Visualizations

Not long ago, the ability to create smart data visualizations, or dataviz, was a nice-to-have skill.  For the most part, it benefited design- and data-minded managers who made a deliberate  decision to invest in acquiring it. That is changed. Now visual communication is a must-have skill  for all managers, because more and more often, it is the only way to make sense of the work  they do.

Data is the primary force behind this shift. Decision making increasingly relies on data, which  comes at us with such overwhelming velocity, and in such volume, that we cannot comprehend  it without some layer of abstraction, such as a visual one.

But even information that’s not statistical demands visual expression. Complex systems— business process workflows, for example, or the way customers move through a store—are  hard to understand, much less fix, if you cannot first see them.

Thanks to the internet and a growing number of affordable tools, translating information into  visuals is now easy (and cheap) for everyone, regardless of data skills or design skills. This is  largely a positive development. One drawback, though, is that it reinforces the impulse to “click  and viz” without first thinking about your purpose and goals. Convenient is a tempting  replacement for good, but it will lead to charts that are merely adequate or, worse, ineffective.  Automatically converting spreadsheet cells into a chart only visualizes pieces of a spreadsheet;  it does not capture an idea.

Managers who want to get better at making charts often start by learning rules. When should I  use a bar chart? How many colors are too many? Where should the key go? Do I have to start  my y-axis at zero? Visual grammar is important and useful—but knowing it does not guarantee  that you will make good charts. To start with chart-making rules is to forgo strategy for  execution; it is to pack for a trip without knowing where you are going.

Your visual communication will prove far more successful if you begin by acknowledging that it  is not a lone action but, rather, several activities, each of which requires distinct types of  planning, resources, and skills.

