Now that online team meetings and events have been part of our new daily routine since coronavirus, it was time to escape the daily grind and provide some new input.
The first Corona-compliant online training course was held at Modelyzr. The lucky participants were colleagues from the consulting and analyst department. They had two days of training in the field of data visualization ahead of them. This was carried out by an external training institute.
Day 1:
It started with a round of introductions. After the head of the training course began, the Modelyzr colleagues continued. This allowed the training manager to gain an initial impression of the participants’ mood and, in particular, their expectations of the training. Even at this early stage, the online tool Mentimeter provided an initial insight into the possibilities of visualizations.
We then got straight into the specific topic of the training. Using the data science lifecycle and its phases, a uniform picture was created, on the basis of which methods and terminology of data visualization were explained. This also led to an initial discussion about the relevance and areas of application of the pie chart.
However, when cake is on everyone’s lips, coffee can’t be far behind. So after the intensive round of discussions, there was the first short coffee break, which allowed colleagues to indulge their dreams of a fresh coffee infusion.
However, things quickly moved on again. Requirements engineering, with the aim of visualizing the wishes in the best possible way, was on the agenda. To this end, the design thinking and user story workshop already familiar to the team was examined in more detail and existing data visualization standards were presented.
At the end of the day, there was an initial introduction to a design framework for data science projects in data visualization processes. These were then used by small groups to create possible implementations of a sketch relating to various fictitious use cases specified by the training management. It quickly became apparent that none of the groups were afraid to dig deep into their bag of tricks and so, in addition to the familiar bar or line charts, heat maps and bubble charts, for example, were already found on the manually created dashboards.
Day 2
The second day began with an awareness exercise focusing on breathing, followed by an emotional survey using mentimeters, as on the previous day.
The last day was then taken up with a wrap-up and the results of the practical session were presented by the groups. The trainer provided feedback, comments and suggestions for improvement before continuing with the design framework. The focus was now on the dashboard guidelines.
The different types of users and visualization structures were presented and the aspects to be considered when visualizing were discussed. In addition, examples of good visualizations and no-gos were listed.
Several new insights were gained in the process. Among other things, the data-to-ink ratio provided the modelers with an aha moment.
At this point, the one or other nervous glance into the empty coffee cup was noticed, so that a short break was unanimously called.
After the refreshing (coffee) break, the program continued.
The last item on the theoretical agenda for the time being related to storytelling with data, with reference to both the procedure and the effect of this. Here, too, there was a great deal of interest. This was due to the fact that the question of how results can be better packaged in a story had already arisen several times in the weeks leading up to the training.
In the final practical session, the time had come. The knowledge gained from the two days of training was to be applied to the MDZ team’s old data visualizations. The aim was to uncover potential for improvement, but also to identify what was already good.
The continuous lively participation of the participants culminated in the listing of good-practice aspects and suggestions for improvement, after the training concluded with an excursion into emotional design and a final round of feedback.
The feedback from the satisfied participants was clear: Finally some variety and, above all, lots of new, interesting and instructive input for new momentum at Modelyzr! 😊
