Effective Data Storytelling

Chapter 6 Narrative The Structure of Your Data Story

A lost coin is found by means of a candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story.

—Anthony De Mello, author

Emily, a rising star at a large technology company, was tasked with piloting a promising initiative for a new product. One of her first tasks as the product manager was to gather feedback from existing customers on the new technology’s potential. While her intuition told her the new product would be well received by customers, she wanted to gather evidence to confirm her theory. After surveying more than 100 of her company’s top customers and receiving highly positive feedback, she was confident the new technology would fill a critical gap in his company’s product portfolio. After working with a small team of developers to build a working prototype, Emily shared the concept with various internal product teams to gauge their interest and support. Similar to the external feedback she gathered, the internal response to the idea was equally positive.

Armed with impressive survey findings, powerful customer quotes, internal support, and a working demo, Emily crafted a compelling data presentation that featured several insightful data visualizations. Over the years, she had also established great rapport with many of the decision makers who would be approving her project, including a few key female executives whom she viewed as career mentors. When it came time to present the slides to the product leadership ...