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Tableau, still not boring

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Here’s one reason I’ve always liked Tableau, and still do even as it enters a mother ship’s cold embrace. An email pitch from Tableau this week:

Music is a global unifier—connecting us from afar and strengthening relationships closer to home. Within every note is a larger story, sparking conversations and creating memories.

But, what if … we could uncover more of these stories?

It’s personal, therefore more meaningful than the tired old promises so many other data vendors keep recycling. This pitch isn’t boring.

And so I forgive them for overusing “story,” the magic word these days.

Homeless? There’s an app for that

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If any app gets just 15 minutes of fame out of the box, isn’t marketing critical? It seems obvious to me that those who offer an app would rank marketing up there with programming — especially when the app’s produced by a low-budget, volunteer-run civic-tech group.

But among some civic tech groups, it’s programming first and last. That’s what one recently retired CTO and former engineering instructor at San Francisco State University has found.

Edy Ortiz Aragon has been shopping for an interesting volunteer role, and he’ll be a prize for any group that snags him. (I have obscured identities to protect the well intentioned.)… Read the rest “Homeless? There’s an app for that”

Slack

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Here’s a thought from Seth Godin, who thinks and writes about systems, for advocates of “data driven” systems, such as smart cities.

Systems with slack are more resilient. … One thunderstorm can cripple the air traffic system for six major cities, because each plane is stacked so efficiently that the ripple cascades, leading to failure and cancellations. In the old days, when efficiency was measured over a longer term, there was enough buffer to absorb a bump like that…. The mistake happens when we over-index on the easily measured short-term wins and forget to account for the costs of system failure.

… Read the rest “Slack”