I am much obliged to all the good folks who have posted suggestions and feedback about my first attempt to create an image that would represent my thinking on the role of data in mission-based organizations. Likewise, those who emailed me their thoughts deserve thanks!
I’ve created a revised version that incorporates some of the feedback. Before you take a look at it, please bear in mind that:
- I am not a graphic designer.
- I am not attempting to create a graphic that illustrates everyone’s ideas about the role of data in a mission-based organization. I am merely trying to illustrate my ideas.
Visualizing the role of data for mission-based organizations – Round II
Item #2 on the list notwithstanding, I am enjoying very much the opportunity to learn more about what others in the field think about (and visualize) when they ponder the role of data in our sector. Once again, I invite you to post your reflections, suggestions, and questions in the comments section here on this blog.
Tagged: analysis, community input, context, continuous improvement, data, data-driven, experience, good decisions, graphics, ict, information, intuition, knowledge, managing toward the mission, mission success, mission-based, mission-driven, nonprofit, nonprofit technology, nptech, outcomes, outcomes management, outcomes measurement, technology, visualization, wisdom
Deborah Elizabeth Finn 
Much better … two additional legibility suggestions: make the big boxes wide enough so you don’t have to hyphenate, and make the small boxes big enough that you can use a larger font. (The small ones don’t even have to be boxes — they could just be dark text on the white background.)
An additional caveat:
This diagram is not an operational model. There’s a lot more to running a mission-based organization than what you see here, of course.
It’s designed to help us think beyond the idea of a “date-driven organization.” If being data-driven doesn’t amount to much, what has to be added to the data so that it eventually contributes to the success of the mission? Voila! A diagram.
I love it, Deb. Our agency just went through a self-assessment and next week we’ll hear from another organization that calculated our assessment against other, similar agencies. I was able to take each box in your model and apply it to this process and others we use to use data well.
This is a really powerful diagram. Knowing what data to collect can be difficult, but once you have data the meaning comes from what’s in the green boxes. Understanding (analysis), context, experience & intuition, input, etc. That is really using data and people skills to understand and make intelligent decisions – BASED on the data.
In researching Infonomics I came across this blog post that questions the distinctions between data, information, knowledge and wisdom.
http://centerforinfonomics.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/datainformationknowledgewisdom-oh-my/
It’s a perspective to consider…