Sometimes our cafeteria still comes through.
Author: Me
Setting Sparkline Axes in Excel 2011
In the course of doing some data modeling this morning, I found myself confused by the default behavior of sparklines in Excel 2011.
As these small charts are useful in making comparisons, it didn’t makes sense that the axes were different for each sparkline summarizing individual rows in a range.
In the above example, the first data point is the same in both rows and should be scale (note is is larger in the second row). Using the “Automatic” setting in Excel (the default mind you), the vertical axis is set independently for each sparkling.
After fixing the problem using the steps below, you can see the difference in the “Same” column. The first data point is now scale and the graphics are useful for comparison.
On the ribbon (in Excel 2011 for Mac at least), click Charts > Sparklines and click Axes to bring up the the settings below:
On the Vertical tab, select “Same for all sparklines” for both Minimum and Maximum values. Clearly this might be different for different uses and formats of sparklines, but for simple comparisons, it would seem that “Same” should be the default.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Alan Kay
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau
Looking down on a shooting star (NASA).
E.T. on Resume Design
The resume is a document, not a design statement. The design should not attract attention; the design of a resume should be straightforward and harmless. That is the best that resume design can do: straightforward and harmless.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, Auburn University Commencement Speech 2010
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, Auburn University Commencement Speech 2010
But even if you can’t plan, you can prepare. A great batter doesn’t know when the high-hanging curve ball is going to come, but he knows it will. And he can prepare for what he will do when he gets it.
Too often people think about intuition as the same as relying on luck or faith. At least as I see it, nothing could be further from the truth. Intuition can tell you that of the doors that are open to you, which one you should walk through. But intuition cannot prepare you for what’s on the other side of that door. Along these lines a quote that has always resonated with me is one by Abraham Lincoln. He said “I will prepare, and some day my chance will come.” I have always believed this.
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, Auburn University Commencement Speech 2010
From this Fast Company article… (Source)
But even if you can’t plan, you can prepare. A great batter doesn’t know when the high-hanging curve ball is going to come, but he knows it will. And he can prepare for what he will do when he gets it. Too often people think about intuition as the same as relying on luck or faith. At least as I see it, nothing could be further from the truth. Intuition can tell you that of the doors that are open to you, which one you should walk through. But intuition cannot prepare you for what’s on the other side of that door. Along these lines a quote that has always resonated with me is one by Abraham Lincoln. He said “I will prepare, and some day my chance will come.” I have always believed this.
Men are not disturbed by things, but the view they take of things.
Epictetus
Doculabs: SharePoint vs. Documentum as the Pharma Platform for ECM
Doculabs: SharePoint vs. Documentum as the Pharma Platform for ECM
What should you do if you’re a pharma at this inflection point? We recommend the following:
1) At a minimum, consider a two-platform consolidation strategy. Over the next few years this approach would bring you to SharePoint for management of uncontrolled documents, a single application suite for management of controlled documents (probably CSC FirsDoc), and a single platform for controlled DM (Documentum).
2) But also consider a one-platform consolidation strategy. This would bring you to SharePoint for management of uncontrolled documents, and either FirstPoint or NextDocs for management of controlled documents – both based on SharePoint.
3) Do a formal empirical evaluation of the three solution options at your organization. Do a bakeoff between FirstDoc/Documentum, FirstPoint/SharePoint, and NextDocs/SharePoint. It will require some time and resources, but the stakes are high enough to justify it. In my next post on this topic, I will explain exactly how to conduct such an evaluation.
Hat tip to @saminsimi.