Chapter 1 · Practice 1 of 4
Write the chart's message in a sentence before you draw it
Why it matters
The Analysis Function's chart guidance says that if you cannot write down the message your chart gives in a few sentences, you should rethink the chart. A message is a finding, not a topic:
| Topic (weak) | Message (strong) |
|---|---|
| Sign-ups by month | Sign-ups doubled after the free tier launched in March |
| Tickets by team | Two teams handle 70% of support tickets |
| Latency distribution | Most requests are fast, but a long tail exceeds 2 seconds |
The message decides the chart type, what to highlight, what to leave out, and the title. If you have several messages, you probably need several charts.
Do
- Write the message first, then check the finished chart shows it at a glance