1. Excel-lent Graphics

Data Chatter

When we read or talk about “data science”, most of the talk is around modelling - the maths behind it, the “cool” modelling techniques, what kind of CPUs or GPUs are required, and all that. What we normally talk less about is how data science interacts with business.

In this inaugural episode of Data Chatter, I talk to S Anand, co-founder and CEO of Gramener, about this so-called “interaction layer”. Our conversation is almost completely focussed on two such interfaces - Microsoft Excel, and data visualisation. We talk about various aspects of what it takes to communicate data to business, and pros and cons of different tools.

Anand is a co-founder of Gramener, a data science company. He leads a team that automates insights from data and narrates these as visual data stories. He is recognized as one of India's top 10 data scientists, and is a regular TEDx speaker.

Show Notes:

00:03:40 - On how Anand was “always a data guy”
00:12:01 - Anand’s first tryst automated infographics
00:15:30 - What visualisations work best for whom?
00:22:00 - Visual Basic and Python
00:27:15 - “Gymnastics in Excel”
00:32:00 - Creating choropleths using Excel
00:41:20 - Google Sheets
00:45:30 - Business Intelligence Tools, such as Tableau, Power BI, etc.
00:52:09 - Pie charts

Links:

Gramener: https://gramener.com
Anand’s website: http://www.s-anand.net
Tufte’s seminal book: https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

Data Chatter is a podcast on all things data. It is a series of conversations with experts and industry leaders in data, and each week we aim to unpack a different compartment of the "data suitcase".
The podcast is hosted by Karthik Shashidhar. He is a blogger, newspaper columnist, book author and a former data and strategy consultant. Karthik currently heads Analytics and Business Intelligence for Delhivery, one of India’s largest logistics companies.
You can follow him on twitter at @karthiks, and read his blog at noenthuda.com/blog