Sarah Carr: How the Feedback Loop Helped Me Do More with Tableau
Many thanks to guest author Sarah Carr for sharing her experience participating in the Feedback Loop.
As a “part-time Tableau user,” I wasn’t sure where to start with learning Tableau. That started to change in 2020 when I started to attend virtual user group meetings. That’s where I learned about a new mentoring program, and how I met my amazing mentor Michelle Frayman. Michelle encouraged me to join Twitter and all of the community participation happening there. Twitter became a great way to start participating in community projects, such as Makeover Monday and Back2VizBasics.
I noticed more advanced Tableau users publishing impressive complex dashboards, many that told personal stories. For a while, this kind of project seemed off-limits for a beginner like me. Did I have the right skill set? And what story would I tell?
These questions were on my mind at the start of 2022. I was looking for new projects and challenges to kick off the new year. Offline, I decided to cook all 138 of the recipes in the cookbook Start Simple by Lukas Volger. I thought it would be a good way to try new things and commit to using a great cookbook.
Around the same time, I came across the Feedback Loop community project on Twitter. It was more long-term and open-ended than other projects I had participated in. This made it a step outside of my comfort zone. But I thought, why not me? Why couldn’t I apply my skill set and tell my own story? From there, I decided to visualize my cookbook project progress and share the project with the Feedback Loop.
And friends, what a great choice it was. The Feedback Loop consists of a small group of Tableau users who work through three phases: creating a dataviz, giving feedback on each other’s vizzes, and incorporating the feedback into a revised viz. Each of these steps was valuable.
Creating a dataviz - This step of the process had both the structure and flexibility I needed. Facilitators Michelle Frayman and Nicole Klassen provided clear instructions via email and Slack. You could also submit a previously created viz. They also extended the timeline so that participants could have time for this and creating a submission for IronViz if they wanted.
Here’s the first draft of my dataviz:
Giving feedback: Each participant provides feedback using a structured rubric of open-ended questions. The rubric focuses on aesthetics - how the dataviz makes you feel, what interacting with the viz is like. I’m not used to giving feedback, but these questions helped me reflect on my experience using the viz. My cohort had varying levels of experience, but each of us could contribute using this rubric.
Implementing feedback: Oof, this took longer than I planned. Life got busy, and it was hard to let go of the first version. But the more I read over the feedback, the more I saw common themes in what was and wasn’t working. The feedback helped me make the viz more personal and connected to my Tableau journey.
I’m grateful to the Feedback Loop for helping me grow both as a data storyteller and contributor to the Tableau community. I encourage Tableau learners at all levels to give the Feedback Loop a try. The summer cohort is already underway, and there will be another chance this fall. If you’re not sure if you’re ready, ask yourself: Why not me?
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By day, Sarah Carr (@SarahCarrPhD) is a Senior Selection and Assessment Specialist in the Bureau of Merit Recruitment and Selection for the Wisconsin state government. By night, Sarah is an active participant in several Tableau community projects, including Back 2 Viz Basics (#B2VB) and #WorkoutWednesday.
Sarah earned her PhD in Social and Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Northern Illinois University in 2015. She holds an MA and a BA in Psychology from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. She lives in Madison, WI.
