Consulting services
Currently, Nick is not accepting new consulting engagements since he’s focusing on completing the book versions of his Practical Charts and Practical Dashboards courses.
(Please note: The following page is for reference or long-term planning purposes only.)
Nick regularly provides on-site and remote consulting services to organizations globally.
Four types of consulting engagements are available, each of which is described below.
For more information regarding consulting engagements, please contact us.
Custom information dashboard design
In a custom information dashboard design engagement, Nick consults with the client organization to deliver realistic, implementation-ready dashboard mock-ups that will enable decision-makers to spend less time monitoring more metrics, as well as make problems and opportunities "pop out" so that they're not missed. While some engagements of this type occur in situations where there was no dashboard in place beforehand, they more often come about as a result of a previous dashboard's failure to deliver the user satisfaction, productivity, effectiveness and traction that was hoped for.
Custom dashboard design/redesign engagements begin with a one- to two-day on-site discovery visit, during which Nick "learns" the client's organization:
Roles, responsibilities, & personalities of target dashboard users, ideally including short interviews with representative(s) of each target role
How target users view the organization as being structured (business units, regions, product lines, departments, etc.)
Current or past dashboards and reporting; what users liked and didn't like
Data available for inclusion in new dashboard(s), refresh rates, etc.
Dashboard implementation technologies to be used
Nick then delivers a short overview presentation to those who will be implementing the dashboard (and dashboard users, if they're available) to outline basic dashboard design best practices and ensure that expectations are aligned. During this presentation, Nick also provides guidance on how to triage metrics to be included in the new dashboard(s) that allows implementers to narrow and focus the list of metrics to be included. Once this list has been finalized, Nick remotely designs realistic dashboard mock-ups that specify metrics to be displayed, organization and layout, fonts, colors, graph types, etc. and that can be directly used to guide implementation.
Custom information dashboard design engagements are typically four to eight days in length.
On-site "clinic days"
During "clinic day" consulting engagements, Nick travels to the client's location for a series of 45- to 60-minute one-on-one consultation sessions with members of the client's organization who would like feedback and design improvement recommendations regarding visualizations or dashboards on which they're working.
"Clinic day" engagements are typically one to two days in length and are sometimes added as follow-on engagements to private training workshops.
Data visualization redesign
In a data visualization redesign engagement, Nick reviews the visualizations in an important publication to be produced by the client organization, such as an annual report, board presentation or press release. He then makes specific design improvement recommendations or redesigns visualizations based on established best practices and a clear understanding of what the client organization needs to communicate, as well as of their target audience.
Data visualization redesign engagements are typically one to three days in length.
Custom data visualization standards
In data visualization standards development engagements, Nick consults with the client organization to learn about their organization in order to deliver a customized, 50- to 60-page document that defines specific design guidelines for anyone who creates data visualizations within the organization. Equipped with an easy-to-use, specific design standards document, the organization's employees are able to produce visualizations that reflect the same best practices and visual conventions throughout the organization.
Data visualization standards engagements are typically five days in length.