Visualizing Health and Healthcare Data

Chapter TwoStop Hunting Unicorns and Start Building Teams and Know The Data

People often ask us what it takes to create clear and compelling displays of health and healthcare data that people love to use, and which raise awareness and move people to take action. The answer is paradoxically simple. It requires strong teams of experts in the highly complex disciplines of health and healthcare, statistics, data, technology, accessibility design, data visualization, and user experience testing—teams who appreciate the unique skills, experiences, and expertise each person brings to a project and the ability to work collaboratively.

Because here is the secret you already know. The idea that any lone person will ever have every single bit of expert knowledge and skill in health and healthcare, technical applications, and data visualization and design required to deliver beautiful and compelling dashboards, reports, and infographics is sheer lunacy. That's why organizations have to stop hunting unicorns and commit to building diverse teams who bring the expertise required and the ability to communicate and collaborate.

With that in mind, here is a summary of tips for building great data-analytics, reporting, and data visualization teams.

Search for Characteristics and Core Competencies

It is imperative to understand what characteristics and core competencies are required to complete the work. Here's where to begin:

• Curiosity. When teams are curious, they question, probe, and inquire. ...