Friends and supporters of Chandoo.org,
I am very happy to tell you about another great way to learn Excel & stay awesome
Chandoo.org podcast
That is right. As part our mission to make you awesome in Excel, this year I will be adding a podcast.
A podcast eh? Why?
Let me tell you a story first. One of my goals for 2014 is to increase my stamina. So on Jan 1st of 2014, I opened Nike + app on my iPhone, went to coach feature and selected “Run 10K” as my first goal. It has been 3 years since I ran 10k. So I wanted to get back in the game to improve my fitness and health. The app suggested an 8 week program to help me reach 10k. It sounded difficult, as I had to run more than 250 KM in 8 weeks. But I pushed on. As of today, I am at 177. I know I missed a few days here and there, but I already ran 10K thrice since starting and I feel good about where I am today.
Dude… what are you talking about? I am here to know about the podcast!
I am coming to that. To give me company during the runs, I choose a bunch of podcasts. This is the first time in my life I paid serious attention to podcasts. It is a fruitful experience. Every time I go for a jog, not only I am getting healthier, but also smarter. I realized how powerful, effective and useful podcasting can be. So I thought, “Why not provide similar experience to our readers?”
And thus born the idea of Chandoo.org Podcast.
How will the podcast help you?
I am still at the drawing board when it comes to our show. But here is what you will gain,
- Strategies & tactics: You will learn about various spreadsheet design strategies, tactics, tricks and ideas I follow. You will learn how to handle tricky situations (like lots of data, changing requirements, dynamic everything, no vba etc.).
- Whats new: What is happening the world of spreadsheets, data analysis, visualization, reporting & self-service BI. My views & opinions mixed with latest industry trends.
- Tips & Tricks: Excel tips, tricks, ideas that are easy to remember and quick to implement.
- Interviews: Interviews with fellow Excel gurus, bloggers, MVPs and authors. Hopefully we get to feature Microsoft Excel team members, industry leaders and other prominent figures.
- Case studies & Personal experiences: Explanations on projects, things I am learning and how to manage large-scale spreadsheet development projects.
- Book & Product Reviews: I read a lot of books on data analysis. I also come across quite a few add-ins, templates, Excel courses. My views and recommendations on the same so that you can make informed decisions.
- Ask Chandoo: Send me your questions. I will answer them in the podcast.
- Announcements: Announcements about my upcoming training programs, live classes or products so that you can make the best use of them.
When is it launching?
In the first week of May. I will share more details once we are ready to go. Few more things:
- It is free and awesome. Just like our articles, tutorials & examples.
- You can subscribe to it thru iTunes, Zune or other popular pod-casting directories.
- You can also listen to it from our site.
- Full episodes, show notes, resources and downloadable templates will be posted on our site.
- I am hoping to do a show once every 2 weeks. Lets see how this goes.
What should we call it?
If all of this sounds interesting, here is how you can help.
I am still not sure what to call this podcast. I have a few options for the name. Can you suggest one?
The names I am thinking are,
- Awesome.xls
- Speaking Cells
- Become Awesome Analyst Podcast
- Chandoo.org Podcast
Can you tell me which one should I use? Post your choice in the comments.
PS: If you don’t like any of these names, suggest some.
14 Responses to “Group Smaller Slices in Pie Charts to Improve Readability”
I think the virtue of pie charts is precisely that they are difficult to decode. In many contexts, you have to release information but you don't want the relationship between values to jump at your reader. That's when pie charts are most useful.
[...] link Leave a Reply [...]
Chandoo,
millions of ants cannot be mistaken.....There should be a reason why everybody continues using Pie charts, despite what gurus like you or Jon and others say.
one reason could be because we are just used to, so that's what we need to change, the "comfort zone"...
i absolutely agree, since I've been "converted", I just find out that bar charts are clearer, and nicer to the view...
Regards,
Martin
[...] says we can Group Smaller Slices in Pie Charts to Improve Readability. Such a pie has too many labels to fit into a tight space, so you need ro move the labels around [...]
Chandoo -
You ask "Can I use an alternative to pie chart?"
I answer in You Say “Pie”, I Say “Bar”.
This visualization was created because it was easy to print before computers. In this day and age, it should not exist.
I think the 100% Bar Chart is just as useless/unreadable as Pies - we should rename them something like Mama's Strudel Charts - how big a slice would you like, Dear?
My money's with Jon on this topic.
The primary function of any pie chart with more than 2 or 3 data points is to obfuscate. But maybe that is the main purpose, as @Jerome suggests...
@Jerome.. Good point. Also sometimes, there is just no relationship at all.
@Martin... Organized religion is finding it tough to get converts even after 2000+ years of struggle. Jon, Stephen, countless others (and me) are a small army, it would take atleast 5000 more years before pie charts vanish... patience and good to have you here 🙂
@Jon .. very well done sir, very well done.
good points every one...
I've got to throw my vote into Jon's camp (which is also Stephen Few's camp) -- bars just tend to work better. One observation about when we say "what people are used to." There are two distinct groups here (depending on the situation, a person can fall in either one): the person who *creates* the chart and the person who *consumes* the chart. Granted, the consumers are "used to" pie charts. But, it's not like a bar chart is something they would struggle to understand or that would require explanation (like sparklines and bullet graphs). Chart consumers are "used to" consuming whatever is put in front of them. Chart creators, on the other hand, may be "used to" creating pie charts, but that isn't an excuse for them to continue to do so -- many people are used to driving without a seatbelt, leaving lights on in their house needlessly, and forwarding not-all-that-funny anecdotes via email. That doesn't mean the practice shouldn't be discouraged!
[...] example that Chandoo used recently is counting uses of words. Clearly, there are other meanings of “bar” (take bar mitzvah or bar none, for [...]
[…] Grouping smaller slices in pie chart […]
Good article. Is it possible to do that with line charts?
Hi,
Is this available in excel 2013?