Exploratory Analysis with SQL & Python

Hex has evolved its data analysis capabilities by enabling engineering, product, and design teams to explore their own data using Hex. This initiative aims to empower non-data teams to answer their own questions, measure feature performance, investigate incidents, and find information without solely relying on the central data team. The adoption of Hex has led to increased productivity, creative use cases, and improved knowledge sharing, while maintaining data governance through AI agents that can write SQL or Python. This post details how AllTrails leverages Hex for exploratory analysis, data validation, and building internal web apps, replacing a previous workflow involving CSVs, SQL files, Google Docs/Sheets, and Jupyter notebooks. Hex's integration with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Google Dataform allows for SQL and Python-based analysis directly from their data warehouse (BigQuery). Features like query caching, dynamic markdown, and auto-rerun simplify the analysis and sharing process. Published apps allow for tailored views for stakeholders.