Comments on: Data Visualization Personas

By: Andreas

Andreas — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:03:46 +0000

I would like to add a fifth character: The consultant from the communications department. Everything the company does, goes to a certain extent through the communications people. They are extremely professional and highly motivated people. The believe in the importance of communicating the right message to the right people. However – they are mostly trained in language and design. They look at a chart like this:
1) It’s got to be familiar to the audience (thus pies are good).
2) There should be some variation in visualizations, so as to avoid a monotonic ‘look’ – thus making the publication “interesting” and “inviting” (thus no consistent practice).
3) Each chart should bear the distinct trademark of the organisation – at the very least in the choice of colours, but preferably even more. The effect should be that any chart reproduced anywhere immediately reveals it-self as a company “this-that” chart (much as excel reveals it self) (thus chart junk).
4) (this is very big with my company) We dont want to risk being accused of fiddling with the data- therefore; just use tables. Everybody understands a table… And then the stakeholder can make their own charts, defining their own take on the data-story (after all, there are lies, damn lies and statistics).

In all fairness I think the communication people are – to a certain degree right. Some customers really don’t want nothing but tables.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:40:03 +0000

I think you might be a little hard on Anna – is ir ‘worth the effort’ to convert her, when all she needs to do is add a little chart to something. It may not be the most elegant, by-the-principles visualisation, however it’s sufficient for her purposes.

The Annas I come into contact with are front-line operations people, presenting some of their own work / analysis / proposals to their managers – neither are interested in the purist approach, nor need they be.

By: Dan Murray

Dan Murray — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:47:33 +0000

I cheat a little and tell all three about Tableau Software. Problem solved. : )

By: Jayson

Jayson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:27:57 +0000

Andy and 9.2.5
Slipping in a little extra is great and all, but how will you get the client to pay for it. In my experience, you’ve got to sell this up front and sell it good or else the client will be on the defensive about how much it costs, and ‘why couldn’t you just give me the same as before.’

What do you do to get paid for your efforts?

By: 9.2.5

9.2.5 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:54:41 +0000

I have lots of #4’s Nial in my circle. They want the same and more of it. Suggesting a new technique freaks them out. I stick with the same as Andy suggested – deliver “the usual”, but try to introduce improvements in parallel hoping that they’ll agree with the value of a better visualization. I’ve had some successes and some that just don’t want something new. All we can do is keep our own expectations high and hope others come to the light.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:54:00 +0000

One quick note: the average boss that you’ll encounter will agree with Frank till a overpayed consultant company tells him that the data analysis, management and visualization skills used are from the past!! !:D:D

Meantime, Jorge character will become undermotivated and turn himself into a “Frank” :D:D

(at least I’ve seen it happen before!!!)

By: Andy Cotgreave

Andy Cotgreave — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:12:57 +0000

Great post. I am struggling with this set of people, too. I am trying to get my workplace to improve its data visualisation standards. We’ve just purchased a bunch of Tableau Server licenses, and are beginning to roll them out – this is very exciting. However, I despair when someone I had hoped would be a champion in their area just doesn’t get the whole data viz thing, and creates some lousy, messy tables. That person is your example #1. I’ve sat down and I think I have planted the seeds.

I’d add this person:
#4, Nial, the report consumer
This person needs reports in order to analyse what’s happening in his area. He has been around a long time, and is accustomed to receiving huge tables, with so many categorical breakdowns, that it is impossible to discern any trends or meaning from the data. New techniques are presented to him, but he is too tied to his regular way of doing things to see that aggregated data presented in a visual way, could help him make better decisions. What to do? Deliver the reports exactly as he wants, but also slip in a few more interesting and effective visualisations. Overtime, we hope he may come to recognise that the visualisations give him more info in less time.