Normalization.

A very simple concept and yet so complex!

Recently I saw a graph, with a bunch of plots combined together. The bright colors and the steep rise made conveyed a feeling of accomplishment felt by the team. …But the mood was only somber. I had done my research upfront and had an inkling of the problem on hand.

The graph was perfect representation of the effort the project team had invested. Kudos to them! But as a general manager shuffling a portfolio with tangible deliverables in terms of short term volume and profit and long term positioning them, did not offer much solace. The funny thing though was the graphs were part of a deck that was being projected to convey overall success of the program.

I began to wonder, what was the gist of this gap in communication? It dawned on me, NORMALIZATION!

What is worse is people blame graphs. These are simply lines within a frame of scales, they don’t have any intelligence. The interpretation is driven by the reader, the audience based on their presentation.

The way I think of it NORMALIZATION is to DATA what CONTEXT is to CONVERSATIONS!