I drafted this article as a discussion I could have had with someone, or just with myself indeed. Initially, it was supposed to be about how to become better at playing golf using Qlik. It will be the next part of this series because before we start a Qlik project, we must ask ourselves: Why.

Why better?

Why do you use Qlik (or any BI software, actually)?

I started my career as a financial controller after studying finance and management at school. My ultimate internship project was to produce an Excel dashboard and finally migrate it to QlikView.

But introducing Qlik was not just to provide beautiful designs. We wanted to do things Better.

Better at an Enterprise level

When I got started with my first projects, I felt astonished by the unlimited power I found in Qlik and how Qlik handles Data. Any data from any data source. I could understand it and analyze it without having a technical background!

Plug & Plays on existing Data warehouses and easy to connect and transform data also directly from the software’s own databases.

With Qlik Sense, you have all the tools to manage and deploy apps to many users with performance and scalability. I don’t want to go further on these technical or governance possibilities now. Most of the time, you have to stay with the basics, and you have a best in class platform to welcome your dashboard.

Does that help in making things better? Indeed, but for what purpose?

Better at what?

Let’s go back to my original question :

Why, as an enterprise, a manager, a seller, an individual, [… fill with anything else] do you use Qlik?

As a Qlik guy, even for a long time now, I still find new ways to improve people’s experience with Data. In the business area, you want to make your colleagues more efficient.

This means making better decisions, find better insights, better communication, and collaborating.

But why?

To have their work done, and well done?

Which means?

Make their life more comfortable, reach their objectives. Be Better

Bonus: Make their boss happy?

Better on Qlik?

Let’s apply it to you and me, Qlik developer/consultant/manager/lover.

Technical things are important. Sure we continuously need to learn about data modeling, performance tuning, scripting. I love it!

But most people don’t really care about it. They want it to work. Full stop.

  • “Hey, I divided the reload time of your manufacturing app by 3.”
  • “Ok, great. But what about the pie chart and export tables I’ve been asking for two weeks?”
  • 😓

Data and design skills are critical, but in the end, people want us to help them get better. I think I’m getting better when someone else improves himself.

We are like business facilitators, problem solvers, solution providers.

And that’s Why people use Qlik, not because it is beautiful and powerful (maybe a little too, ok!)

You’d better ask: why?

When a project starts, the business user often brings their KPIs, mockup designs, and all analysis they ever could have imagined.

The temptation is big to take do all, start developing it to build exactly what they asked. But are you sure it is what the users actually need?

In this case, I often try to invite a pivotal user to have lunch or a coffee and chat about his job. Passionate people love to talk about what they do. Challenges they had in the past or coming. Tips and tricks that make their industry sector unique. They will appreciate you for getting interested. And later, they will trust you so that you can provide advice from your experience.

How? Just ask why!

By doing it, I sometimes feel like my three-year-old boy. Just don’t ask why it’s five o’clock when it’s five o’clock.

In the end, remember that we don’t display figures or charts. We help people answer questions. Better with Qlik? The next question.

Better for me to finish now and start again next time

This moment of meeting and getting to know each other before you start doing what you think is your core job – building apps – is crucial for the following steps. It helps build your authority as not just a maker but an advisor.

In a few words, listen and understand. Then bring your value from your experience and creativity. Take responsibility. Produce more than they want, build what they need.

Do it all better. With Qlik 😉

Do you have any tips for the project’s early stages? Please, share in the comments.

It’s my second article and the second time without any Qlik technical stuff. I’ll fix it in the following part of the series, so stay tuned!