Information Radiation and You

Building your company's status board is more than just putting charts on a screen - numbers are just data, whether you write out the digits or plot a squiggly line. Learn to transform your data into information, and let that information instruct you.

A public instance of Tranquil is hosted at http://tranquil.heroku.com.

Talk given at Open Source Bridge 2012.

Transcript

1. Open Source Bridge 2012 Information Radiation and You http://www.flickr.com/photos/evil_cheese_scientist/6813664844
2. About Me Pieter van de Bruggen UX Designer at Puppet Labs Software Enthusiast and Developer pvande@gmail.com Github / Dribbble / Twitter: @pvande
3. Terminology
4. Knowledge (n): the set of things we can know Terminology
5. Data (n, singular datum): measurements, facts, and premises from which conclusions may be drawn; fundamental knowledge Terminology
6. Information (n): knowledge gather as the result of processing or analyzing data Terminology
7. Information Radiator (n): a tool for constantly presenting up-to-date information Terminology
8. What is an Information Radiator? What do they look like?
9. ASARCO Globe Smelting Plant flickr.com/photos/sugarandweedkiller/4456565684
10. flickr.com/photos/jankrutisch/4272142306 mindmatters
11. Github flickr.com/photos/unavoidablegrain/4622043091
12. targetprocess.com/blog/tag/information-radiator Target Process
13. Panic panic.com/blog/2010/03/the-panic-status-board
14. Why have an Information Radiator? What are they good for?
15. Empowerment Why have an Information Radiator?
16. Improvement Why have an Information Radiator?
17. Situational insight Why have an Information Radiator?
18. flickr.com/photos/redvers/523072182
19. What makes a useful Information Radiator? How can I succeed?
20. Conspicuous Easily absorbed by a casual, interested observer What makes a useful Information Radiator?
21. Clear Easily understood at a glance What makes a useful Information Radiator?
22. Consistent Easy to spot changes from day to day What makes a useful Information Radiator?
23. Insightful Useful to the intended audience, and meeting their needs What makes a useful Information Radiator?
24. Volatile Changes periodically, making it worth revisiting What makes a useful Information Radiator?
25. Maintainable Easy to keep up to date What makes a useful Information Radiator?
26. What makes for an insightful Information Radiator? Can I put just anything up?
27. What do you hope to gain? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
28. What do you hope to gain? Better communication with other teams What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
29. What do you hope to gain? Improved productivity What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
30. What do you hope to gain? Disaster prevention What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
31. Who is your audience? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
32. Who is your audience? What are the things they need to know? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
33. Who is your audience? How much detail do they really need? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
34. Who is your audience? How is the information related? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
35. What is your data? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
36. Why is your data important? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
37. 0 20 40 60 80 100 January February March April May June July August September October November December Emails Sent Number of Emails What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
38. 0 20 40 60 80 100 January February March April May June July August September October November December How Many Spiders Have We Squished? Dead Spiders What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
39. 0 20 40 60 80 100 January February March April May June July August September October November December How Many Spiders Have We Squished? Dead Spiders What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
40. 0 20 40 60 80 100 January February March April May June July August September October November December How Many Spiders Have We Squished? Dead Spiders f(x) – Distance What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
41. 0 4 8 12 16 20 January February March April May June July August September October November December How Fast Were We Squishing Spiders? Dead Spiders per Month What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
42. 0 4 8 12 16 20 January February March April May June July August September October November December How Fast Were We Squishing Spiders? Dead Spiders per Month f′(x) - Velocity What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
43. -15 -12 -9 -6 -3 0 3 6 January February March April May June July August September October November December Were We Becoming More or Less Efficient at Squishing Spiders? Dead Spiders per Month (per Month) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
44. -15 -12 -9 -6 -3 0 3 6 January February March April May June July August September October November December Were We Becoming More or Less Efficient at Squishing Spiders? Dead Spiders per Month (per Month) f′′(x) - Acceleration What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
45. 0 3 6 9 12 15 System Uptime Consecutive Uptime (in Days) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
46. 0 3 6 9 12 15 System Uptime Consecutive Uptime (in Days) What's Interesting? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
47. 0 3 6 9 12 15 System Uptime Consecutive Uptime (in Days) What's Interesting? What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
48. 0 3 6 9 12 15 System Uptime Streaks Consecutive Uptime (in Days) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
49. 0 3 6 9 12 15 System Uptime Streaks Consecutive Uptime (in Days) Streak Length Moving Average (previous 3) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
50. System Uptime Best: 15 Days Average: 8 Days Current: 3 Days What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
51. System Uptime Best: 15 Days Current: 3 Days What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
52. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 00:00 04:00 08:00 12:00 16:00 20:00 00:00 Server Load Requests per Second Today Yesterday $0K $100K $200K $300K 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Sales by Year Sales (in dollars) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
53. Historical visualizations are great for shaping long-term direction and decisions… What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
54. …but they frequently have little to say about what is happening right now. What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
55. At best, they provide an incomplete picture. What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
56. Let your information radiator talk about today. What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
57. Let your information radiator talk about today. (But keep the data around!) What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
58. “Above all else, show the data.” ~ Edward Tufte What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
59. …No. flickr.com/photos/elainegreycats/29404108
60. 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Percent complete 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Memorial Completion by Year Monument ‘A’ Monument ‘B’ What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
61. 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2007 2008 2009 2010 Memorial Completion by Year Percent complete Year Monument ‘A’ Monument ‘B’ What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
62. 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 2007 2008 2009 2010 Memorial Completion by Year Monument ‘A’ Monument ‘B’ What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
63. Estimated Completion Dates Monument ‘A’: ˛ 2011 Q1 Monument ‘B’: ▼ 2014 Q3 What makes for an insightful Information Radiator?
64. flickr.com/photos/dhaun/5640386266 CI Build Status
65. targetprocess.com/blog/tag/visualization CI Build Status
66. What do other status systems do?
67. flickr.com/photos/jackcheng/6114860434 Flight Schedules
68. Crossing Signal flickr.com/photos/sp8254/2052235918
69. flickr.com/photos/wafflechomper/1425183970 Digital Traffic Displays
70. Stock Tickers flickr.com/photos/ddebold/5900034065
71. How Do I Build an Information Radiator? What do I need to do?
72. alistair.cockburn.us/Information+radiator Analog
73. Digital panic.com/blog/2010/03/the-panic-status-board
74. Tranquil How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
75. Tranquil Standard web technologies How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
76. Tranquil Basic JSON configuration How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
77. Tranquil Fully customizable How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
78. Tranquil Simple Sinatra application… How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
79. Tranquil …or hosted service (BYOD) How Do I Build an Information Radiator?
81. Project Information Homepage: github.com/pvande/Tranquil Widget Type Reference: github.com/pvande/Tranquil/wiki/Types
82. Information Design Edward Tufte: edwardtufte.com Steven Few: perceptualedge.com The InfoVis Wiki: infovis-wiki.net
83. Thank You