In this interview, data visualization specialist and Dedicated founder Kate Strachnyi recounts her entry into data work in 2014 when a former employer introduced her to Tableau, sparking a lasting passion for visual analytics. She reflects on the vibrant Tableau community, the free Tableau Public platform, and the strategic advantage of Tableau’s integration into the Salesforce ecosystem, including security, governance, and the emerging OpenMCP server that supports agents like Claude and ChatGPT. Kate discusses the transformative impact of agentic AI on analytics—shifting from lengthy dashboard builds to rapid, conversational insights that can also trigger actions. She argues that analyst roles are evolving into “knowledge architects” who must blend traditional data preparation with AI collaboration, rather than being displaced. Regarding data literacy, she believes AI assistants lower technical barriers but emphasize the continued need for human interpretation of data meaning. Finally, Kate offers career advice: cultivate personal branding early, share work publicly, and leverage unique perspectives to stand out, encouraging data professionals to engage with the community and adopt AI tools as partners.
Chapters
Let's welcome data expert Kate Strachny. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me here.
This is a big moment for me. I've been a big fan since I started Tableau 11 years ago, which might be when you started your Tableau journey.
Around 2014 was the start of my whole data journey.
So we're 11 years in, talked about how it started, and then also your first Tableau Conference. I want to hear how it's going.
I'm so glad to be here finally after all these years. And it's just been like a dream, right? We started with the keynotes. So much energy. When we see the word data fam, I think Tableau truly is a data fam. It's such a good community, great experience. The showroom floor is just so much energy, so much excitement, so many great announcements. Yeah. So definitely having the time of my life here.
And then, so talk to me about your first time that you interacted with Tableau. I would love to hear that story.
Okay, so it started with me wanting a, a work from home gig way pre-COVID. 12 years ago. Yeah. And the company I worked for handed me a tool called Tableau. You might be familiar with it. And they gave me a bunch of data and they said, Kate, here, data visualization. And I'm like, okay, knowing nothing about data at all. I was in risk management, regulatory compliance, and banking. So it was truly love at first sight. Tableau is the reason that I am here, like in the whole data community. So I fell in love with the whole visual aspect, the ease of the drag and drop, which I know it's still available today, plus a lot more. Yeah. So that's, that's really how it all started. And I started posting on social media about my journey of studying for the Tableau certification and that the community was so helpful. It was just the start of it all.
I mean, I love your background because you've studied literally data scientists and we're in an incredibly disruptive moment when it comes to analytics right now. What are you seeing in the space right now when it comes to analytics and what's your feedback you'd provide to the Data Fam right now?
Yeah, I think this is going to be the biggest change that data analysts, data scientists live through, right? Everything is changing, but the roles, I would say, are not really going away. So they're transforming, they're evolving. And the biggest change is we're no longer driving everybody to a dashboard that we spend weeks or months trying to build. We're now getting quicker to answers. We're not only getting answers and insights that help us drive decisions, but the agents are helping us take action. So all of this is just very new. So like I, I was telling you earlier, if I, I started data visualization in 2014 and I did that for about 5, 6 years, then sort of took on the whole media career and influencer marketing. But now coming back and watching the keynote, it's like somebody woke me up years later like, hey, this is the future. You're living in it now. Look at what we can do in data visualization. And some of those demos in the keynote are just unreal. Like you can take a sketch and you can take a picture of it and you can connect things to Claude and you can upload it and it'll build it for you. And you could talk to agents while you're doing that. I wish that was around in 2014.
It's here now. Yes, it's here now. And so when you think about the amount of technologies that are out there, agentic BI tools, from your perspective, I mean, what's Tableau's perspective on why we might stand above the rest?
You know, well, I mean, aside from my first love of Tableau being my entry point to data, I think Tableau's main thing that they did right is building that community, right? Having something like Tableau Public where other companies might have said, oh, we need $10 or $20 a month. You gave this away for free to students who, for people who wanted to get into data visualization or data storytelling or just understanding their own data. I think that was really helpful. And then the acquisition of, you know, Tableau by Salesforce, being under that umbrella with Agentforce and all the security and governance that is built with that and the Data360. I think being part of that whole ecosystem is what's really helping Tableau right now.
I think it's important to remind people Tableau Desktop, we have a free edition for the technology. They can go out and they can start their journey right now.
Yeah.
In a lot of conversations, there is a lot of anxiety in terms of the analyst's role.
Yeah.
What, again, advice would you go ahead and give them as you think about this next chapter, this next step, the first thing that these analysts can do to differentiate them but continue to feel confident in this path forward?
You know, and I love how Tableau calls them knowledge architects now, right? So you're a data analyst, your responsibility was to get the right data, to clean it, to prep it, to visualize it. I think that's still a part of the job, and I think dashboards are not fully going away. There's still going to be a need for that. So continue doing that, but at the same time, don't get stuck in your role. Don't think that, you know, things are not going to change. Embrace the change. Make sure you become friends with agents, right? They're here to work with you, not against you. So use that to your advantage and just keep learning about everything that is happening and changing. And I know Tableau, you guys announced the OpenMCP server where now you can use Claude and ChatGPT and others. So being part of that ecosystem that helps you grow and not like doesn't have vendor lock-in where you're only gonna use this chatbot and, or our chatbot, like letting that ecosystem be around you. So be, use the right tools as well.
Yeah. You know, you know, and I, and I love kind of in, in, in just being an avid follower of what you put out there. It's not just about the technology, it's about seeing and understanding data, right? The Colorwise book that was put out there in terms of data literacy. What's your perspective on how this agentic experience is going to impact things as simple as color and visualizations? What's your perspective on that?
You know, data literacy used to be such a hot topic. I think it still is, to a part, but people were always struggling. Which chart do I use? How do I show this data the best way? And that was my obsession. It was like visual best practices, the proper use of color, making sure everything looks great. And there's, you know, a really good way to tell this specific story. And I think now with agentic AI, it's getting easier because now you're removing that technical part of, yeah, the drag and drop was easy enough, but some people were even afraid to do that. They're like, what if I break it? You know, or give me my spreadsheet. Now those individuals can actually have access to that data via a chatbot or an agent where they can ask those questions. So I don't think data literacy is going to be as big of an issue. Obviously you still need to understand the underlying data. Yeah. And I think that would be the advice to the data analyst is make sure that you're still on top of what that data means and that you can be sort of the interpreter between the tech side and the business side. They'll still need handholding even though it's easy. You'll still, you'll still be needed.
One of the things that, you know, I followed you is just your, your social media presence, the ability to tell a story. We have a lot of people that are heads down in workbooks right now. They have a lot of things to share. They don't want to necessarily maybe be— they want to differentiate themselves. What's your advice to them considering the career that you've built and really the following that you have?
Yeah, I think personal branding is always important, and I think build it before you need it, right? A lot of people start maybe posting on LinkedIn or YouTube and sharing what skills they have when they're either looking for a job or looking to transition to a new role. I think it's important to pick your head up from being heads down and start sharing what you're working on. Obviously, make sure you're not breaking any company rules, but share your story, share your journey, And to those people who are out there that say, well, I don't have anything new to say, everything's been said, because I do get that pushback a lot, like, oh, what do I know? I'm just like my second year on the job. You know a lot more than you think, and your unique perspective is going to help others who are on that journey. So go ahead and take a screenshot right now. I love it. Make a first post, tag me, tag Ed, and we'll engage there as well.
It's the start right now. You're doing well. Thank you so much. Founder of Dedicated, thank you so much for being here with us. We're incredibly grateful and really appreciate all your insight.
