we have to

26:14sort of start thinking and evolving our

26:16thinking.

26:17It makes sense for Tableau to move in this

26:19direction, it has to keep evolving, it has

26:21to keep learning, and they do have to keep

26:23trying new things. It's a doggy dog world

26:25out there, licenses don't sell themselves.

26:28And if they're going to continue to make a

26:29product we love, they need to get money and

26:31they need to be paid to do it.

26:33But in order to do that, they are going to

26:35have to disappoint some of the existing

26:38customers. And I think we as users, we as

26:40community members have to be prepared for

26:43that.

26:44And we just have to accept it in some cases

26:46, okay. And then we have to sort of evaluate

26:48whether we want to start using other tools

26:50that are maybe cheaper, better, easier,

26:52whatever.

26:53If something comes along that is better,

26:55then we also have to be open that you know

26:56Tableau maybe not be doing what we want.

26:59But likewise, Tableau also have to step up

27:01to the challenge and they have to sort of

27:03prove to us that they're going to continue

27:05to earn the right to call us members of

27:07their community, because that doesn't come

27:09for free.

27:10They have to make a good product, we have

27:11to love it. And at the end of the day, we

27:13have to love it so much that we tell

27:15everyone else to use it.

27:17And that's, you know, one of the reasons I

27:18make videos because I love the product. And

27:20if I stop having that passion, I'll stop

27:21making the videos and I'll stop helping

27:23people learn how to use it.

27:25And that's my friend is how a community

27:27dies. Okay, so, man, I think I've probably

27:30rambled way too long for this video, but

27:32hopefully, hopefully, hopefully I've maybe

27:35scratched the surface on trying to explain

27:38what's changing, why it's changing.

27:39And how it might impact you as a community

27:41member, or as someone who's worked with

27:43Tableau in the past. Okay. Thanks for

27:46watching. I might even have to rerecord

27:48this but like who knows, you'll never know

27:51how many takes of this I did.

27:53But hopefully, you've enjoyed this video,

27:54and I'll catch you in the next one.

27:56you the next one.

27:57you

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