Personal Analytics Dashboard

Project Features

Overview

One of my New Year’s goals was simple; enhance my data knowledge. To achieve this goal, I plan to read a blog post a day in Data Analysis, Data Visualization, or Data Science, take four of online classes, and read a ten books. Another goal was to explore and start to use Tableau. As I was learning Tableau, I challenged myself to make a dashboard. Instead of using a generic data set, I decided to combine my goals to create a Learning KPI Dashboard.

Details

Foundation

If I break my goals down to bite-sized bits, each step gets done. Collectively the bits add up to something extraordinary Collectively the bits add up to something extraordinary – my dreams becoming real.

Many years ago, I was listening to a talk by Tom Peters. He suggested every year; you pick the items you want to add to your resume. Every year you’d be better than the year before. His thought was the skills that got you your current position would not get you your next one or help you keep the one you had. Since then, every year, I decided to pick one new thing to learn or improve.

Then adding in lessons from Ziggy Ziegler and Seth Godin, I’ve learned the magic of 10-minute done daily towards a goal adds up. Adding in the measurement step from Peter Drucker’s quote creates magic – the work gets done, little actions create significant outcomes.

Why Data 

I’ve always been interested in data analysis, data science, and data visualization. Data warms my scientist’s heart. For this New Year’s goal, I wanted to enhance my knowledge in Data Visualization. I set out with a simple goal of reading a blog post every day on the topic, taking four formal online classes, and reading ten books to grow my knowledge and explore various software packages.

Tableau

In exploring Tableau Software, one of the bonus features was the ability to customize and segment my goals. For example, I could define some plans to be 100% in June; others could reach that point in December. Each then has its progress percent adjusted accordingly.

Tableau software is a great tool that can support small, simple projects to larger, more involved projects. It allows a user to create professional-looking Data Visualizations that can be automatically updated and add user interactions.

Updating the spreadsheet every day was challenging to maintain. In the future, I would design KPI that did not require that level of maintenance or find another way to bring in daily information.

Outcomes

Dashboard

I love how the dashboard looks. It allows me to see where I am, sees if I’m on track and where I need to focus. I can check my progress and understand what drives my improvement. It also shows me where I need to focus and what I need to improve. I became more familiar with Tableau and the visual impact of using different chart times.  

Data Collection

One problem with the dashboard design is it required me to update every blog article I read. My goal was one article per day; some days, I read more. I found many times I read on the fly using my phone while waiting in a client’s lobby. These items were missing from the data. At home, I kept my goal spreadsheet up on my computer all the time so that I could update it. I couldn’t capture the information when not at home easily. One way I tried to solve the missing data problem is by texting myself articles I read. Then once a week, update the spreadsheet. This procedure became a rate-limiting step. I consider the data collection process for all future dashboards before defining KPI and features. Though the dashboard was useful, the time maintenance to feed the data into the system inhibited its usefulness.

Next Step

My goal to explore and understand Tableau was a success. I developed a functional understanding of Tableau. Because of this dashboard design, I have met and exceeded my Tableau learning goals. I enjoyed the process of using Tableau and its ability to create professional-looking visualization. I will continue to work with Tableau and improve my skill sets.