Understanding the Tableau Ecosystem Through the lens of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

0:00So yesterday before the keynote we had we had an an idea of how to explain the current Tableau ecosystem now that Tableau Next is here, right?

0:09And sort of where did we go to this with this idea?

0:12I think it was yeah we were getting coffee and you're like I think we

0:15We were in a multiverse and I was like hold that thought because if you then start connecting all the dots, we're in actually the Marvel Cinematic Universe of Tableau, right?

0:24Where you've got Iron Man and then you've got um Captain America, then you've got

0:30The original tr trilogy, right?

0:32You've got tableau uh desktop, tableau server, tableau prep, and everything's great when you get to the eventual Let's be clear, let's be clear.

0:38Who is Captain America?

0:40Desktop or server or cloud?

0:41Oh man, we can't start new We we can't start

0:45I'm gonna say out desktop is Captain America.

0:49Tableau, server, and cloud combined are I designed man.

0:52Right?

0:52Yeah.

0:52So that's your MC universe.

0:54Yeah

0:54Well remember that for the end of this video because I think it's important.

0:58So Marvel Cinematic Universe, I think famous for having multiple parallel timelines and universes come together.

1:07Exactly, but the key thing here is that the

1:09vision they got to in the end took a long time to build and this is really why we're using this analogy because I think this is what Tableau kind of sees in the whole ecosystem.

1:19Eventually they want Tableau next core and all these other maybe disparate smaller parts of Tableau.

1:25to be one cohesive function.

1:27But where they're starting now, it's kind of messy, it's ugly.

1:30And if you've watched the Marvel movies, you'll know that a lot of the times actually as an audience.

1:37You needed to watch all the TV shows, all the content.

1:39Everything to get the picture.

1:40Suddenly you got a callback to something from Luke Cage who's watched Luke Cage.

1:44And someone built a viz, which is what we literally googled at the time it was like in the keynote.

1:48This viz perfectly explains the mess we're in with tablets.

1:52Exactly.

1:53Right?

1:53And so we'll we'll put it up on screen.

1:54and we'll sort of speak to it.

1:55And so I'm not saying this is a good place to be.

1:58I'm just saying that I think to achieve the bold vision they're trying to achieve.

2:02I'm not speaking to whether or not they're doing that.

2:04This is not the video for that.

2:05This is a theory.

2:06I'm just saying as a theory is a way of understanding what they're trying to do.

2:09And I think a good way to judge on the execution is to think of it this way.

2:14Can they pull off this sort of epic um, let's say, uh what what would you describe the ending of universe?

2:21It's sort of this culmination of many, many different stories.

2:24Finally making sense.

2:25If you remember that scene where all the superheroes are on the same frame, charging towards the Trichar Tritari?

2:33I think it was.

2:35Man, I need to watch Marvel again.

2:37But when they're charging that t that tritari that

2:39That's what we had in our mind as viewers would happen at some point.

2:42We just didn't see how it'd get there.

2:44And actually, the end of Infinity One, really somber.

2:47Everyone's lots of mistakes.

2:49Now, the key thing, there were two snaps required to make it happen.

2:53One snap went the wrong way.

2:54way and there was another snap needed to get back on track.

2:58I don't know when those snaps have happened, but I definitely feel like we've definitely had some snaps and this is where Whiplash comes from, this is where the elephant in the room comes from.

3:06You've seen action analytics talk about the videos.

3:08It's a

3:10But I think if as a community we can just get behind where they're trying to go, it might be a better way of judging back.

3:18Take a step back, exactly.

3:19Use the melting board, right?

3:20Because I think if you if you're not paying attention to every single development that Tableau are doing at Salesforce.

3:24are doing like you you might come into a film and be like why's Thor fat where's his eye yeah like who who who are the Eternals and you you've and the Eternals is this other group of heroes which like are kind of like the Avengers but kind

3:40different.

3:40Yeah.

3:40They're way more powerful but no one really likes them 'cause Harry Styles is in there and you don't really understand why it's why it's there.

3:46And that's kind of what people's attitude towards Tableau Next kind of is it is this really cool powerful tool but they're like, Ah, I'm gonna go back to the Avengers.

3:53Yeah, exactly.

3:55So look, we say this all in jest just to try and give you a way of understanding the the change they're trying to do, the direction.

4:02Like we're not being generally serious where you can like map all this out in the same way.

4:06But I think it's a good analogy, just to just open your mind to just

4:09Just accommodate this idea and then be able to critique the steps on that idea.

4:15And so, what I've said to a lot of people is the thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is it had good writers making the right steps along the way.

4:22Now, so far I think we've

4:24Lacked a lot of those good steps.

4:26We see a lot of this mistakes, you know, names changing, constantly like making it really hard for us to follow along on this sort of narrative.

4:33And these are the things that are generating the sort of painful bit.

4:36So if you can look at it that way, I think it's better to critique the exact moment.

4:39moments where things are going wrong.

4:41But also we've just seen devs on stage when things are going well, right?

4:45Which is basically like uh the um Comic Con when uh Von Vic Victor Von Doon turns up.

4:51Exactly, exactly.

4:52And who is it?

4:53It's Robert Down.

4:54It's Tony

4:54Brings us back to my point.

4:58Disney discovered that they can't make anything in Marvel without two characters, Iron Man and Captain America.

5:05And so here we are with Tableau Desktop and Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server.

5:09I have to be a part of next.

5:11And I think Salesforce is starting to figure that out.

5:13We saw hints of that at the keynote.

5:14Yeah.

5:15Let's see if they get it more on feature.

5:16And then just have the link or the and the thing that's like the multiverse bubble that's like here's the thing, that's AI and agents, right?

5:23AI and agents is the thing that's enabled.

5:24enabling you to mess around with stories and bring it all together.

5:27Yeah exactly exactly.

5:28So there you have it.

5:29I don't wanna don't wanna babble on well we've just spent what six minutes.

5:32That's our shortest video.

5:34What on earth That's our most concise shortest thing.

5:39I can't believe

5:39Marvel is what it took for us to be concise.

5:42Um but there you go.

5:42There we have it.

5:43That's the idea.

5:44We've talked to l so many product devs at Salesforce and uh definitely lots of people in the community about it.

5:49So we just wanted to get this idea out there.

5:51So you've got something to share with people so you can think about it internally.

5:54But yeah, thank you for watching, we'll see you in the next one.

5:57Cheers.