David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut -- and it may just change the way we see the world.

By Stephen Few

The industry that has claimed responsibility for helping organizations get real value from information goes by the name “business intelligence.” This term was originally coined way back in 1958 by Hans Peter Luhn, an IBM researcher, who defined BI as “the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal.” Howard Dresner, best known for his work at Gartner, used it again to breathe new life into to the data warehousing industry. Dresner defined the term as “concepts and methods to improve business decision making using fact-based support systems.” Contained in these early definitions was the seed of an inspiring vision that caused people like me to imagine a better world, but the business intelligence industry has done little to help us achieve the vision of the people who coined the term.

July 19, 2010—As one of the nation’s top 10 largest poultry processors House of Raeford delivers its product in as many forms as consumers demand: fresh—including whole and boneless—ground, cured and smoked. The company also has extensive processing facilities and makes fully cooked chickens and turkeys whole and proportioned, kitchen-ready and prepared, for retail and food service customers.

No matter how smart you think you are, you're probably wrong. At least, that might be what Cornell professor of social psychology David Dunning would say. And oddest yet, if you believe you're competent you probably aren't. And vice versa.

By Stephen Few

Good products are usually developed by good companies. It would be difficult for a bad company—one that is poorly run—to develop a good product. When we evaluate products, in addition to looking at the products themselves, we can learn useful facts that might not be obvious by asking a few questions about the companies that produce them. Here are a few questions you might want to ask about a software vendor when evaluating one of its products.

Compensating employees accurately and timely, especially employees in sales, is crucial to success in today's business environment. To successfully motivate quota carrying and variably compensated employees who impact your top and bottom line, depends on your ability to accurately measure performance while modifying behaviors to achieve corporate goals.