Timelines go from left to right

If your audience is from the western culture then they expect timelines to go from left to right. This is drilled into them at school and violations of this rule cause confusion. The following diagram is from ISO4216 and is meant to represent the process for evaluating product quality.

The timeline is shown on the right hand side going from top to bottom. It starts with 'Requirements Definition' and ends with 'Evaluation'. Very confusing. The arrows have different thickness (for no apparent reason); the boxes also have different thickness for their borders. Also the boxes represent activities so there names should start with verbs. Here is the diagram redrawn:

In the redrawn diagram I have also clarified exactly what are the inputs and outputs for each activity. I find it ironic that international quality standards often have poorly drawn diagrams.

Less is more - especially when it comes to arrows

A friend of mine recently gave me a rough draft version of a diagram she was working on. Here's the diagram:

Not bad - in fact better than most finished diagrams produced by many organisations. My first impression was of lots of arrows with different 'heaviness'. I was keen to reduce the number of arrows. My friend told me the diagram was intended to convey a hierarchy - Strategy at the top all the way through to Improvement. I was also concerned that 'New Service Initiatives' and 'Legacy Service' had several symbols with connecting arrows. So working on the 'Less is more' principle I came up with this:

I reduced the number of arrows by using chevrons and maintained the hierarchy. Concepts such as 'legacy service' now have only one symbol. I also addressed diagram hygiene by adding a legend and metadata such as author and version number.

Doodling improves your memory

Researchers at Plymouth University have found that doodling while listening to dull material helps maintain your focus. Find out more here.