Every technology project comes down to two things: getting information into systems or getting information out. Understanding this pattern changes how you approach digital transformation - and determines whether AI creates value or just complexity.
We've got the activity captured, and now we have "effectiveness" ratings for the people in the group - how will we put them together and see a relationship? Mechanically, this is a simple XY scatter graph - a standard chart type in both Excel and Google Docs. Let's take a look at a sample data set that illustrates the idea: This is the picture I expected to see: the more you use the system (the X axis), the more results…
For our back-of-the-napkin experiment in tracking the useful value produced by enterprise systems - our next step will move away from the technical tools for a bit, and take a look at results. Specifically, we want to understand who is "delivering the goods" - and some sense of their success relative to others. At first, the question sounds simple - how do you measure success? Metrics are a common element of any business activity, and people are often paid, and…
We're trying use metrics to visualize the correlation between system use and business results - any system, regardless of the platform / technology - and we'd like to draw the same picture of input vs. results for any system. I'm stealing some inspiration from Tufte here - let's keep the story simple, clean, and consistent, so my audience can focus on the question (WIIFM). And it's a meant to be a universal question - doesn't matter what system we are…
Deriving information out of raw data involves seven separate, dependent processes - the Data Value Chain. Your team needs to have a multi-layered ecosystem of skills and experience required to effectively extract the most value.
During a process review session this week, I got involved in a terrific conversation about Smart Part Numbers. You know what I'm talking about - those cryptic SKU identifiers so popular with the folks in the warehouse, on the shop floor, in production planning. There is logic and structure to the characters and the numbers, structure that codes identification and classification details onto those bin labels. We are having problems with item WC1-644-A019910 Oh, that's because the trim press is…
Even though there is an art to visualization design, it stands to reason that this is a skill that can be taught / learned. I remember going to campus visits with my daughter, and hearing about a textbook considered to be a timeless classic - teaching students how to draw. What a concept - I guess I had always imagined an innate, magic ability (that I, of course, never had). Then again, musicians start learning to read and write music…
Just a little more theory and background on Data Visualization, to eat up the rest of your weekend. Unlike the McCandless video, this video will take some time investment - but well worth it, if you want to charge your batteries on this topic. (via Flowing Data) From earlier this year, Martin Wattenberg gives a talk on data and visualization. Some interesting points: Data visualizations work well with large data sets Interesting insight comes from borrowing ideas from different knowledge…
"Data Visualization" has been an extremely active and popular topic for a few years - we can use Google's Timeline search feature to see the growth in interest since 1980: That local high in July of this year was due in no small part to David McCandless' Information is Beautiful talk at TED this past summer. It appeared in my RSS stream here, here, and here, so I got the hint, spent 18 minutes watching it, and got suitably jazzed…
Previously ... creating opportunities for insight ... The short answer, as you know, is that it's impossible to tell you how to be insightful and imaginative in a single blog post. All I can do is point you in the general direction, and (hopefully) ignite a little spark. What's the Goal? and, Where to Begin? I previously talked about the growing calls for effective data visualizations; we have access to all this great information, and there are insights in there…