As Stephen Few (guru on dashboard design) says:

The truth is, I never recommend the use of pie charts.  ...  Pie charts don't display quantitative data very effectively.  Humans can't compare two-dimensional areas or angles very accurately.

And he's right.  This is an example I pulled from one of our recent internal dashboards.  The problem with this pie chart is that you can't really tell, without reading the numbers the relative size of the pies.  Is the 9.6% slice smaller than the 10.3%?  Is the 22.7% slice double the others or 3x the others?  

You should be able to look at a graph and QUICKLY see the relative comparison without having to read the numbers.  

A better of use of this would be a bar or column chart.  Without the % called out, I can much more quickly see relative size in the bar chart example below.  

Now, I actually disagree with Stephen Few in one respect.  There are cases where you SHOULD use pie charts.  You should use pie charts to hide information.  If you don't want your user to immediately know the differences in values because you want to minimize that particular data point then by all means, use pie charts.  And I'm being honest when there are cases where this can be useful. You may really want your audience to focus and understand one data point, and not pay attention to this other one (if the "other one" is required to be there).  In which case, use a pie chart for the "other one".  This will help make sure they focus on the metric you really want them to be looking at.  Of course, it is best if you can not include the "other one" metric in the first place.  But that isn't always feasible.  

I know that the topic of use of "Pie Charts" isn't world changing.  Really, this post is about communication.   The small stuff does matter in communication.  Is showing the value of your product important?  YES!  Get it right.  Spend time on it.  

I only judge a test based on whether we designed and administered it properly.

As an industry, we don’t yet have a complete analytical model of how people make decisions, so we can’t know in advance what variations will work. This means that there’s no shame in running variations that don’t improve conversion. We also lack any real ability to understand why a variation may have succeeded, so I don’t care much whether or not we understood the results at a deeper level.

The only thing we can fully control is how we set up the experiment.....

See more at...  http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3169-ab-testing-its-not-about-the-results-and-its-definitely-not-about-the-why

However, the moment we finished the big product luanch, the rest of the ideas came rolling back in.  A lot of them.  The dam broke and everything and everyone tries to take vie for position to be top priority.  This includes small things and big things.  We have the capacity to do about 3 big projects, and we are seeing about 8 big projects trying to get top spot.  Me and the team are trying to manage through all this.  Set priorities, expectations, and lots and lots of milkruns.  Some of this is resource constraints.  Some of it is just mind-share constraints.   

Eventually we will manage ourselves to the next big product launch, get alignment, and build the next big dam.  I do always find this por

My last post was a while ago (30 days ago).  And just like that post suggested, we did have a problem.   However, this problem came in the form of a large client wanting to help make our launch a success by financially promoting the product to their advertisers.  Great win for our sales team.  The problem became how do we accomodate their timelines and the financial issues in "the system".  We all immediately went into the mode of working this.  Been 10 days now and the team has performed great and reacted well to this challenge.   The financial windfall from this deal definitely helped motivate.  Never underestimate the power of a number with a lot of zeros has to clear roadblocks on a team.  

Along this same line though, I wanted to comment about how individuals approach issues.  I like to watch how people interact when an issue is brought up.  Some people will take an issue to a meeting and present the issue that they found.  And that's it.  They leave it there.  That is so frustrating.  It is a momentum killer.   Everyone gets spun up if you just go in and drop a bomb.  The appropriate way to handle that is to present the way you are going to defuse the bomb right after you drop it.  You need to tell people, "here's problem X, I think we can solve it by either doing A or B.  I'm going to let you know how we are going to handle this by the next meeting."  Something like that preserves momentum.  It manages expectations.  Dropping a bomb does nothing but cause issues.  Don't be a bomb dropper.  Be a bomb diffuser.  

Actually, there isn't a problem right now, but there will be sometime in the next 60 days. Times ticking away. We are in the middle of launch a major new product. One that requires coordination across all parts of the business. Many teams are involved. Sales and services need to be trained up. Major work to add new ways of billing and supporting this new product. Not to mention getting buy-in from internal and external stakeholders. Migrating existing customers. Not least, developing new features and scaling the system to handle new load.

We've worked hard to get momentum and buy-in. These are essential for a successful launch. We've done lots of planning to determine which areas are at risk and plan around even the long-tail use cases. We are really watching out for all the details.

However....

Something is going to happen. A problem will come up. One that derails our momentum, causes doubt in people, and tests our will. We, the business leaders should expect it. It's going to happen. There is no way it won't happen.

We'll need to pounce on it quickly and communicate often. Make people feel better. This is the key. It isn't about finding the problems before they happen. Sure, you need to do your best to do that. However, it takes too long to figure out every contingency, every detail. What you need to do is a reasonable amount of due diligence. Then, when the random problem you missed hits, you need to react with professionalism and use some of that good karma you've earned by working well with others. It isn't about the problem. It is how you react to the problem.

Oh yes, there will be problems. Yes there will. Here's to a fun start of 2012. Tick tock, tick tock.

Huge screen, fast speeds and the "new car smell" of Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.  I was looking forward to playing with this device and getting a feel for it.  For all the hype, and all the "newness" of it, I can't get it out of my head the disappointment of it.  It doesn't "just work".  

Want to get gmail and exhange mail on it?  There are two mail apps on the phone, and really find that to get it to work you need to download another, better, 3rd party mail app.  

Want to get music from the #1 music service (iTunes) onto your device?  The instructions in the Music app are vague at best.  I'm very technology inclined, but it took me 2 hours of trying to get music onto the device in an automated way so it will work going forward easily.  Playlists and all.  

Photos?  Haven't tried yet since music was so difficult.  

Anwyays, these are just quick examples.  This is not an in depth review.  But I was pretty stunned at how "rushed" the product feels.  Considering how many revisions Google has gone through with Android, I expected a little more polish and ease of use.  Yes, the beauty of the operating system is that I have a ton of choice and options.  I can add widgets, control my notifications well, and a bunch of flashy features.  But the things that should be easy, just aren't.  Yes, this is where Apple shines.  But I expected Google to be closer on this.  

The potential is there.  Can't wait until they begin to get it right.  For now, I'm going to stick with my iPhone.

Check out the book on Amazon

As our business grows, so does our business group growing pains.  We are finding it harder and harder to support all the people vying for our attention.  Our structure worked great for a long time.  Now it is time to change.   

Our product offering has the same challenges.  Originally, we were able to gain large adoption and market share based on solving a core market need.  But, by getting large adoption, we've shifted the market need.  Now the customer needs more.  We need to change the product structure to meet this need and to grow the product to the next level.  

Is there a central theme we can rally around?  I believe that central theme is "Delighting our Customers".  If that is the forefront of our conversations, then both product and structure will follow.