The Hidden Gems

Today, I will not be sharing a “how to” or anything else I did myself but I thought it might be time to shine (an additional) light on some great people that I consider the “hidden gems”,

Here is a list of names and their blogs I believe deserve (even) more recognition for what they provide. You will not find any of the “big names” here as I think the likes of Andy Kriebel, the Flerlage Twins, Klaus Schulte, Rosario Gauna, Jim Dehner and so many more are so well known within every corner of the community that they basically go hand in hand with Tableau as a product.

Preface

This list is purely personal. I sure as hell will have overlooked people and I will add people whenever I remember them (and probably slap myself for overlooking them in the first place). The only condition for being on this list is that the content provided is great and at the same time I (again, personal judgement) perceive these people as being rather on the calm side of life, i.e. not hyping about everything they do.

Another caveat: I am not big on social media (in fact, I think it is a possibly great invention gone horribly wrong in most instances) so maybe my perception is biased and some of the people I consider “calm” are in fact super active just on other mediums such as Twitter/X?

My list of people you should know (and Probably don’t)

Chris Geatch

We are starting of hot with Chris who posts on Medium. https://medium.com/@TableauByChris

Several of his works revolve around using relationships to mitigate the often encountered problems with measure names and measure values. But there is much more so go check it out.

Steve Wood

From the mythic lands of Middle Earth, Steve writes on his blog Bitfern.co.nz, recently with a lot of focus on Tableau Prep. My personal favorite: using LODs to do a lookup!

Johan de Groot

Not in Middle Earth but in the lovely Netherlands, Johan’s work can be found on Antichaos.nl. He provides tips and tricks but also showcases cool dashboard ideas.

Heidi Kalbe

Honestly, I wasn’t really sure if Heidi matches my own criterias for this list as she is quite visible (a clear must for a public ambassador) but she got a bonus on my end since her blog was one of the first I encountered when I really started using Tableau. Sadly, Heidi has stopped providing new content on her blog https://queenofdata.net/ in Mid 2022 but there is still cool stuff to be found there (and she keeps providing tips and tricks during TCs).

Steve Martin

Steve will forever have a special place in my “people to remember” mental map since he was answering my very first question I posted on the Tableau Forums back in 2019.

But besides his unexpected mentorship he provided to me, he is also providing lots of cool stuff for everyone on his datawonders blog. Its rich in almost everything so make sure to check it out! For example, did you know about all the things you can change in the preferences.tps? I sure didn’t. But Steve does! And now you can too.

Yuri Fal

I have named Yuri the “silent force” in my 2021 Ambassador Spotlight and if you go check out his blog on https://yurifal.com/ you will see why. It is only a post every now and then but notice for example his hierarchy drill down already back in 2020.

Matthias Giger

Matthias has a passion for IBCS (International Business Communication Standards) and as such, you will find a lot about this and related topics such as communication theory on his blog https://designindata.com/. Go check it out for insights into areas that you may miss if you only focus on fancy charts and technical solutions to challenges.

Brian and Jacqui Moore

Brian and Jacqui Moore are both Visionaries and as such, should they really make the list? Well, YES. Simply because they put out a lot of great stuff and at the same time – since this is a personal list – they made it onto this list because I never really got to notice them before I discovered their blog at domo(o)rewithdata. So, feel free to blame it on my lack of knowing the tableau gurus inside out but the point is: they deliver amazing content and maybe, just maybe, they weren’t on your list either?

Alexander Mou

Another visionary, another “should he be on the list?” question. And again, the answer is yes. Alexander has been a Visionary / Zen Master multiple times and is constantly delivering but from my perspective, he is one of the lesser known visionaries. Find out why I put him on this list by reading his blog at Vizible Difference.

Joon Kim and Don Wise

Fellow Ambassadors Joon Kim and Don Wise put out a lot of cool content directly on the Tableau Blogs and Don even is a special guest on the Flerlage Twins blog. Way to go! You can find their works directly in the community blogs where Don focusses a lot on spatial related issues whilst Joon provides some of the most detailed deep dives that are out there.

And that concludes my list for today.

Again, this is not an exhaustive list, it is not meant to disrespect people not on the list but to the contrary, highlight people that I feel should be noticed more.

If you find some of the names new to you, then this blog posts aim has been achieved in full.

And that’s it for today.

I hope you found that useful.

Until next time.

Steffen