Introduction

I have been using Tableau since Feb 2008. I have been reading Tableau-related blog posts by Andy Kriebel for nearly as long as that! 

I have mentioned him previously in my writings as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – My thoughts on Andy Kriebel as a Tableau Blogger.

Andy as been consistently busy helping others learn to use Tableau since August 2009. He has been a machine by churning out over 400 blog posts. He deserves some recognition and thanks from all of us. So from me to you, Andy, I thank you for helping me along my Tableau journey.  Oh yeah, just in case you haven’t heard, Andy’s blog has been hit 1,000,000 times!

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Going Back to the Beginning

Just last week, I did a little work on my blog stats because it is easy to do in Tableau. After blogging for about 1.5 years, I thought it would be good to see how much readership had occurred on my blog. To put things in perspective, let’s have a little friendly competition between me and Andy.

Let’s remember the great show “Kung-Fu”, with the Master and the Grasshopper. For the fun of it, let’s call Andy the Master and Me the Grasshopper.  Will it be possible for me to snatch the pebble from Andy’s hand (go to the 45 second mark)? When will it be time for me to leave? Let the games begin.

When Andy started blogging, he had a big advantage over me. He started in August 2009 and I started in July 2013. Andy’s advantage was that practically nobody else was blogging about Tableau. He potentially had everyone’s attention. He was truly a visionary because he saw the potential for doing this selfless, unpaid work! He was one of the first people willing to put in countless hours, toiling away by writing very interesting blog posts. The disadvantage Andy had was that Tableau didn’t have as many customers as they now have. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, let’s have a look at Andy’s magnificent accomplishment.

What does 1,000,000 Hits Look Like?

Since the two blogs being compared were started at different times, the graphics shown below are set onto a relative time scale of the number of months since blogging began. Figure 2 compares the first 17 months of blogging between the Master and the Grasshopper. By viewing this picture, one might say that the Grasshopper has been doing well in his initial mission. Alas, the story needs to continue…

Figure 2 – Grasshopper vs Master through 17 months of blogging.

Figure 3 shows that the Master took about 7 additional months to achieve the same blog readership compared to the Grasshopper. Again, the Grasshopper is very pleased with his progress.  He thinks he can snatch the pebble from the hand of the Master. But wait, here it comes, drum roll please …

Figure 3 – Grasshopper vs Master through 24 months of blogging.

Figure 4 shows the absolute thrashing that the Master is dishing out to the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper has concluded that is not possible for him to snatch the pebble from the hand of the Master!  The Master is flying his rocketship to the moon whereas the Grasshopper is still creeping along in the grass, looking for his next meal!

Figure 4 – Grasshopper vs Master through 64 months of blogging. The Grasshopper cannot yet snatch the pebble from the Master’s hand!

So thank you Mr Zen Master Andy, for sharing your humor, wisdom, and knowledge with all of us that share a common passion for Tableau software. You have set the bar very high and have shown us what is possible with continued focus, determination and ambition.  Congratulations are in order, and just for the record, you are one of my Tableau superheros!

Update 1 Year Later

Now at 29 months, the grasshopper is maintaining his lead as shown in Figure 5. The grasshopper knows very well, however, that the thrashing is coming in the next couple of months (see Figure 4)!

Figure 5 – The Grasshopper continues to hold his lead over the Master, with 29 months elapsed.

Meanwhile, the Master has added another cool 1M views to his Tableau Blog resume. It took 64 months for the first 1M, and less than 12 M for the next 1M.  That is what I call “getting the job done.”  Congrats to Andy for a magnificent achievement. The man is on a mission.