Last week we had our first client project at DS5. In total there are going to be eight client projects during our training time, so everyone will have a chance to show their leadership skills and be a project leader.
I volunteered to be the first project leader, and while it was hard to be first, it was also an excellent learning opportunity. For me the week went like a rollercoaster, as I was going from being stressed and slightly panicked on Monday to being really proud of the team on Friday.
The goal of the project was quite straightforward: to investigate one particular insight into the client’s data. The dataset had around 13 million rows but not many measures and dimensions, and it also needed some data cleanup and few unions.
We didn’t have a specific number of dashboards to deliver for this project, and after doing a few iterations in Alteryx, the main client’s question was answered in one dashboard. Due to the data being in a relatively good state, we were able to focus on exploring the data further and provide additional insights and some context. At the end of the week the client received five Tableau dashboards along with the Alteryx workflow.
The client was very pleased with our work, or if I may quote “really blown away”. I am extremely happy, that as a team, we were able to achieve such positive feedback during our very first project.
It is always good to reflect on the experience, and to document what worked well and what didn’t work well, as there are so many things that can be improved in the future.
What worked well for the team:
- Daily scrum sessions
- Asking each other for feedback
- Keeping the deadlines
- Supporting each other during presentation
What could be improved from the project leader experience:
- Breaking down tasks into smaller chunks
- Assigning time slots and deadlines for each task
- Voicing all expectations explicitly
- Sharing positive feedback more
