This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com.

If you have TONS of points over time… show tons of data in your graph!

Too often, I see organizations show just a single point in time.

A single number is meaningless. We need at least two numbers — preferably three, four, or four thousand! — to make accurate comparisons.

In this video, I’ll try to convince you to show more points in time, not fewer.

What’s Inside

0:00 Welcome
0:18 The pretend dataset: Daily numbers for the past decade
0:33 Types of workplaces that DO have daily data: Hospitals, universities, government agencies, public health, etc.
1:11 Hesitancy to show lots of data
1:28 Don’t just show 1 day!
1:46 We need AT LEAST 2 numbers to make a helpful graph
2:07 Show at least 1 month
2:19 Show at least 1 year
2:40 Show years and years of data!
2:53 Hesitancy to show lots of data – because the x-axis gets ugly
3:19 Excel how-to
4:30 My wish: Getting you thinking
4:38 Exceptions? When is it better for decisionmakers to have less context?

Download the Excel File