Better Data Visualizations at Work: A Guide to Winning Over Your Boss
Better Data Visualizations at Work: A Guide to Winning Over Your Boss
PolicyViz Newsletter #40
Hi all,
One question that I regularly hear in my data visualization talks and workshops goes something like this: “How do I get my boss/manager/colleagues to prioritize better data visualizations?” It’s a common conundrum: you have some interest in data visualization, but your organization is not as motivated as you are. You might hear something equivalent to, “The data is there and that’s good enough.”
In my experience working in and with teams and organizations seeking to improve their data visualization processes, I have found four strategies that help bring managers and colleagues on board to understand and value better data visualizations.
Show comparisons. Simply saying, “I know a better way to visualize these data” isn’t going to convince anyone. You need to show people what a better graph or chart looks like—and why. You might need to demonstrate why a horizontal bar chart is better than a vertical bar chart by showing how the horizontal labels are easier to read. In cases where you want to use a graph that your reader has never seen before, you might need to walk them through it, either verbally or with annotation and labels.
Use real data. If you’ve read my blog or books, you know I like to use real data. I do this for three reasons. First, it’s more effective for both the reader and myself—I often learn something by working with data and visualizing it in new or different ways. Second, real data is messy. It’s too easy to make up data that works perfectly with the chart type I want to use. But with real data, there are outliers, extremes, or groups that don’t quite align. Finally, real data helps people connect with the content. By using real data that they work with in their day-to-day, managers and colleagues can see how their work could be communicated more effectively. Allowing them to see their data in those better visualization types can help them understand the value of better visualizations. Remember, if they think that “the data is there and that’s good enough,” you need to convince them that a new or different graph is a better approach.
Create a style guides. People will often get hung up on colors, fonts, or font sizes in reviewing your work when you want to know whether they actually like the revised presentation of the data. If you and your team or organization can develop a data visualization style guide, you can quickly get by those issues. The blue color in your bar chart is now the blue color that everyone has agreed to, so we can instead focus on the graph itself. [JW1] By removing branding variables from the equation, you can get people to the core of your question—a new, different, better graph or chart or report layout. If you need help building a data visualization style guide, check out the Data Visualization Style Guide project I’ve been working on with Max Graze, Alan Wilson, and Amy Cesal.
Don’t over-engineer it. When you’re trying to build a better data (visualization) culture in your organization, starting off by asking for more money or time is not likely to be successful. Don’t try to create some complex, bespoke, interactive data visualization in D3 or ask your managers to some buy expensive software. Don’t over-engineer it. Instead, identify your ultimate user base while keeping your colleague or manager audience in mind. If you’re creating visualizations that your manager doesn’t understand or can’t use, you’re not going to get to the next stage and get that work out the door. In the long run, the interactive data visualization might be the right solution, but you need to take steps to get there—maybe a series of graphs in a tool like Tableau or even a set of slides in PowerPoint.
Not everyone will share your excitement for better charts and graphs at first, or maybe even ever. But I have found that enthusiasm among a small group of people—or even just an individual—can help change how an entire organization thinks about their data and their data visualizations. Changing organizational culture takes time, and I believe these four strategies can help you bring about change to generate better outcomes.
Thanks,
Jon
I’m excited to announce the launch of a new asynchronous data visualization course, The Art and Science of Data Visualization. To deliver this course—that includes more than five hours of content—I’ve teamed up with Skillwave Training, who offer hundreds of hours of training for users of Microsoft BI products, including Excel and PowerBI. This is first and only asynchronous version of my Core Principles of Data Visualization workshop and it will teach you the fundamental skills to create better, more effective graphs, charts, and diagrams. It will also provide you with the steps to create dozens of charts in Microsoft Excel and, coming in November, PowerBI.
I hope you’ve had a chance to grab a copy of my new book, Data Visualization in Excel: A Guide for Beginners, Intermediates, and Wonks. This is the only book on the market that provides a step-by-step guide to creating better, more effective, and “non-standard” graphs in Microsoft Excel.
Please consider leaving a rating or review on Amazon about the book! It helps more people find the book and make better data visualizations in Excel.
PolicyViz at Home 🏡
We are heading into fall, which means I’m back behind the plate umpiring the local little league. Umpiring is just a little hobby for me and forces me out of the house a few days a week. I just enjoy being around the sport, talking with coaches about coaching strategies, debating baseball rules and rulings with fellow umpires, and, of course, chatting with the kids. I also get to buy a bunch of fun gear—this season’s addition to the pile is a great new Wilson face mask.
Season #10 Podcast Premier: Maureen Stone
Welcome back to the PolicyViz Podcast! I have a whole set of great guests heading your way this season, so I hope you’ll check it out and stay tuned. And to kick off the season, I’m so excited to chat with Maureen Stone about color and its applications. We talk about her career at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, creating color palettes in Tableau, and much, much, more!
AcademyHealth Introduces New Interactive Tool to Reduce Racial Bias in Big Data Studies
Unless we actively counter our biases, research will inadvertently reproduce them. To help break this cycle, AcademyHealth developed the beta version of its Interactive Tool to Reduce Racial Bias in Big Data Studies — with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and input from diverse collaborators. This Tool guides health services researchers to identify and reduce sources of racial bias in their big data studies. The Tool supports researchers in thinking critically, exploring their blind spots, and communicating transparently about limitations in their data or methods. Visit bit.ly/Tool2ReduceBias to explore and share this new Tool: one contribution to important and necessary efforts across the field, helping HSR deliver on its potential for equitable impact. Email HSRInnovation@academyhealth.org with questions, feedback, or related ideas and opportunities.
Things I’m Reading & Watching
Books
Making with Data: Physical Design and Craft in a Data-Driven World by Samuel Huron, Till Nagel, Lora Oehlberg, and Wesley Willet
Data Visualization for Biomedical Scientists by Maarten Boers
Articles
Long Division: The Persistence of Race Science from Undark
From static to interactive: turn SVG diagrams into exciting experiences on your website from Flourish
Design Matters #7 - The Ultimate Dashboard Colour Palette in Practice from Thabata at “Data Rocks” (despite my best efforts, I still cannot identify her last name)
Blog Posts, Twitter Threads, and Videos
Data Sonification examples collection from Northeastern University
Communicating Synthetic Data Evaluation Results with a Parameterized R Markdown Report by Jennifer Andre, Gabriel Morrison, and Madeline Pickens fr
Data Visualizations
Tired of feeling hopeless about climate change? Take a look at these charts. by Amanda Shendruk
Conferences
The Design + Data Summit 2023 (September 21-22, 2023) (virtual)
2023 Government & Public Sector R Conference (October 19-20, 2023)
Job Openings
A visual journalist at FiveThirtyEight
Two graphics editors at the Financial Times
A visual projects editor at The Guardian
An elections graphics reporter and an elections news apps developer at NPR
TV, Movies, and Miscellaneous
Suits, Netflix
Slapshot, Netflix
Letterkenny, Hulu - all done with all 11 seasons!
Only Murders in the Building, Hulu
Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
