“You can’t see the big picture with a small picture…”

A Decision Canvas is a physical A1-sized display panel.

We’ve discovered that this is the ideal size for visualisations which allow comparisons amongst related items within a single eye-span.

For larger work and spaces we can tile multiple panels – even clad an entire wall – to build up a Decision Gallery which tells a bigger story.

There are different types of Decision Canvas for different decision contexts.

Rollover each Decision Canvas image for an description…

Insight Canvas

The Insight Canvas is used to explore your existing data sources in an entirely visual way. Exports from your CRM, Finance system, research and survey results, management reports.

Anything.

Let us reveal something you didn’t know was there. Start asking new questions about how your business information could be better.

An Insight Canvas is a sprint. We go from a conversation to data to mounted canvas(es) in under a week. Its a great place to start the journey.

Causal Canvas

The Causal Canvas draws a picture of a team’s beliefs about a challenge; a decision, a strategy, a transformation. It captures the causal relationships in our head; the mental models, mindsets, worldviews.

We build on a rich history of causal loop diagrams from systems thinking and other fields. Network graph analysis reveals the the paths and decisions most likely to achieve the goals and where to look for the the most valuable evidence.

A Causal Canvas might seem a little mind-blowing at first but seeing relationships between cause-effect variables becomes highly intuitive. Material can be generated in workshops or distilled from existing documents.

Signal Canvas

A Signal Canvas is designed to only show the highest value information about whether decisions and change are working.

This evidence was revealed by the Causal Canvas as having the most decision value for the audience. The Signal Canvas may use a subset of the information explored on the Insight Canvas but employs more robust statistical chart designs. It also dispenses with some visual aesthetics to focus the attention on specific comparisons and patterns of change.

Over time, only performance measures (metrics, KPIs) which have been formally-designed are admitted to a Signal Canvas. The collective design of the measures and the statistical signals elevate the trustworthiness of this evidence as the best ‘version of the truth’.

Flow Canvas

Processes, viewed from both strategic and operational levels, are characterised by flow. Flow is the movement of work through a system in a way which creates value for customers. Flow efficiency is often masked by a pre-occupation with resource efficiency or unit costs.

A Flow Canvas shows the status of work in a process, where work is waiting and how long for, as well as the variability of cycle times and throughputs. Conceptually this canvas is related to a Kanban board and physical sticky-note process mapping can be used to help with the visual design.

A Flow Canvas can start as an exploration but then be connected dynamically to source data using the Decision Vision platform.

Story Canvas

A Story Canvas takes a more aesthetic approach to data storytelling, typically for marketing content or for communication of research or survey results.

The evidence in a Story Canvas will have more decision-making intent than an infographic or a data artwork. The focus is on visually-appealing but credible content without ‘dumbing down’ or obscuring an important message.

Sections of the Story Canvas can be reused as content in white papers, reports and embedded interactively into websites.

Capability Canvas

A Capability Canvas has a specific purpose: the communication of Capability Maturity Model gaps arising from current state assessments in consulting assignments.

Whilst common in ‘Transformation’, ‘Best Practice’ and ‘Benchmarking’ fields, the maturity-level results are hard to interpret. In spite of its quantitative shortcomings, the approach can still be useful for thinking about potential improvement areas.

A Causal Canvas and Signal Canvas are a natural next step for exploring strategic alignment and performance of any capability improvements.

Decision Canvas to Decision Vision

A Decision Canvas is an A1-sized (594 x 841 mm) sheet of heavyweight coated paper printed on a large format pro-inkjet printer. This is mounted on a lightweight foam or card board and hung using non-marking 3M Command Strips.

A series of Decision Canvases builds into a gallery of big pictures which are easy for an audience to browse and consume.

But this is just the start.

New iterations of a Decision Canvas are then used to develop the visual design, adding new panels to build a richer story as well as subtracting lower-value charts. Decision Canvases can be refreshed over different time periods and used to set the agenda and content for Board Meetings or Staff Communication events.

This deliberate physical design step avoids the common pitfall of rushing to invest in dashboards crammed with poorly-designed charts with low decision-value.

A Decision Canvas can continue to be published in the physical format or published on our secure online Decision Vision platform. Canvases are then transposed for each decision-making audience onto their chosen device with a web browser or smartphone app.