Here is the big hairy question of the week. What is your opinion on Pie Charts?
Pie charts are one of the most used charts in the world. And for obvious reasons: they are simple to create and easy to understand.
When it comes to pie chart, I have no clear opinion. Part of me says use them, the other says avoid them. The debate about pie charts is not just internal. Last time when Seth Godin included pie charts in his 3 laws of great presentation,
The problem with bar charts is that they should either be line/area charts (when graphing a change over time, like unemployment rates) or they should be a simple pie chart (when comparing two or three items at the same scale).
there was so much furor in the data visualization blogosphere that Seth even did a follow up post comparing bars with pie charts, where he says,
The pie chart contains far less data, but the point is obvious: Trolls are where we should focus our energy.
That’s why you use it. …
I stepped on the toes of many data presentation purists yesterday, so let me reiterate my point to make it crystal clear: In a presentation … the purpose of a chart or graph is to make one point, vividly. Tell a story and move on.
Personally I think pie charts provide great utility at very little cost:
- They are very easy to create
- Very very easy to understand (provided the data has some contrast, if your numbers are like 43,44,45,46, there is little chance that anyone can understand the resulting pie chart and make out which one is large and which one is small)
But, I also think they are easy to abuse (one reason why you see way too many pie charts compared to other charts).
Here is what I think cripples a pie chart from being effective:
- Too many data points. A pie chart would probably be effective up to 4 values, anything more and you better have a strong story behind it for people to read and interpret. For eg. the pie chart shown to the right is used in Google Analytics reports. This compares browsers used by visitors of a site and even though there are probably hundreds of browsers, only 2 are prominent, so the pie still works.
Poor use of color. The purpose of color in most visualizations is to bring contrast. To separate apples from oranges. To throw light where your story lies. But most programs that are used to generate pie charts have poor (and often scary) color choices. When you use poor color combinations, the result will be drastic. But this blame is not on the person making pie charts, but on the pie chart software. See the example aside from clearlyandsimply to see what contrast means.- Making Pie charts that are difficult to compare. The purpose of pie charts is to provide comparison. So when we make a pie chart that has poor ability to compare, we are already lost. That means we should avoid all the flashy formatting, 3d pie charts, 3d donuts and layered donuts etc. Also, whenever possible, try Using data labels, using color and if nothing works, try using other types of charts for comparison. After all, we are not selling pie charts, we are selling our stories.
Ok, now the ball is in your court (or the pie is in your plate).
What do you think about pie charts?
Do you prefer them or do you consciously avoid them ?
How do you think pie charts can be put to better and greater use ?
Your turn…
Earlier on pie charts: Why no one likes your pie & what to do about it? | In cell pie charts | 22 beautiful pie chart templates for excel
27 Responses to “9 Box grid for talent mapping – HR for Excel – Template & Explanation”
Great stuff! I can understand how to add a slicer to the pivot table, but how do you implement the departmental selector on the 'Filter' formula scheme?
Just saw this on your Youtube channel, and it’s areat idea...!
An easy way to overcome the "ugliness" of pivot tables and get it to look nice (in the format of the Output sheet), would be to simply build a sheet with the nice map at the top, a pivot underneath it and a slicer next to formatted map and then reference each of the 9 cells in the formatted map to the “related” cell in the Pivot.
Keep up the good work!
/Claus
Thanks Claus. That is a great idea 🙂
Hi Chandoo,
This is great! Curious how to make additional columns operate the same as the Department column (ex. have a "manager column") that would allow you to sort a 9 box by manager, area, or team in addition to department?
Feel free to email me if needed! mfry01@minnetronixmedical.com
Happy New Year
Madison Fry
I am curious about the smae thing. I would like to populate the 9 box with other views as well by adding additional columns. IE., I would like to add location, region, etc. Thank you.
This is great, thank you!
How can i see the whole data set of all the teams in the output table. Need a formula that will pick up all the employees
Hello,
Love the template. Thank you. Question - the drop down to pick a department on the Output tab does not seem to work on the downloadable template. Am I doing something incorrectly?
Thank you!
Hi Heather... Thank you. I am using Excel 365 to make the calculations. If you are using an older version of Excel, then the drop-down filter won't work.
Hi
I was able to follow your 9 box grid and modified based my needs. However, you tutorial did not show how to you create the filter for the "Pick a department. Can you kindly share how to create that filter that updated the grid. Thank you.
I am working on this project but I am struggling with the data validation for the department. I copy the worksheets data entry and output as the managers want to see different tabs for each managers.
I updated the source reference for each tab but It does not update the grid based on the new source. The list was updated but it does not populate the grid based on the performance and potential listed.
In addition the hyperlink Update Data and View Talent Map no longer works. Can you please help me.
I keep getting this error message in the pivot table:
This formula is invalid or incomplete: 'The expression is not valid or appears to be incomplete. Please review and correct the expression.
The following syntax error occurred during parsing: Invalid token, Line 1, Offset 14, ‘.
Hi, I used your 9-box excel template with excel 365. First off, thank you so very much. It is incredibly helpful!! My only question is that the boxes aren't big enough for all of the employees (specifically the middle which we call 'Core Employee'). Is there a way to make the boxes larger? Even though it is in excel, I am not able to increase row height (like I normally do in a speadsheet). Any ideas? Thanks again, Jody
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the great content. Re. 9 box grid, pls advise how do I increase the size of the box to accommodate more names?
Hi Chandoo,
I figured it out. Excel 365 has the format row height on the ribbon. Thank you
Merci Chandoo pour le modèle proposé,
j'ai une question et un souhait est il possible de développer davantage ce modèle en insérant la photo de chaque employé.
Hi Chandoo!
Great tutorial and tool, thank you! Your tutorial didn't include how to create additional filters on the "Output" tab. Could you please share how you did it?
Can this be done exactly in google sheets?
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the video it was really helpful. Is there any way to multi select the dropdown to display multiple or all departments rather than just one at once?
Hello Prish
I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is?
Many thanks
Hello Jody, I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is? Many thanks
Is there a way to change the 9 box wording descriptions, i.e. Work Horses, to our own internal langauge?
You can edit the file. The descriptions are textboxes.
Hi Chandoo, this is awesome and has worked perfectly. Due to a big organisation the 9 box grid on the output file is too small. I tried adjusting using the row/width ribbon under the format ribbon however it doesn't seem to work. Is there an easier way to adjust this?
Thanks!
When I drag the formula, it doesn't work, and the order I use with the data changes. In the beginning, the order is it is " candidates," " potential," and " performance," but when it goes to another column, it is " Potential," Performance," and "Candidates."Can you help me? Thank you very much, sending love from vietnam
Hi- I am working on the 9 grid project and I am trying to expand the box since I have over 100 names on a few of the columns. How do I do that?
Hi, Thank you this is great stuff and really useful.
As well as department as demonstrated on your clip, how can I display all candidates on the grid at once?
Many thanks in advance