Connecting data to tell a story through reporting

Two different takeaways of data leads to broken strategies between teams.

The story of a storm, seen through two different lenses

A few years ago, in DFW, a storm came through that was among the most intense I’ve experienced recently. As we were looking at the street flooding and my yard looking like a pond, I told our son to come check it out. This became a lightbulb moment.

What he saw was just a bunch of blur from all the rain. I kept pointing to the right side of the yard and trying to explain that the french drains were just totally overloaded and the road was rushing. Still nothing from him.

No excitement, no understanding—I was so confused

I leaned down to point toward things and quickly realized the window screen was the issue. It was raining so hard that the screen was nothing but a blurred view. Mine was pretty crystal clear. He’s almost 5 feet tall and I’m almost 6 feet. 12 inches or so gave all the difference in the world. I lifted him up and now he understood everything I was saying. Now it was a story for him!

The data informing his view

data through two views

The data informing my view

data views Ben Taylor

Two photos that translate the conundrum of not seeing data eye to eye

It’s such a representation of data and our understanding of programs. If multiple teams, agencies, partners are working toward something but all have varying bits of disconnected data, the views can be so different even when you are both joined at the hip.

What we see as a success as a digital team because we have certain numbers hinges on us being able to clearly communicate that out to every team involved

What if we as digital marketing strategists and analysts ensure we are all speaking the same language? What if we collectively ensure we all have the same views to data that is all disconnected? It can really change the game for teams. And it can drive businesses forward, as it allows more goals to be developed more clearly, and results to be as clear as possible.