How I used chat GPT to save me bundles of time and effort
ChatGPT is a technology that has been getting a lot of attention lately. While some people are worried about its potential negative impact, I want to share with you how ChatGPT saved me a lot of time and effort on a recent project at OpenUp.
I was working on a data pipeline project with my team at OpenUp, but we hit a roadblock when we couldn't get the data we needed to test the data dashboard we were designing. We had agreed on the data fields with our project partners during a data workshop, but we couldn't start building the dashboard without any data. We needed to find a way to get the necessary testing data in order to continue with the development of the data dashboard.
I had two options: I could either manually input the data, or come up with a creative solution. That's when I thought of ChatGPT. With ChatGPT, I was able to generate test data quickly and easily. This saved me a lot of time and hassle.
Benefits of using ChatGPT to generate testing data
ChatGPT provides an excellent platform to test various data categories and gain a visual perspective of the project's dashboard's layout. ChatGPT's ability to generate numerous data examples in CSV format is convenient and efficient for testing purposes, and it saves time and resources by eliminating the need to create test data manually. The data can be easily imported into Google Sheets, which is a user-friendly platform we frequently use for testing and analysing data. This way, you can test your dashboard without using real data. You lay the groundwork for real world input. This approach also ensures that sensitive live data remains confidential while allowing developers and researchers to test their systems with realistic data. Google Sheets offers a range of analytical tools that can help you validate your data and test your system.
Step-by-step about how I did this
To use ChatGPT to generate test data, follow these four simple steps:
Step 1: Organise your data categories into a spreadsheet using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.
Step 2: Add this prompt to ChatGPT
“Given the following table information, please generate 20 new lines of test data and format it as a CSV file”
Step 3: Copy and paste your table categories into ChatGPT after the prompt & generate a response.
Step 4: Copy and paste into Notes + Save as .CSV
Step 5: Open the saved .CSV file in Google Sheets or Excel.
Step 6: Clean your new test dataset
Final thoughts
It's important to keep in mind that while Chat GPT was a great solution for generating test data to build a test dashboard, there are of course still limitations. Chat GPT is a language model trained on large datasets, and while it can produce realistic and coherent text, it may not always generate data that accurately reflects the patterns and distributions of real-world data. It's important to use caution when relying on Chat GPT-generated data for user testing or other critical applications.
Nonetheless, for my specific use case of building a test dashboard, Chat GPT was a quick and efficient way to visualise what the dashboard would look like with sample data. If you find yourself in a similar situation, give it a try and see how it can save you time and effort. Remember these kinds of tools are only as valuable as the creative ways in which we use them.
