Emergic

Beautiful Evidence

I have been a fan of Tufte ever since I heard a presentation of his more than 15 years ago in the US. Beautiful Evidence is his latest book. Tuftes forte is information visualisation. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Tufte: Tufte’s work is important in such fields as information design and visual literacy, which deal with the visual communication of information. He coined the term chartjunk to refer to useless, non-informative, or information-obscuring elements of information displays. Tufte’s work argues strongly against the inclusion of any decoration in visual presentations of information and claims that ink should only be used to convey significant data and aid its interpretation.

The focus in this book is on evidence presentation. As Tufte writes in the introduction: [The book] is about how seeing turns into showing, how empirical observations turn into explanations and evidence, suggests new designs, and provides analytical tools for assessing the credibility of evidence presentations.

Tuftes books are a visual delight when it comes to the photos and illustrations with the accompanying analysis. This book is no different. My favourite section in the book is the discussion about sparklines intense, simple, word-sized graphics. Sparklines can be especially useful for displaying data on mobiles.

More Than You Know

Michael Mauboussin is chief investment strategist at Legg Mason Capital. I was introduced to his writings by Chetan Parikh, Abhay Bhagat and Yuvaraj Galada. His essays are very thought-provoking. His book More Than You Know is a collection of his essays written over the past few years.

Here is what Publishers Weekly has to say [via Amazon.com]:

Mauboussin is not your average Wall Street equity analyst, writing investment recommendations whose topical interest wanes a few days after the report is issued. His strategy reports begin with scientific findings from diverse fields, then show why an investor should care. This book is a collection of 30 short reports, revised and updated, covering animal behavior (“Guppy Love: The Role of Imitation in Markets”), psychology (“Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”), philosophy of science (“The Janitor’s Dream: Why Listening to Individuals Can be Hazardous to Your Wealth”) and other fields. Each essay describes a fascinating scientific finding, then develops and applies it to personal investing. “Survival of the Fittest,” for example, begins by discussing how Tiger Woods improved his golf swing, introduces the concept of fitness landscapes from evolutionary biology, then explains why investors in commodity-producing companies should like strong centralized management, while technology-stock buyers should prefer flexible organizations with lots of disruptive new ideas. The book is breezy and well written, but not dumbed down, and provides extensive references. It can be read for entertainment as popular science or to broaden your investment thinking.

You can find some of Mauboussins recent essays here.

Continue reading TECH TALK: Good Books: Beautiful Evidence and More Than You Know

Another book that I came across on decision-making is J. Edward Russo and Paul Schoemakers Winning Decisions. In their book, the focus is on getting it right the first time. From the books description:

Decision-making is a business skill which managers often take for granted in themselves and othersbut it’s not as easy as some might think. The authors, whose expertise has been sought out by over a hundred companies, including Arthur Andersen, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Unilever, contend that decision-making, like any other skill, must be developed and honed if it is to be used effectively. Winning Decisions offers step-by-step analyses of how people typically make decisions, and provides invaluable advice on how to improve your chances of getting your next big decision right the first time. The book is packed with worksheets, tools, questionnaires, case studies, and anecdotes analyzing major decisions made by organizations like British Airways, NASA, Shell Oil, and Pepsi. Some of the proven, straightforward techniques covered in Winning Decisions include how to:

Reframe issues to ensure that the real problem is being addressed

Improve the quality and quantity of your options

Convert expert yet conflicting opinions into useful insights

Make diversity of views and conflict work to your advantage

Foster efficient and effective group decision-making

Learn from past decisions–your own and those of others

Here is what Publishers Weekly wrote about the book (published in 2001):

The coauthors of 1989’s Decision Traps offer a clear, straightforward explanation of how managers should perform one of their most basic tasks: making a decision. Russo, professor of marketing and behavior science at Cornell, and Shoemaker, research director of Wharton’s Mack Center for Technology and Innovation, break their method into four steps: framing decisions, i.e., factoring in difficulties like information overload and the “galloping rate of change,” and thereby determining which choices need to be addressed and which ones don’t; gathering real intelligence, not just information that will support internal biases; coming to conclusions, i.e., assessing how one’s company acts on the intelligence gathered; and learning from experience. The authors walk readers through each of the steps. Unlike many business books, this one is akin to a workbook, providing how-tos, case studies and worksheets so readers can put their ideas into play immediately. The authors highlight key concepts, and they even show an occasional humorous side. However, they stress that even improving the way one goes about making decisions won’t guarantee that they’ll be the right ones. Decisions still have to be executed successfully, and luck is always a factor. Still, with better decision-making skills, the odds are bound to go up.

Why is decision-making so important? Id like to end with a quote from the books introduction: In our Information Age, the race will go not to the strong but to the cognitively swift.

Tomorrow: Beautiful Evidence and More Than You Know

Continue reading TECH TALK: Good Books: Winning Decisions