Comments

Tend to AGREE with ET's brilliance in general - though ELEGANCE [& EDIT] of/in DESIGN seems to MINIMALize any sense of OVERLOAD?

Posted by sean at October 10, 2006 1:28 PM

"To simplify, add detail". I think it's a great advise but (at least for me) quite hard to follow in the right way. It's too easy to get lost in a sea of unnecessary details.

Posted by Franc at October 10, 2006 1:48 PM

Dear Steve:

I think Mr. Edward Tufte is right.

It is very deep the simple thought he made. Because to truly use information you need to have an agile mind.

And an agile mind needs: good observation, analysis, synthesis, deliberation, alternative creation and proposal innovation.

Just as Mr. Kenichi Ohmae explain about business:

"Analysis is the critical starting point of strategic thinking".

"Besides the habit of analysis, what marks the mind of the strategist is an intellectual elasticity or flexibility that enables him to come up with realistic responses to changing situations, not to simply discriminate with great precision among different shades of gray".

http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Strategist-Art-Japanese-Business/dp/0070479046/sr=8-2/qid=1160506866/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-5743651-6607939?ie=UTF8

There fore simplicity is always best.

With best regards

Juan Miguel Robles Vargas
General Manager
Deisa
Guadalajara, Mexico

Posted by Juan Miguel Robles Vargas at October 10, 2006 2:14 PM

Pithy thoughts out of context sometimes confuse.

Posted by MarkJF at October 10, 2006 3:18 PM

In reading Mr Tufte's website I am delighted to see he has for many years succeeded in simplifying healthcare statistics with simple graphics and design ideas - that has to be a great thing. The amount of data available in healthcare is awesome and anyone with the obvious ability, talent, maybe genius of Mr Tufte is a great asset in making sense of all that data. Thank you Steve for alerting me to Mr Tufte’s work – I’m ashamed to say I had not come across him before now but will look out for more healthcare references of his work.

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 10, 2006 4:18 PM

Agree or not, Tufte has thought deeply about presentation and information. This forces people to think about what is being done with information.

I love "To simplify, add detail." It is similar to some commentary out there that says "To simplify matters, make them more complicated."

The idea is that until one gets enough detail and information out on the table, perhaps to an overload stage, the human mind won't want to try and simplify but, instead, argue all the exceptions.

By getting all the complications out there (add detail), one is finally able to summarize the important information to disseminate (to simplify).

Too many bullet-point PowerPoints, not enough communication...

Scot

Posted by Scot Herrick at October 10, 2006 5:25 PM

Tufte is "right" but I still live in a world where poorly designed information streams at me from more and more and more directions.

Perhaps some day I will have the chance to put on a pair of magic glasses and ear buds which will automatically screen and filter and organize all this mess. In the mean time, the poor quality of information coming from so many sources, tends to OVERWHELM the good stuff.

Want to do something cool and essential? How about giving me a SHORT list of resources which follow his advice and provide clarity in the midst of the muddle. Maybe THAT would help.

BT

Posted by BT Hathaway at October 10, 2006 5:39 PM

Generally, I think Tufte is right.

I completely agree with the Design aspect... its not just the visual... its the subliminal playing to how society usually tells stories or illustrates messages (ex: appropriate use of "reds" for "bad" or "green" for good.. especially in charts and tables). I also think building on a slide (layers) is valuable.... it contributes to the story and can make something busy in a handout come to life when presented.

As for adding detail - I also agree. Too often there is a single broad bullet... you loose the impact if there is not enough - at the same time you loose the audience with too much... its a balance ... with design in mind.

Posted by Dan Berty at October 10, 2006 6:58 PM

As humans we will delete what is not of interest and focus on what fascinates us and captures our attentint. ET is absolutely accurate.

Posted by Steve at October 10, 2006 7:39 PM

Oh, lordy, give me an executive summary anyday.
I don't want more detail unless I ask for it.

Don't have time or patience to wade through the details.

Posted by Kimber at October 10, 2006 8:11 PM

Good design is good business. Apple and a host of other companies have shown us that.

Funny thing. As a designer, when I have trouble solving a problem, it's almost always because I don't have enough information. When the information gets to a sufficient level, the solutions become obvious, things start to flow and I literally cannot shut off the ideas.

Posted by Paul Ambrose at October 10, 2006 11:35 PM

It's hard to disagree with the comments about information. The problem is that too often people a) throw too much raw or unfiltered data at you, without trying to extract meaningful information from it; or b) throw conclusions or assumptions at you without any summary of the data behind it.

It so basic but it always seems to come back to first thinking about what you want to say and secondly about how you will say it.

Posted by Mark JF at October 11, 2006 2:59 AM

Is information overload more about our ability to actually DO something with the information rather than the information itself or it's presentation?

Is it more action overload???

To me "how much detail?" often comes down to human relationships in teams - if you have a strong team made of different "types" you can spread the detail workload.

I wonder if we blame the data (i.e. too much information) when we should be looking at our human interactions and "who do I know who is an expert in this and can give me their judgement"

How do we mix Business Intelligence (which is the industry I work in - hard facts reporting analysis) with Emotional Intelligence across the organisation. How do we communicate and analyse both to the same level?

Posted by PaulH at October 11, 2006 3:07 AM

Steve,
VERY interesting.
The 'to simplify, add detail' makes me a bit nervous :) while 'There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design' looks a bit extreme! Is there design in every info we get in touch?
I whish there were one of his courses in Italy!
PierG
http://pierg.wordpress.com

Posted by PierG at October 11, 2006 3:15 AM

"There is no such thing as information overload, just bad design."

I couldn't agree more. There have been so many times that businesses I have worked in have developed streams of information that should give managers the tools they need to make informed decisions. Instead become floods of data through bad design.

Posted by AndrewN at October 11, 2006 4:00 AM

There seems to be more and more companies emerging to take on Mr. Tufte’s challenge of information overload. Just a few days ago, I came across an organization called XPlane. They create communication posters and images that can be used by executives to communicate very complicated topics, information, and business processes. The interesting point is that many technologists look down on this activity because it doesn’t have the rigor of data analysis. They left out the pain and complexity that we measure ourselves against. And God forbid that they actually make the complex seem simple and increase the overall understanding of the organization.

Posted by RTodd at October 11, 2006 5:59 AM

One of my designers attended a Tufte session two weeks ago and it opened our eyes to a new approach to our instructional content. His general principles are ones that we had already started to align around because the approach of simply throwing out "nice to know" versus "need to know" was failing us miserably (you need to know it all!). Unfortunately we are all surrounded with mindless bad design that is boring, uninspiring, and ineffective.

Unfortunately, many approaches to learning and instructional design reinforce this mentality by trying to make "design" the domain of the lowest common denominator. I have told my team that, if we are in that mode, we do not deserve our positions because the work can be done by the lowest bidder. Tufte’s words ring true but, like any truly awe-inspiring design, such work takes creativity and energy at a different level than following a rote process.

Posted by Rovy at October 11, 2006 7:30 AM

I think there are two areas of information dissemination that companies need to be addressed. The first is communicating in a focused, concise manner. The second is being direct. Taking five minutes (or five paragraphs)
to explain a simple concept while using the latest buzzwords is often an excercise in ego - nothing more.

Posted by John Schneider at October 11, 2006 9:22 AM

Inform yes, keep it simple yes, but do the analysis please, when execs can only decide in Red Amber Green (watch out in Excel 2007!) Recomendation based on an information based strategy has to be key, quality data lies at the heart of quality information and thus at the kernel of excellent decision making, it requires quality behaviour from the source. There always has to be challenge and review. From a self confessed data geek.

Posted by Patrick at October 11, 2006 11:12 AM

I'm in partial agreement. The mountains of data that come at us will only get worse (better!). If that is the definition of adding detail, I agree......if you can make sense of it and communicate it in a simple, easy to understand way for many diverse receivers (people).

Posted by Jeff at October 11, 2006 11:30 AM

jeff, I agree, its customer/recipient first, how about challenging yourself to 6 slides ever!

Posted by Patrick at October 11, 2006 11:36 AM

Information overload can result from sheer volume and have NOTHING to do with design.

"Break it down for me, player" is the call of the day. Call it design if you want (I love great design, but I think that's ET's seminar tactic). Think about all the bad books read. The problem is you don't know it's crap until you've read it, and by then you've wasted time reading it. Crap emails, cell phone calls and meetings (or seminars) accomplish the same thing. The sheer volume requires we do something with them. Even trashing them takes time. To deny we're overrun with information, much of it useless (albeit wonderfully designed), is in the words of Bob Sutton, "total non-sense." Where's the evidence?

One final thing about "ET's brillance", lots of folks think muddy water is deep.

Posted by Leonard Klaatu at October 11, 2006 12:47 PM

Ofcourse there is such a thing called INFORMATION OVERLOAD. Wikipedia defines it as ‘the state of having too much information to make a decision or remain informed about a topic’.

Actually, info-overload comes from having more information available than one can readily assimilate; this phenomenon is sometimes referred to as "techno stress”. Techno stress induces a correlated perception that users are being controlled by information and communication(s) technology (ICT) rather than being empowered by it.

I believe that people now have to spend more time studying the information than in the past, leading to reduced time for action, which is pathetic!

So, bottom-line my friend is Info-Overload DOES exist.

Posted by K.Sriram at October 12, 2006 4:48 AM

As a long-time Tufte fan, I say YES!! I used to teach technical writing, and on the first day I'd announce, "If you get nothing else out of the course, I want to get this: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE." By this I meant not only the obvious (do they read at a 12th-grade or 5th-grade level?), but, more important: what do they want and/or need to know, and how do you convey that to them most effectively? So Tufte is definitely singing my song.

A couple of issues that come to mind:

(1) "Adding detail" often has less to do with providing information than with showing the context. A bare statement of a problem often doesn't give us enough to go on; we can't make an informed decision unless we know who and what is involved, what the background is, what effects a certain choice will have vs. another choice, etc.

(2) "Design" is a way too fuzzy term; with regard to presenting information selectively, I'd rather invoke the concept of "story" (cf. Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind). That, along with keeping the "know your audience" principle in mind, can often clear the fog wonderfully.

Posted by Paula at October 12, 2006 4:12 PM

I think two of the most important concepts of Tufte are:

1 - Lying graphics - these are the infographics that "say" there is a small percentage increase but depict a larger one to get sympathy from the reader (i.e. itemize a 2% change in oil consumption yet the oil barrel graphics change by 2000% in size).

Since reading this bit of information I have continuously found this to be a problem in the media and I refocus my presentations and infographics to be truthful and just represent the facts. If my facts don't support my argument then I haven't done my research properly.

2 - Junk charts - these are things that detract from the actual reason a chart/diagram/infographic was put together. People may oooh and ahhh about how pretty it is but it doesn't actually get the information across. Junk works in the 'really pretty' or 'really poor' categories. How many meetings have you walked out and thought "she/he had nice graphs" instead of "wow. the information presented made sense". I know it has happened to me many times.

In short buy Tufte's books. Read his content over and over. It is difficult to apply his rules every time but baby steps get you somewhere as opposed to the same old way of today.

Posted by Thomas Frazier at October 13, 2006 6:39 AM

What does "Pitching out corrupts within" mean?

Posted by Wally Bock at October 15, 2006 10:25 AM