Don't Ruin Your Excel Charts and Graphs with Data Overload

We're excited to feature today's guest blog from author and trainer Philip Wiest, PMP®  PMI-ACP® PMI-PBA® Microsoft Office Master®, who guides us through overcoming the common trap of putting too much information in our Excel charts and graphs, especially when we are pressed for time. It's a great read and full of terrific tips from a top Excel trainer. NOTE: I wrote a "helpful" Excel blog that I was going to run today, but then Phil saw it and made me swear to never do it again. I dunno ... I really think Excel 5 is primed to make a comeback. 

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Your boss has a meeting in two hours and declares, “Get me some charts! I’ve got a presentation.”

Feeling any pressure?

Not until your boss adds, “And, e-mail me in half an hour!”

You’re not alone. There are 500 million Excel users across the globe and every day there are millions of people trying their best to build one of those magazine-ready charts that’s clear and to the point.

Often, the quality of the “data viz” is proportional to the amount of time invested in building it … and fixing it.

But you only have a half-hour.

You may not be able to build a world class chart or graph, buy you can avoid the “rookie mistakes.”

Do you know them?

Can you spot them in the image above? 

1 - REDUNDANT REDUNDANCIES

Everybody knows it’s a month, there’s no need for a horizontal axis label to remind people what January, February,  and March are. (They’re not Greek Gods!). Solution: Delete that horizontal axis title.

2 - LEANING TOWERS OF PICAS

Nobody can read sideways, unless they’ve just been knocked down in an octagon. Stop putting text sideways. (Hint: you can let go of the diagonal text, too.) Solution: Delete that vertical axis title.

3 - AXIS OF EVIL

What’s the sense of having a vertical value axis when you have data points on the chart? You don’t need the vertical axis numbers, Solution: Delete them.

 

4 - GRID AND BEAR IT

Gridlines. Without an axis, who needs gridlines? You have data labels… the only reason for gridlines is if you want to fold a paper in half – perfectly. Paper? What’s Paper? Solution: Delete them.

 

5 - WHAT BECOMES A LEGEND MOST?

With your chart lines running top to bottom and your legend displayed side-to-side – one part of your chart is going North-South while the other is going East-West. Can’t we all get along? Move the legend to the side of the chart so that the pattern is consistent – Top to Bottom.

6 - DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Why don’t you make multiple graphs instead of trying to push so much data into one visual? It’s a lot easier to compare Team 1 and Team 2 when they are separated … rather than on top of each other. (The only time you see teams on top of each other is when a bench clears… and there are fines for that!)

SO WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?

With these simple changes, we’ve cleared the clutter and increased the clarity of our message.

This will keep everybody on their toes and your boss on your side!

By the way, did you take the quiz? If you answered, “Graph!’ you’ve seen the light.

If you notice the chart we’ve completed, then you’ve Excelled!