DELEGATING DEVELOPMENT TASKS: A BEGINEER'S GUIDE

Delegating a development task to someone in your team who has familiarity of the tool can free up your time to focus on higher-priority responsibilities or tasks that require your unique skills. Even if a development task can be done by you, spreading the workload among team members can help prevent burnout and ensure everyone's skills are utilized effectively. Delegation promotes teamwork and collaboration, allowing team members to learn from each other and develop their skills. Delegating development tasks can be an opportunity for skill development. If a team member is less experienced with development, it can be a chance for them to learn and grow.

Let us say that you need a comprehensive report using data storytelling in Tableau. The goal is to leverage a pre-built dashboard to analyze the company's sales performance and identify trends and insights that can inform future strategies. The development projects you hand off to a team member should come with proper context and a clear tie into the project goals (just like stated above). Remember to provide guidance and support as beginners tackle these tasks. Regular check-ins, feedback, and the opportunity to ask questions are crucial for their growth. As they gain confidence and experience, you can gradually delegate more complex development tasks to help them advance their skills.

Here are the 9 things that should be done to make the delegation of any development task to a beginner – a SUCCESS :

1. Communicate Expectations

Have a detailed discussion with the chosen team member about the task. Ask them to consider this as an opportunity to learn and grow. Afterall, the best way to learn a skill is to work on a demonstratable use-case. Clearly communicate your expectations, including the goals, deadlines, and any specific requirements or guidelines. It eliminates confusion or ambiguity about the task's objectives, scope, and desired outcomes. Ask them to check if they have the access to necessary resources like Data Source and pre-built dashboard in this case.

2. Operational Documentation

It is very important to define the steps that need to be performed by the person who has to work on the development task. This document is also known as Work Instruction (WI) or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in different industries. You should try to be as detailed as possible while defining the steps by adding screenshots wherever required. By clearly articulating your expectations, you align the team member's understanding with your own. This ensures that their work is in sync with your vision and the overall goals of the project or organization.

3. Provide Resources

Depending on the complexity of the task, you may also want to share the video recording of the steps to be performed. A simple method to do this is to start a meeting, share your screen and finally record the steps by turning on the meeting recording. This will save the video recording in the location set in your meetings application. Depending on the types of dashboards involved, you might want to divide the videos into those many numbers as the type of repeatable steps involved. For eg. In the Sales Performance report, you would need to do repeatable tasks for Analyse Sales Trends Dashboard, Customer Segmentation Dashboard, Regional Performance Dashboard and Product Analysis Dashboard which will result in 4 different video tutorials for 4 dashboards. It is imperative to check whether the team member has the access to all the resources. You may need to provide the access of the folder with all the resources or keep the resources in the shared location.

4. Offer Support

It is probable that certain step is not very clear to the team member. They may have questions the answer to which is not clear in the Operational document or the video tutorials. So, at that time you need to listen to the question and explain them the concept. You may also need to revise and update the Operational Document to include the missing concept from the team member point of view who is working to complete the development task. Beginners are more likely to make mistakes or encounter challenges. Offering support can help prevent errors, reducing the need for rework and ensuring a smoother project workflow. Guiding beginners allows you to transfer your expertise and experience to others, ensuring that knowledge is not concentrated in one person and is spread throughout the team.

5. Set Milestones

Break down the task into milestones or checkpoints to track progress. This allows you to monitor the project and ensure it stays on track. Typical milestones for this project is given below:

• Design Data Story (Weeks 1-2):

(1)??? Define the structure and flow of the data story.

(2)??? Select appropriate visualizations and storytelling techniques.

(3)??? Create a wireframe or storyboard of the data story.

• Data Story Development (Weeks 3-6):

(1)??? Build interactive Tableau dashboards and visualizations.

(2)??? Incorporate storytelling elements, such as annotations and captions.

(3)??? Ensure that the data story addresses the project objectives.

• Data Story Review and Feedback (Week 7):

(1)??? Share the initial data story with stakeholders for feedback.

(2)??? Collect and incorporate feedback to improve the data story.

• Finalize Data Story (Week 8):

(1)??? Make any necessary refinements based on feedback.

(2)??? Ensure visualizations are clear and informative.

(3)??? Prepare the data story for presentation.

• Presentation and Insights (Week 9):

(1)??? Deliver the comprehensive data story presentation to stakeholders.

(2)??? Discuss key insights and trends.

(3)??? Address questions and gather additional feedback.

• Documentation and Deployment (Week 10):

(1)??? Document the Tableau workbook, data sources, and methodologies used.

(2)??? Prepare user guides or documentation for future reference.

(3)??? Deploy the data story for ongoing use by the team.

• Post-Implementation Review (Week 11):

(1)??? Evaluate the impact of the data story on decision-making.

(2)??? Identify any areas for improvement in the process.

(3)??? Document lessons learned for future projects.

6. Review and Feedback

It is not suggested to review the work only at the end of the milestone. Infact, in-process inspections can be very effective in providing timely feedback. For ex. During the Data Story development milestone, the team member should be asked to export and share the output of the data story in the middle of the development. This will help to identify any visual feedback that needs immediate attention. After the team member completes the task, review the work together. Provide constructive feedback and acknowledge their efforts. Use this as a learning opportunity if necessary.

7. Ownership and Accountability

While the task is delegated, maintain a level of oversight without micromanaging. The team member should take ownership and be accountable for the task's success. Assign clear ownership of the data story development task to specific team members. This gives them a sense of responsibility for the project's success. Encourage team members to collaborate on problem-solving. When they collectively address challenges, they take collective ownership of finding solutions. Have team members agree on and commit to accountability agreements, outlining their specific responsibilities and deadlines. This creates a formal commitment to the project.

8. Document the Process

Encourage the team member to document their work, especially if it involves creating Tableau dashboards or reports. This documentation can be valuable for future reference or team knowledge sharing. Documenting the process enhances transparency within the team and with stakeholders. Everyone involved can track the project's progress and understand the steps taken to reach the final results. Documentation allows others to reproduce the analysis and data story if needed. This is important for validation, auditing, or further exploration of the data. In case of unexpected issues or challenges, documentation provides a historical record of decisions made and actions taken. This can be valuable for risk assessment and mitigation. In summary, documenting the process of Tableau data story development is essential for knowledge retention, quality assurance, collaboration, transparency, and the overall success and impact of the project.

9. Recognize Achievements

Recognizing the achievements of team members working on a Tableau data story development task is important for motivation, team morale, and fostering a positive work environment. Highlight specific accomplishments and their impact on the project's success. Encourage team members to recognize each other's accomplishments. Peer recognition can be just as meaningful as recognition from leadership. Include recognition of achievements in performance reviews. Discuss how team members' contributions have positively impacted the project and the organization. Send thank-you notes or emails expressing gratitude for a job well done. Personalized messages can be highly motivating.

Simply dumping work onto someone else’s plate isn’t delegating. The person delegating the work should have real clarity of objective. That includes having alignment on “what does good look like” and by what timeline, and “the technique of measuring accomplishment.”

In the context of Development tasks, communicating expectations might involve discussing the specific objectives of a dashboard or report, the data sources to be used, the types of visualizations required, any interactive features, and the intended audience. The more detailed and explicit your communication, the better equipped your team member will be to deliver results that meet your requirements and standards.