Data visualization is essentially a graphical representation of data and information. Visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps enable simplifying trends, outliers and patterns in data.
Data visualization is psychological, and the benefits of visual data representation go far beyond just graphs and colors. It's the way the human brain processes and understands information. Data visualization helps the human brain to maximize pre-attentive processing and to go directly to the story behind the data. Such visual displays and representation of knowledge help to communicate complex data relationships and data-driven insights in a way that makes it easy to understand and base decisions on. Data visualization aims to help identify patterns and trends from large data sets.
Visual project management is relatively new and integrates visual tools and data visualization methodologies with traditional project communication, reporting and other practices. This approach leverages the techniques of presenting data and information with visually rich constructs that improve awareness and understanding of a project's information data points and key performance metrics.
Project management is a data-rich business activity and project management practitioners capture, manipulate, transform and communicate a considerable volume of individual project data points. These data points can be about labor estimates, capital and operational expenses, task lists, performance metrics, calendars, cost-benefit analysis, risk profiles and much more.
Benefits of data visualization in project management
• Project status reports - Project status reports can monitor the progress of a project throughout its lifecycle. It can visually summarize the project's expectations and progress. It can quickly communicate any lapse or areas that need immediate attention. It can be used to communicate milestones achieved and provide a visual representation of the finances and budget of the project.
• Timeline charts - Using data visualization, it's easy to map the timeline from start to finish. It helps stakeholders visually check the progress made. A project will have multiple teams working on separate areas of the project and a timeline chart lays out the progress made by each team in a visual format. It helps recalibrate the resource, time and supply management to ensure that projects finish on time.
Burndown charts give an example of how data visualization helps save time by cutting down on planning and providing updated information for the whole team on the progress of a project. It can help individual team members evaluate daily performance and prioritize as needed. Additions or deletions to the group can be easily monitored using this visual chart, saving time and energy from going through the email documentation to understand who is in and who is out.
• Risk management - Risk management is an essential part of any project and has the potential to change the course of the project. Visualizing the risks associated with the project or as the project progresses helps stakeholders prioritize tackling issues or using opportunities as they arise. A risk dashboard can help the project teams be efficient, quickly understand the risks, and take steps to mitigate them.
• Communication is the key to creating strong teams and joint forces to achieve successful outcomes in project management. Data visualization is the right tool to communicate ideas and thoughts more clearly. It helps effectively communicate to the stakeholders and team members. It offers a better way to communicate complex information. A project dashboard can be set up to track the metrics and turn them into visual graphs and charts.
• Collaboration - Team collaboration is vital for any project to succeed. Data visualization tools support collaboration and project managers can use visual tools and techniques such as a project display and collaboration wall, social media and more to ensure that all the project members are in sync about the project and their responsibilities.
• Managing dependencies - Project work is interdependent & each team assigned to do its part has to complete its task in a given timeline for the project to move ahead. Visualizing project tasks and the connections between them can help save precious time. Data visualization helps in this aspect by clearly detailing the dependencies and assisting teams in moving forward.
• Backlog prioritization - Prioritizing backlogs is an essential part of project management, without which the project may get delayed or even fail. Using data visualization, stakeholders can easily define the priorities and the steps to remove the backlog and move ahead. By entering the data of work and then generating visual representations, a project team can find it easier to collaborate and take care of backlogs or stoppages.
In conclusion, project management is more than just managing the project scope, deliverables, communications and teams. A project management team has to collect the voluminous project data and present the data to the stakeholders in a practical, quick and easy way. The era of a text-based, multi-page project presentation and communication is over. Using an experienced data visualization consulting company can help businesses take advantage of data and leverage it to present and complete projects successfully.