Blinded by Marketing » Communicating Data

Apparently, “blacksmith” is not the career of the future

Patrick Doherty — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:57:59 +0000

Very cool data visualization app. Shows what’s gained and lost ground since 1850. This really explains why you are having such a hard time landing that railroad brakeman job: Reported Occupations – U.S. Labor Force, 1850 – 2000.

Presumably, next year’s edition of this tool will show explosive growth in Social Media Consultants.

Data visualization in government

Patrick Doherty — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Because of our focus on effective communication, we are always interested in media about new, interesting startups that work in the data visualization and analysis space. Palantir (headquartered on the West Coast) started with work in the national security space (notoriously rigid and hard to crack) here in DC but is also pushing into financial services.

The office culture looks fun but they do very serious work. Check them out.

More data visualization

Patrick Doherty — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:27:00 +0000

The topic of this lecture is certainly outside of our industry focus, but is a really great example of compelling and thoughtful data visualization and display of time series sets. Fascinating points, dramatically illustrated by Dr. Hans Rosling.

Our favorite marketing data tool

Patrick Doherty — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:54:23 +0000

This is my favorite data visualization tool. Ever.

Hats off again to the team at Tableau Software. Awesome product.

Communicating complexity – visual logic

Patrick Doherty — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:24:20 +0000

Returning to the science behind successfully communicating ideas, actions, and desired outcomes with effective graphical design:

"A good graphic invites the eye to dart around and to selectively create a visual logic so the act of engaging and looking at the image creates the meaning."

Information designer Tom Wujec talks (six minutes of video) through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas?

Just for fun

Patrick Doherty — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:20:55 +0000

It’s important to keep in mind that the right graphic can be very powerful.

It’s time…for GraphJam.

The critical path

Patrick Doherty — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:30:12 +0000

Now that you have the green light for your big initiative, it’s your job to make sure that mid-level team members do get it and that they have the tools to communicate and make decisions with their supporting resources and colleagues across the enterprise.

In our experience, most successful initiatives, especially complex, cross-divisional initiatives have one thing in common: A clear, visual articulation of the end state that you can bring into every team meeting.

What do we mean by this? You need to build a one-page depiction of what the initiative will look like on the last day of the implementation which also illustrates how you’re going to get there. Bonus points for calling out the critical path and potential roadblocks.

Why are you spending so much shareholder money? Here take a look – I will show you.

What teams are involved in this project? Here take a look – I will show you.

What is the critical path? Here take a look – I will show you.

How can my team help you? Here take a look – I will show you.

There’s a big difference between a 15-page memo or PowerPoint describing your initiative and synthesized one-page graphical representation that metaphorically jumps off the page (yeah, color really helps). Especially today, as various communication technologies (oh, Internet, thanks for the distraction) train us to think and make decisions in ever shorter cycles, you have have to be clear and concise to get the results you desire.

One of the best change management leaders I ever worked for developed an innovative critical path diagram that described a process and systems implementation for a multi-billion dollar financial restatement. To give you an idea of scop, the 1-page diagram described the multiple-billion dollars spent on software development, how 60+ workstreams were connected and interdependent, and the ever in-flux critical path to completion. This was for the most complext accounting in finance.

It fit legibly on a sheet of 11×14 paper.

The genius of the diagram was such that it became the go-to contextual reference for a team of thousands. The CEO down to the contract programmer referenced this document in every meeting. Every meeting for 18 months!

Because of smart visual design and display of critical information, everyone was on the same page of one of the most complex projects ever completed in the world of corporate finance (I know, H-O-T).