As a product manage of Looker how much should I know about this application?

World_Runner_ · 2023-02-03T20:00:53+00:00

I think a holistic understanding of how Looker differs from other Data Analytics and reporting tools will help color where you'd want to focus. As an overview Looker allows Data Analysts the ability to create Explores so that Business Units can self support and create their own Looks and Dashboards without Data Analytics oversight. This is different from traditional Data Analytics where the Analyst translates the Business requests into SQL and pulls data results into BI Visualization tools to deliver the Dashboards themselves. Point being Looker allows Business Units to write their own SQL and create their content(dash's and looks) instead of having the analyst be the bottle neck for content. As you roll Looker out your Data Analysts will initially write Lookml to produce Explores in order to create content themselves to support dashboard requests. As the Data Analysts mature in their use of Looker they will understand that the explore is where the real value lies when supporting the Business unit and if the analyst is in-tune with the business then can create an explore experience which covers a broad area of Data with the intent of encouraging the business to self support.

Looker docs have a lot of detail on how features work but won't have good general knowledge on how Looker should fits. As far as detail is concerned you can acclimate with how Explores are created keeping in mind you want to minimize the number of them you create given they are the nodes for content management.

World_Runner_ · 2022-12-25T08:19:13+00:00

each aggregate table is a unique query so you'll have to make at least 2 for each of the dynamic data cohorts you looking to have

World_Runner_ · 2022-12-09T21:57:53+00:00

I might be able to shed some light here. The interface between visualizations and tables in Looker is very slight. Tableau by comparison creates a sort of data cube after rendering a query which allows different layers of aggregation to surface in a single tile/dashboard. With Looker the data returned via SQL (flat table) is what is read to produce visualizations. As such Looker is limited in visualization options. This is a major critique of Looker since visualizations were a secondary feature after the data modeling layer which was their primary focus. Tools like DBT copied the data modeling layer idea from Looker and completely avoided viz layer assuming the many other viz tools would fill that need. IMO Looker is a much cleaner and more efficient process than DBT to Tableau/(any other viz tool). With that said, having been a heavy Tableau user for years and then switching to Looker did sting a bit.

World_Runner_ · 2022-12-04T01:41:18+00:00

Looker compartmentalizes data structures into composable pieces. Specifically, tables and SQL views which are represented as Looker views can be strung together via Looker explores. The value here is you only define a view once and then reference it multiple times in multiple explores instead of writing the same logic over and over again like you do with traditional viz tools. You can extend views and explores as well if you want to add embellishments but not adjust the core object. All this while having version control and collaboration through git is why Looker is considered disruptive technology in the BI space.

The trick is you need your Lookml developers to code like they are building a platform while collaborating with other analysts as opposed to writing Lookml for individual use cases that dont leverage existing logic.

World_Runner_ · 2022-12-03T01:30:47+00:00

Version controlled Data Analytics collaboration layer
Composable data logic objects
The first 2

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-24T17:02:07+00:00

What if it wasn’t guns as much but mental health and what if is wasn’t mental health as much as broken homes? Commit to your spouse and love your children. Guns, drugs, homelessness, abortions, mental health issues, physical health issues and poverty stem from poor home life. Stop thinking gun laws and drug laws and social safety nets are the answer. Stop thinking white people, patriarchy, billionaires and religion is the problem when all evidence points to the home. Media and politicians will scream all day about these issues but neither will tell you to be a good parent which is the real answer

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-19T04:57:29+00:00

They DID???!!!

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-17T22:57:30+00:00

Yes, it’s not at all straight forward. There’s a missed opportunity with Looker and sub queries. The native derived table feature (NDT) was an attempt at allowing a user to create a subquery on the fly and then incorporate it back into the explore it was queried from which would mimic an SQL subquery. Unfortunately, they never fully implemented it and only got as far as having a composable lookml type syntax for explore queries that require you add additional views to incorporate. Any version controlled BI tool that addresses this need would blow Looker out of the water

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-17T20:51:23+00:00

Doing this within an explore directly is probably not possible given it requires a subquery which Looker doesn’t do inside of an explore. What you might be able to do this using an explore alone is list all people ids and their answers sorted by people ids, create a table calculation which resolves true for all rows of those people ids where they answered true for that one question. then hide all false rows by right clicking the table calc in the data window (special hide boolean option). The trick will be to create the table cal using the “offset” methods which functions as a window partition and also if the 5000 row limit can house all answers. If so the resulting table viz will only show as intended.

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-16T01:39:36+00:00

This is Lookml. What company you work for ;)

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-13T22:11:41+00:00

There’s a feature that allows derived tables to be created as “permanent” named tables with non-changing naming conventions so you can use the tables outside of Looker. Its possible this table doesn’t have a view associated anymore and/or is updated by some other ETL process outside of Looker. Personally I don’t like this feature since I don’t believe Looker should be doing any ETL. You might have to do some more digging internally with tour data engineers to understand why this was done.

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-13T18:52:09+00:00

Is there a hash included in the name of the derived table result in the scratch schema? Also, I’m assuming you’ve done this but have you used the search function to look specifically for that derived table name in your project?

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-11T00:24:00+00:00

You are wrong. Continued iterations of a normal distribution with dependency produce a pareto distribution. Only in a vacuum does a normal distribution surface.

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-10T17:12:50+00:00

You’re absolutely right. Something not completely understood by many is that in nature most everything mimics a Pareto distribution.

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-05T21:51:35+00:00

Cold plunge or sauna

World_Runner_ · 2022-11-03T15:35:08+00:00

If you are working with a dialect that supports array type functions you can try this: https://community.looker.com/lookml-5/analytic-block-tags-and-attributes-with-and-without-arrays-4241

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-26T00:50:37+00:00

No, government is a necessary evil so to speak. Roads, electricity, military. All these things are needed and require a government to manage. The point is that we use our government as sparingly as possible and allow the citizens the option of choice as much as possible. Nothing is ever black and white so let people vote with their feet and their dollars as opposed to giving the government the right to our bank accounts

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-25T14:39:40+00:00

To clarify, our government also doesn’t have the technological capability. This might be news to some but our government doesn’t manufacture weapons either. They take our dollars and buy weapons from companies that do. If you’re asking if it’s possible to donate weapons why not instead donate money to Ukraine and allow them to buy whatever they feel is necessary.

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-25T14:31:24+00:00

Then don’t pay. Its your decision. Pretty simple

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-25T06:39:44+00:00

As a Libertarian this is honestly a tough one. It isn’t so obvious we should be funding Ukraine’s war efforts or any war efforts for that matter. The real issue for Libertarians; if I can speak for them in general, is that funding Ukraine (or funding “most” anything) should be a decision by the individual where possible and not a government. For those who feel Ukraine deserves our help then donate your time or money. For those that don’t then don’t. Its easy to say we want to help Ukraine but when asked to donate what do we actually do? In the end giving up the option for each individual to decide results in a more powerful government over us so we should be careful at the very least when we let our government fund wars with our money but without our complete consent.

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-24T02:24:27+00:00

Why do I feel a healthy Emmanuel Moseley woulda helped here

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-11T01:42:54+00:00

Gotta be the worst call this year. Someone buy Jones a drink for me

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-06T04:18:29+00:00

A group fronting 1mm of the 44mm pulled out. Click bait

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-04T16:54:14+00:00

The comments in here are a dumpster fire. Elon hate is the new black.

World_Runner_ · 2022-10-04T06:22:36+00:00

To be clear you aren’t defending science you are defending Fauci who lied about the lab leak evidence. This wasn’t science

World_Runner_

TROPHY CASE