Data Visualization Step 1: Discovery

Step 1 - Discovery

It all begins with a conversation

In design, the process of asking probing questions in order to surface deeper meaning and underlying information is called discovery. Discovery is always the first step in my work process. I like to ask a lot of questions and from experience I’ve found that it’s a good idea  to ask as many questions as you need upfront. That way, once the project is underway you can work without always having to stop to get clarification on what you should be doing.

In a data visualization project specifically, one of the most important initial steps is to gather information about the situation that’s being looked into so that you can understand context around the data we’re going to look at.

When starting a new project, I make sure that I completely understand the questions that are being asked by stakeholders. Specifically, I make sure that I have a firm grasp of the following:

• What do we hope to learn from our data?

• Why is this information important to us?

• What problem are we trying to solve?

-and- 

• What else is going on that makes this an area of particular concern for us right now? (Is there a particular pain point or urgent situation that needs an immediate solution?)

The answers to these questions not only help guide my investigation but they also allow me to place my findings into context and deliver a final analysis that is practical and actually useful.