Doing Moore with Data: Interviewing a Tableau Power Couple
Updated: Feb 18, 2022
“Tableau Ambassadors teach and share while fostering a positive and supportive space within the community. They give credit where credit is due, and prioritize inclusivity in everything they do. They shine the spotlight on new voices, innovative ideas, and make the communities around them better.”
-Tableau Community Leaders Mission Statement
Cleartelligence provides end-to-end data analytics services: cloud migration, data management, and many of the “back end” services that can be overlooked by end users. This work shines brightest when curated, harmonized data is brought to life with engaging, pragmatically designed, and visually stunning visualizations and dashboards.
When it comes to making data shine, what better way than to enlist a Tableau Ambassador?
Enlist two of them!
And they’re married.
The #datafam can be literal too. Who knew?
Jacqui Moore is a Tableau Social Ambassador. They're community-chosen, inclusive leaders who go above and beyond to drive thought-provoking conversations about data, champion others, welcome people to the community, and amplify key messages across all social channels.
Brian Moore is a Tableau Public Ambassador. They're also community-chosen, and showcase the power of Tableau with the incredible visualizations they share. They welcome newcomers to the Tableau Public platform by creating a healthy space for feedback, appreciation, and connection.
They’re both Senior Data Analytics & Viz Consultants, and I had the opportunity to sit down with them and learn more about their journey together through work, life, and all things data viz!
Our time with Cleartelligence has made us unafraid to work with all sorts of new data, businesses, and processes; learn quickly and not be afraid to jump in and be exposed to many different types of businesses and technologies.
Pete DeOlympio: How does one get into data visualization? Were you math majors? Art majors?
Brian Moore: My degree is in operations management.
Jacqui Moore: I was an Art Major, but switched to operations management.
PD: To hang out with Brian Moore…more?
JM: ಠ_ಠ
PD & BM: …
JM: Sigh. Fine, let’s go with that 😊
PD: Have you always worked with data?
BM: Pretty much. I started out in product planning and forecasting, and have worked in some type of analytical role ever since. But Excel was always my tool of choice until I went to work with Jacqui.
PD: To hang out with Jacqui Moore…more?
BM: ಠ_ಠ
PD & JM: …
BM: Well, ya!
PD: How long have you been working as Senior Consultants for Cleartelligence?
JM: We've each been with Cleartelligence for about two years. Our focus is on Tableau development and data visualization. We're also experienced with Tableau enablement and data preparation using tools like Alteryx and Tableau Prep. During our time at CT, we've worked with clients in industries such as e-commerce, finance, utilities and services, and life sciences. Our time with Cleartelligence has made us unafraid to work with all sorts of new data, businesses, and processes; learn quickly and not be afraid to jump in and be exposed to many different types of businesses and technologies. This has benefitted our interactions with the community, and the team of people here who excel at what they do has made us better Tableau Developers and more well-rounded data people. Likewise, participation in the Tableau community helped us each practice, try new things, and grow our skills and knowledge in a way that would have been a much longer path otherwise. We continue to find new techniques, ideas, and inspiration from the community all the time.
PD: How long have you been Tableau power users?
JM: About ten years. I’ve been an ambassador for two years now.
BM: Jacqui is the one that introduced me to Tableau, so she’s been at it longer than I have. Maybe eight years for me? Something like that. I’ve also been an ambassador for two years.
PD: What do you think makes for a great viz?
BM: It depends on if it’s for personal use or for work.
JM: On Tableau Public there’s a lot more room to incorporate art and hobbies. Data is often not dynamic, so you have more flexibility to be creative and build engaging infographic-like dashboards.
BM: Exactly. In a work-context it’s much more functional. Ease of use, function, and scale are crucial. You’ve got to have clean data and a clean presentation. It shouldn’t be too crowded with information.
PD: On the work-side of things, are there other tools you are using in tandem with Tableau?
BM: I use some data prep tools like Alteryx and Tableau Prep.
JM: And SQL, of course. It’s helpful to have something to prototype in, too, like Figma. Sometimes PowerPoint.
PD: Wait, PowerPoint? Really?
JM: Yes! It can do a surprising amount of vector design!
Everyone has at least one really ugly dashboard. Probably more if we’re being honest ;)
PD: What is your advice to someone who’s interested in joining the Tableau/Viz/Analytics world?
JM: Do it! Get on Tableau Public, get involved in the community. Showcase your work and start building a network.
BM: Tableau Public is a great resource. It’s free, you can get involved in the community and develop informal or formal mentorships with more advanced users. Before getting involved with the community, after years of using Tableau for work, I started to think I knew everything there was to know. But the community has shown me that there is always so much to learn.
JM: Zen masters will sometimes leave their older work to show newcomers that nobody stepped in knowing everything. It’s part of the learning process! Everyone has at least one really ugly dashboard. Probably more if we’re being honest ;)
PD: What is Tableau doing to maintain its position as a leader in the data visualization / dashboard space?
JM: They’re developing more of a focus on predictive analytics, machine learning that’s accessible to a wider audience. Tableau Prep is getting them into ETL and data management. Adding data governance into their environment.
BM: One of the things Tableau is great about is their ease of use: just drag and drop, no coding required. It’s easy to learn but difficult to master. It’s got a lower learning curve than some applications, but they manage to keep the upper limit of what you can do with it very high.
JM: Tableau is also fully aware that their community is an asset. They’re great at connecting people. Investing in Tableau Public, making it free and fostering their community which they call the DataFam. They’ve shown that they recognize the community is part of what sets them apart.
Bringing Data and Storytelling to Life with Tableau
(Note: This gallery is not interactive - you can see them in action on Tableau Public: Mandala, Squid Game, Tim Burton, Food Emissions)
PD: You mentioned using Tableau in your personal life. Do you shop for groceries with a real-time dashboard showing the level of milk and kid’s snacks in your pantry?
JM: I’ve done some planning type stuff. A list of food I know we have on hand and potential recipes we could make with those ingredients.
BM: We did a birth announcement in Tableau! It was the first viz I ever worked on, but Jacqui did most of the actual work. If we could do it again today it’d probably look a lot nicer. But as Jacqui mentioned, it really is important to show people we didn’t start out knowing everything. It’s important to always be learning. It makes the community a better, more engaging place.
If you are interested in learning more about Brian and Jacqui's work, you can check them out on Tableau Public (Brian | Jacqui), Twitter (Brian | Jacqui), or right here where we re-post their Do Mo(o)re with Data Series. They've just wrapped up their three-part series about utilizing curves in Tableau - check it out!