Some of you might recognize the title from Jerry Seinfeld’s AmEx commercial; if not, it refers to a type of pitch (to use a baseball reference) common in the sport of cricket.
Much-loved by members of the Commonwealth, the game has begun to gain attention in the U.S.
Whether watching Test Match cricket (the purest form of the pastime, with teams playing for up to 5 days and a draw the most likely outcome), or the significantly shorter “limited overs” versions, cricket offers the casual viewer a throwback to a time where amateurs played alongside professionals, the teams took “tea” together, and the uniforms were largely devoid of sponsor’s ads.
It is unfortunate, therefore, that England’s recent form in Test Match cricket is not particularly stellar. Road defeats to the West Indies, India, and, most galling, Australia, have thrown the nation into a period of mass soul-searching about how we might ressurect our Test team.
Thankfully, a crushing victory over the West Indies at home 2 weeks ago has been followed by a good opening day in the latest match. As I tracked the game through www.skysports.com, I noticed a new set of graphics designed to illustrate key trends. There was the “Manhattan”–a bar chart depicting runs scored each over–and the “Wagon Wheel” which showed how England had accumulated their runs around the field. The “Run Rate” line chart was less interesting, being essentially a straight line across the page (the run rate varying between 3 and 4 per over).
It got me thinking back to a presentation I gave at the recent Oracle Collaborate 09 conference in Orlando, Fl. In it, I talked about the use of graphics to display workforce data in a way that resonates with whoever your audience is–executives, line managers, HR generalists, etc.
For example it is important to understand how your audience typically views data (what charts are they accustomed to seeing?), to create graphics that overlay several data points without becoming too complex (a common rule of thumb is the 7-second test–if a colleague cannot identify the main teaching point of the graphic in that time, it probably needs to be edited), and not to assume that all who see the graphic will leave with identical findings–use text to outline the result/implication.
Sharing workforce data often means presenting metrics that are unfamiliar to your audience. As such, give some thought to how best to use graphics to quickly communicate the information in a way that simplifies, rather than complicates.
And here’s to England continuing their upswing against Australia in the summer!
Tags: cricket, data communication, graphics, HR Metrics, workforce metrics