Sometime during the 2nd half of 2013, I finished 10 years of Excel usage. In the last 10 years, I completed my studies, got my first job, married, had kids, visited 15 different countries, quit my job to start a business, bought first car, first house, made dozens of new friends, read 100s of books, wrote a book and learned 1000s of new things. And all along, Excel stayed a true companion. Right from MBA entrance exam preparation in 2003 to making my summer internship project reports in 2005 to planning my wedding expenses in 2007 to getting a promotion in 2009 to planning my kids feeding schedule in 2010 to running a successful business in 2014, Excel helped me in every step.
So today, I want to tell you the top 10 things I learned using Excel in last decade. Grab a hot cup of coffee, buckle your belts and get ready for time travel.
Late 2003 & 2004: Using Excel to track exam prep & making sales reports using Excel + Java!!!
During 2003, I got my first job as software engineer. I used work more roughly 10 hours a day + 2 hour commute. This left me with very little time to prepare for MBA entrance exams. So I used Excel to plan my time efficiently, track my preparation progress, mistakes made in mock examinations and test scores. Everyday before sleep I used to review the Excel workbook to understand how I can improve, where I am struggling. If any of you remember the Active Desktop feature of Windows 2000, I used it to show the Excel workbook as my desktop wallpaper so that it was never out of sight.
Although the workbook was not very sophisticated, it helped me greatly in securing admission to one of the best MBA colleges in India.
During my work as software engineer, I got an interesting challenge. I was asked to create Excel based sales reports from Java / JSP code. Back then, there is no API to directly create Excel files from Java. So I used Apache’s POI HSSF (Poor Obfuscation Interface – Horrible Spread Sheet Format) to create a Java class called as ExcelBridge. This can take raw data (from MySQL) and convert it in to Sales report Excel workbook. Last heard, my company & their clients are still using ExcelBridge to publish sales reports.
Although ExcelBridge is a complex piece of work, I learned little about Excel thru it. I had a colleague (Roja), who knew how to format Excel files, how to use VB Script, so she helped me with Excel part while I focused on Java & MySQL.
Things learned: coloring cells, using Excel to track data.
2005: IF()
Later when I joined B-School, I had to learn how to use formulas like IF() to model real world situations. And boy oh boy, that proved to be a very difficult experience. I still remember that one afternoon when I spent more than 2 hours trying to debug the IF() formula.
Later in 2005 during my summer internship, I learned how to use Pivot tables to analyze survey data. Although I made the reports, I did not have a clue as to what pivot tables were doing.
A part of Excel report made during my summer internship. Don’t ask me what it says.
Things learned: IF formula and few others, very little bit of VBA coding
2006: Analyzing data
By July 2006, I started working as business analyst with a leading IT company in India. During my first 4 months, all I was doing is analyzing data in Excel and making presentations. This was a very intense learning experience. During one of the assignments, I was analyzing annual reports of 70 Fortune 500 insurance companies using Excel. Lots of numbers, text and details.
It became obvious that to shine as a business analyst I must be very good in Excel & Power Point. So I used make Excel files modeling many problems from my personal life, like planning my retirement. Here is one such thing I made in 2006.
Things learned: formulas, charting concepts, creating & maintaining large workbooks.
2007: Modeling, more analysis
During 2007, one of the work projects required that I visit Hong Kong to meet a Chinese health insurance company and understand their claims process. If you have ever had a health insurance claim, you know what complex cobweb it is. Not only I had to understand that, but I had to explain it in Excel (and Word) so our coding team can create programs to improve the claims process. This made me understand the true power of Excel. My colleague (Eldhose) & I created elaborate models to explain the claims process, classification of diseases, treatment procedures and more.
Things learned: how to use data validation & form controls can help in user interactivity and controlling formulas.
2008: Gantt Charts and Conditional Formatting
For a few weeks in early 2008, I became a makeshift project manager. One of the first things I had to do was to create a plan and share with it our client. I quickly whipped up a Gantt chart using Excel. Our clients loved the plan that they asked me to continue full-time.
2008 is also the year I started writing more often about Excel on Chandoo.org. Until then, Chandoo.org used to be a mixed bag with lots of personal stories, rants and observations.
This Gantt chart almost got me a promotion.
Things learned: using features like formulas & conditional formatting to make gantt charts.
2009: SUMPRODUCT, Tables, Charts & Reports
By 2009, I was managing a small team of business analysts and started working with another insurance giant in Sweden. Most of my work involved reporting, analysis and meetings. Naturally, Excel became my ally as I was making charts, reports, trackers and presentations almost everyday. Whatever I was learning, I used to post it on Chandoo.org (I still do.) SUMPRODUCT also became my best friend as I had to calculate numbers based on various criteria. And Tables became the greatest ally. I used them everywhere.
Things learned: SUMPRODUCT, Excel Tables, chart customization, tweaking and building better charts.
2010: Dashboards
Although I started learning about Dashboards in 2008 (thanks to my good friend Robert’s excellent KPI dashboard articles), by 2010 I was making them more often. New features in Excel 2010 like slicers, sparklines helped me even more.
In 2010, I quit my job finally to work on Chandoo.org full time. Naturally I started using Excel to manage my business. 2010 is also the start of a really intense and rapid learning phases in my life. I learned new concepts and usages of Excel almost every week since then. Since I do not want to keep this knowledge, I started Excel School program. Now thousands of people all over the world are Excel pros, thanks to this course.
An example dashboard you will learn in Excel School
Things learned: Creating and formatting better looking dashboards
2011: VBA & Macros
Although I have been coding in VB since 1999, I have not used it with Excel very much until 2011. So during late 2010, I started brushing up my VBA concepts and by early 2011 I was building small apps and cool things with VBA. With the confidence I gained in VBA, I launched our VBA Classes so that many more of you can become awesome in VBA & Macros.
One of the many VBA apps I built
Things learned: VBA, Macros, Excel 2010 slicers
2012: Improving my analysis skills
In 2012, I focused on improving my analytical skills. I spent a lot of time using pivot tables, formulas and charts to analyze my own business data, examples shared by readers on Chandoo.org. Some of this can be seen in customer service dashboard, analyzing 20,000 comments, Usain Bolt vs. Rest and Excel salary survey dashboards.
Things learned: Advanced data analysis, dashboard special effects thru VBA
2013: PowerPivot
During late 2012, I started learning PowerPivot. Although, PowerPivot has been around for a few years, I never used it well until then. I bought a few books and by early 2013, I became proficient in PowerPivot, DAX and creating awesome dashboards with it. I took all these beautiful ideas and packaged them in to my online Power Pivot classes, which helped more than thousand people become awesome.
An example Power Pivot dashboard we discuss in Power Pivot class
Things learned: PowerPivot, DAX, Data Explorer (now Power Query).
So what is in store for 2014?
I am really excited about 2014. This year, I am hoping to dip my feet in to Power View, more ways to analyze data, smarter formulas and creating better looking charts.
What about you?
What are you planning to learn this year? Please share in comments.
37 Responses to “Pie of a Pie of a Pie chart [Good or Bad?]”
If I could have the same quality of graphics and illustration in Office Apps, I would certainly use it.
If I could have the same quality of graphics in Office Apps (Excel, PPT) I would certainly use it.
Chandoo,
First, let me say I love your blog. I like this post, and I think that technically (in terms of readability of data) your argument is correct. The bar of bars, and the table, are much better for readability and accuracy, and as you say would be much easier to produce.
But these points ignore the context of the chart. If the chart was part of a scientific paper, your solution would be a valid one. The context in this case is an illustrated atlas of wildlife. A companion graphic to go with written text. The importance of aesthetic goes up over readability and accuracy. Much of the data and points (I assume) will be covered in the text.
There's always a pure technical tufte-esque argument. But I sometimes think it ignores the value of aesthetics. (Which I admit are quite subjective)
Great post though. Thanks.
The Treemap makes the scope of the data much clearer! The 3D pie chart depiction is deceptive.
This reminds me of the videos ive seen on the internet where it compares the relative sizes of the earth with the larger planets, then the sun, then other stars in the galaxy. Eventually there is an image showing the largest star in the sky with a little pixel representing the sun.
My point is if you varied the size of the charts it would help convey the message. The first chart (salt vs fresh) would be the biggest and the rest would be arranged in descending order. I feel this would be more accurate.
It may be helpful to consider the advice of Steven Few and Edward Tufte regarding pie charts in general. To summarize, they are seldom the most useful way to present data. Here's Few's thoughtful piece on the subject.
http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/08-21-07.pdf
Try putting the percentages on the bar charts instead of actual amounts. Lakewater would be .013 % instead of 52.
That is very good pie chart example.
Please send example file if it is possible.
It will work , even though colors may be confusing , it can be labeled well . Also it can be called as the drilled chart , as it drills in information further , like the first chart may show business in a region , second may drill into a particular region , thrid may further drill into wat products are there in that region . It works well for me , i would more vote for the 2 nd option .
Overall all this site is awesome ,
p.s : just like me
The risk with pie of a pie of a pie chart is that Jon may have a seizure by looking at it. Also, it isn't easy to read. 😉
I dunno. The only thing worse than a pie chart is a cascading series of pie charts. I don't even think they really lend themselves to this sort of thing. It just becomes a big hide-the-ball game with your viewer.
Those goofy connectors between the pies are pure chart junk. I can't really tell if the second chart has 2 series or 3 - because the connector is a different color than the 2 labeled slices. Despite that, even whereas the drill down kind of works, still the individual components suffer from the same old weaknesses that 3d pie charts have.
Use a large bar chart as your "cover story", and fill in the sub points with smaller bar charts - or even go grab the Fabrice SFE project for extra butter. Use page orientation, color, and some text styles to guide your audience through the drill downs.
FWIW, if you check out the guy's site, you can find several other truly mortifying charts:
http://www.andrewdavies.com.au/index.html
The methane emissions one is particularly heinous. Although, I'm kind of debating what I think about the 'Glacier Changes" chart. I'd kind of like to see the data on that to see how it would look in a more traditional horizon chart.
Thank you, that was scary. I don't understand the "Glacier changes" Chart at all...
Its a very nice way to represent the data, especially when we have sets and sub-sets within the data.
I like these!
Except for the fact that they aren't dynamic and hence must be setup manually each time
It would also be nice if they could be interrogated as in select a different segment and the new data falls out automagically, but then none of the standard Excel charts do that either.
I'd like it better if the bars were stacked. How about this idea (I hope I can convey it in words):
First bar is vertical and stacked.
Second bar is horizontal, stacked horizontally and the same proportion had it been on the first bar.
Third bar is vertical, stacked vertically and the same proportion had it been on the second bar.
Then it would really look like you are zooming on the chart, like the Powers of Ten video, or maybe like the golden ration spiral.
These looks shunting but setting up for each step makes kicks them out. However if these can be arranged automatically by native excel or by VBA, these will be the part of my "Archery"
I agree with Chandoo's Suggestion about the Bar Graph which represents data in a very appropriate manner. Even I prefer doing the same. I seldom use Pie Chart unless required.
That's a real nice example of a missleading infographic. But to be honest, I think chandoos suggestion is not much better!
Why are pie charts bad? I think because they don't show the real size-relations. The biggest pie in that example ist 300k big. The 2nd one has only the size of 10k, about 3% of the first one. Niether the pies nor the bars show the real sizes. I jnow, it's hard to show the sizes because the values of the second and the third pie are so small. But that's what visualization are about - showing relations to allow the reader to see the real sizes!
So how to show the real figures?
First possibility is o use a 1:1 scaling. Well then, you need a very big screen to show also after a 90° rotation, wihich I would prefer because it's a structural comparison and not a timeline. Maybe that solution is not the perfect way.
The other chance you have is to zoom in but to really show that you zoom in! http://www.pro-chart.de/images/Water_Fall.png maybe gives you a first impression what i mean. (i was a quick try, done in 10 minutes)
The next way is, maybe to fold the bars like in the financial report 2011 of the Post of Switzerland page 22. That chart is based on an excel chart. Maybe can explain you how to do it 😉
Financial Statement: http://www.post.ch/en/post-startseite/post-berichterstattung/post-berichterstattung-service/post-berichterstattung-downloads/post-gb-2011-finanzbericht.pdf
page 22: http://www.pro-chart.de/images/FS_Schweizer_Post.png
A way that is not so very common is to divide the bars in a lot of single datapoints. So maybe the 390k bar then consists of about 5,000 single datapoint. That's not possible - it is! Have a look:
http://www.pro-chart.de/images/Dotted_WF.png
It's pure excel!
Now one single point ist 0,2% of the whole (in the example above). Add more datapoints and you can visulize the very big and the very small numbers!
Wish you a lot of fun - visualizing with excel can be very powerful!
Joerg
...if you would like to know how these charts work, just send an email to J.Decker@pro-chart.de
Hey Joerg,
I don't dig so much the dotted waterfall thing. But this is kind of awesome:
http://www.pro-chart.de/images/FS_Schweizer_Post.png
Can you help me on the bar of bar graph? Would it be possible to create that from pivot table? Can you show me how to create the bar of bar graph?
do nothing but say "Awesome!"
You are a Rock star.....This seemed an answer as if someone was reading my mind and just had the solution to my questions on what I exactly was looking for .....What a Fab !!
can u explian me step by step
Can anyone please explain how to make this chart please.
Do you mean the pie of a pie chart or the folded bar chart?
Joery PIE OF PIE Chart please
Can someone please explain how to make PIE OF PIE Chart.
@Mandeep
The last line of the post is:
PS: If you want to know to create this pie of pie of pie chart in excel, see here.
Due to forum migration, link is now:
http://chandoo.org/forum/threads/multiple-pie-chart.7343/
Hi... i love these charts.... can any one show me how to draw these charts in excel 2010
@Vamshi
The very last line of the post refers you to:
PS: If you want to know to create this pie of pie of pie chart in excel, see here. http://chandoo.org/forums/topic/multiple-pie-cahrt
Where is the attachment....it used to be there...i have seen this before but now i am not able to find...
See this:
http://img.chandoo.org/playground/WaterDistribution-chandoo.xlsx
And this:
http://chandoo.org/forum/threads/how-do-you-create-this-chart.9743/
Normally I don't learn post on blogs, however I would like to
say that this write-up very compelled me to try and do so!
Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you,
quite great article.
This is very impressive, I would like to learn how to build this for myself. I have tried for some time now, is there a step by step process on how to create these waterfall pie of pie charts?
I am novice to excel and use it very seldom. But your blog contains to the point information one needs to get going.
I was searching for a trick to do a Pie chart drill down - for example the first pie chart shows how the prices are distributed between perishable and non-perishable items.
Now if we want to know how the perishable items are distributed - one can click the segment and it will draw another pie chart with distribution of all different perishable items (milk,meat,fruit,veg etc)
So do you have any such trick?
Regards,
electrojit
I like the look of your pie of pie of pie chart, although I understand that the relative size of each pie does not represent the actual percentages.