Resistance to change

Today, I’d like to talk a little less about dataviz theory and a little more about... human behaviour.

I’ve been working in the data field for over 10 years now. That feels long enough to share a few regrets, and maybe help you avoid making the same mistakes.

A few memories

When I started as a data analyst in academia, I used to write (a lot of) messy scripts, email them to my supervisor, and ended up with files like script_2_final_reviewed.R. 😕

A senior researcher told me to use GitHub about 100 times: the obvious solution. I ignored him for 5 years. Today I use GitHub every single day and could not survive without it.

A few years later I was making a bit of money with my dataviz websites through advertisement. I put off switching ad providers for 2 years against several specialist advices. When I finally did it, 30 minutes of work multiplied my income by 4. 😱

In the meantime I spent nights fighting with Shiny apps that were slow as hell. One day my supervisor gave me the green light to learn D3, and I realised how much I’d been working in the dark.

More recently, like millions of others, I discovered ChatGPT and was convinced it was the last piece of tech I’d ever need. It took me 9 months to finally try agentic coding (with Claude Code). The day I did, I left chat interfaces for good and increased my productivity by 10.

The pattern

I could go on for a long time. WordPress. TypeScript. R Markdown. Quarto. React. ggiraph... And so many many more.

Every time, it took me forever to adopt the new tool or let go of the old one. It cost me money, it lowered the quality of my work, and most of all, it wasted a lot of my time.

I know why it happens. Each time I spot a tool that could help, I struggle to find room in my calendar to learn it. Daily life is so full of urgent things that long-term goals keep getting pushed aside.

I’m pretty sure you know the feeling.

Still guilty

Last week, a former colleague came over and showed me bise, the new AI harness he’s been working on. It looks next level!

Yet I still haven’t found time to try it. As usual, other things took priority… like writing this little weekly issue or dealing with a kid + a new born. 😅

(btw, you can read all issues here, and even share them with a friend :) )

I’m pretty sure you often find yourself in the same spot. At least, I hope I’m not alone in this boat!

So I wanted to share this habit and the regrets that come with it, so we can use it as a chance to fix it together.

Here’s my promise: I’ll give bise a proper try this month!

Yours?

Take a minute. Think hard about one thing worth learning or improving. Then promise yourself you’ll do it in November. Just 3 hours of your time could pay off for months, even years.

And since you’ve read this far: drop me an email and tell me what it is. I’m genuinely curious, and it’ll make you accountable without you even noticing 😉

PS: no idea? Then learn the basics of GitHub, try agentic AI or browse my dataviz caveats.

Have a wonderful day!
Yan