Using Data to Drive Decisions - drj.com PART 2- LONG IAN-SAFEWA… · i. Dashboards are point in...
Transcript of Using Data to Drive Decisions - drj.com PART 2- LONG IAN-SAFEWA… · i. Dashboards are point in...
Using Data to Drive Decisions Creating Effective Presentations, Metrics and Scorecards
Ian C. Long, Safeway Inc
Why attend “Using Data to Drive Decisions?"
1) You have something important to share.
a) If you have nothing interesting to share, you are in the wrong session and you will not be
effective.
2) You want to get more effective at sharing it.
a) We can all use coaching on delivery of a message.
3) You have limited opportunity to deliver your message to the people who can effect change.
a) We have to get better and better at sharing what is important because the time and attention of
decision makers get thinner daily.
What is the process of turning data into decisions?
1) Not including the decision itself, there are three components and two common processes that
driving data into decision.
a) Three Components
i) Source your Data ‐ Without data all you have is an opinion… is you opinion carry enough
weight?
ii) Design your Story – If you don’t have a compelling story you don’t have a audience.
iii) Share the Story ‐ A great idea without good communication and delivery is worthless.
b) Process
i) The analysts flow: Get the data, design the story and then share it like you believe it.
ii) The dreamers flow: Know something is true in your gut, find the data that supports it, share
it like you believe it.
Gather your data. This is the foundation for metrics and scorecards and is pivotal to the process.
1) Two approaches to data mining, emotional and analytical. You need to understand each and
know your strength.
a. Analytical ‐ Start with the data as see where it leads you. This option is most commonly
used when you have data to mine. If you have data follow this process:
i. Understand it. Where did it come from? How was it captured? What was the
scope and span of the effort?
ii. Find your reference point. Data needs a reference point, with out it they are just
numbers that don’t mean anything.
iii. Graph it. Try and display the data in at least 3 different ways. pie, bar, scatter,
etc. Make sure the graph respect the reference point you found above.
iv. Clean it. Remove false outliers and smooth out the noise. Get rid of anything
that would distract your audience. Be careful not to destroy the integrity of the
data, but rather filter out the non applicable data.
v. Study it. The point is for your audience to ask questions. You need to have the
answers. Every point has a history, become a student of your data and get very
good at speculations and discernment.
b. Emotional – Start at the conclusion and find data to support it. This option presents
itself often when the “writing is on the wall”, but no one can explain it.
i. Determine what will drive discussion. In this case the conclusion is already
speculation; determine what will move the assumed to the known.
ii. Find a way to quantify intrinsic or perceived values. This is very common in the
DR/BCP world of varying levels of recoverability.
iii. Think in generalities. Use titles, broader categories like maturity or stability.
iv. Focus the discussion on the trend, not the specifics. Sometimes data only needs
to be good enough to force the effort to go get the real data.
2) How to get better at gathering and understanding data.
a. Above all, know your business.
b. Learn how to use a database (table structures, basic SQL).
c. Refresh what you know about descriptive statistics.
d. Choose a tool and become an advanced user on it or hire someone who is.
e. Learn what each chart type is used for and find your charting style.
3) How to turn data in to metrics.
a. Metrics are the building blocks of Dashboards and Scorecards.
b. Metrics must be measurable and refer to a target value. It’s essential that you
understand what your audience is expecting, make that the target and find a metric that
is an indicator of that goal.
c. Pick a metric that is universally understood and easily interpreted. i.e. Blood pressure,
credit score, G.P.A.
d. Accessible, available, believable, concise, free of error, objective, relevant, timely,
understandable and add value.
e. KPIs are always metrics, but a metric is not always a KPI.
Shape your story. Using design to give context to your data and your ideas.
1) Know your audience. Before you start designing your story you have to understand your
audience to be effective.
a. Understand their perspective and that one story can reach and audice in two different
ways.
b. Look for emotional investment and leverage it.
c. Understand their capacity.
d. Learn the basics on how human perception works. Understand how perception impacts
design choices and the other ways around.
2) Data Visualization. Scorecards, metrics and presentations are all methods to take complex
subjects and simplify them through design. This is the core of data visualization.
a. Reason or Emotion? “This is the big one. We’ve been discussing reason vs. emotion over
the last 2,500 years, and we still disagree. The right answer would be
reason and emotion (easier said than done). When applied to data visualization, this
translates into charts that respect the data, attracts the reader’s attention because they
are beautiful and keeps it because they are interesting and insightful.” ‐ Data
Visualization Questions I Have No Answers For – Excelcharts.com January 12, 2012
b. Does Design Matter?
i. What is the role of Design in Data visualization? “We know that a chart is
a visual representation of distances between data points. Everything else is
design. The first role of design in data visualization is to improve cognition. The
second role is to provide aesthetic consistency. The third role is to grab users
attention.”
ii. How do you balance form over function?
1. Anything that distracts from the integrity or clarity of the data is too
much.
2. Anyone can graph and present data, but the key is to make it stick. The
differentiator will always be the design, the form.
Two graphs above, same data, same descriptors, but if you look long
enough one of them engages both side of your brain and will stick. It is
a bit of a parlor trick, but it sticks.
3. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. This is the hard part to put a
ton of effort into design, but keep it simple to understand.
c. Design is by far the hardest and most labor intense part of the process.
i. The process of visualization is to gather data, encode it into a design, then the
audience decodes it and then makes a decision.
ii. The harder you work on the gather and encode, the easier the decoding is and
the quicker you land at a decision.
Gather DataEncode into
Graphs and DesignDecode Decide
Presenter/Designer Audience
Effort Ownership
Ow
ners
hip
Eff
ort
TimeTime
iii. If your design it done properly you will remove yourself from the process. This is
the test of great design. If your story is limited by you, it will not go as far as if it
transcends the author. We have to be comfortable with the data/design
speaking for itself. If it good, it will come back to you.
d. Dashboards and Scorecards
i. Dashboards are point in time, near term, tactical visualizations that should show
lagging indicators against what is being measured.
1. They need to identify action limits which would drive a response if met.
2. They should work their magic at a glance, self evident and self
explanatory. If you reader has to
3. The Graphic and design should reduce the time it takes to interpret the
current status of given metric.
a. Which is easier to interpret based on value? How about based
on % of the whole?
b. Be leery of the easy graphic to use like Pie charts and Gauges.
i. If you are trying to do a comparative analysis, Pie charts
are inherently hard for the mind to interpret. We do
not judge angles and arc based area well. Linear
comparisons come easier.
ii. Gauges, to me seem like a lot of design for a very little
amount of data. They present a number in a range. If
you are in need of real estate on your dashboard, ditch
the gauge and display the number.
4. Reduce noise by removing legends, clip art and non functional
information.
5. Move right to left, top down, follow a logical flow.
ii. Scorecards are management driven objectives that align business activity with
vision and strategy. They should present leading indicators against what is
being measured.
1. Usually less graphical, think report card.
2. Measure success against a strategic directive.
3. Metrics drive dashboards, dashboards drive scorecards, Scorecards
drive movement around strategy.
e. References and Tools
i. References
1. Visualize This The flowing data guide to design, visualization, and
statistics. A book by Nathan Yau
2. http://flowingdata.com/
3. www.excelcharts.com,
4. http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft‐excel/,
5. http://flowingdata.com/
ii. Tools
1. There are a number of Database/Statistics and Design software
programs, but since the majority of the business world runs on Excel or
Access I will avoid referring any. Nathan Yau’s book has an exhaustive
list of options if you prefer.
2. My Presentation was delivered in Prezi http://prezi.com/
Share your story.
1) Who Cares?
a. You better. You have to care enough to make an effort. “Caring as it turns out is a
competitive advantage, It takes effort to care.” – Seth Godin
b. Do you have an audience who cares? “We stop loving someone or something when we
feel there is nothing more to discover, when we have no more questions, when we don’t
care about the answers.” Find someone who is invested, don’t waste your time on the
rest.
2) Thoughts on presentation approach
a. Ideas that spread win – Be “Remark”able. That is to be engaging enough that people
have the remark about it.
b. Drive Remediation not Retribution. Stay positive.
c. Normal is Risky
d. You are interrupting people’s work, make it worth their while
e. Enjoy being wrong. It’s a model you have created and are presenting. its not the spoken
truth and its not personal. if you all leave smarter, then good.
f. Make yourself irreplaceable, this is in contrast to my approach on visualization. In
presentations, you are the lynchpin.
3) Thoughts on presentation delivery
a. Meetings are out of control. If a CEO for a Fortune 100 company can give a quarterly
review in 60 minutes with Q&A. Your program update should not take just as long.
b. The 10/20/30/40 rule of presenting
i. 10 Slides, 20 Minutes, 30pt font, 40 words per slide.
ii. It’s a fact people can read faster then you can speak. A slide with massive text
will only accomplish losing your audiences attention by reading ahead.
c. It’s a presentation. If it was just about content why would you not just publish the
document review individually?
d. Don’t hate PowerPoint, hate the user.
e. Practice, Practice, Practice.
f. Show someone else first.
g. Most of all believe in what you are presenting and know your content
Final Thoughts
1) In the DR/BCP world we are selling vague and complex insurance. You have to make it
understandable and interesting or you will be ignored. The guy who is selling profit or
innovation down the hall will always get more attention because his subject matter is better.
You have to up your delivery.