In pursuit of a better project plan

To make sense of the world, humans create conceptual or symbolic representations. These abstractions are everywhere and impact every aspect of our lives. Among these abstractions are clocks and calendars but others include money, weights and measures and navigational co-ordinate systems (latitude and longitude).

The modern world could not operate without consistent and generally agreed principles which describe it, ourselves and how we interact with each other.

When there is a change to an existing abstraction (or the creation of a new one), the effects can he significant. For instance, the adoption of the Julian calendar, the move from imperial weights and measures to (generally) the metric system. The adoption of the computer networking standards which led to the development of the World Wide Web. Even at a small scale, these changes are often disruptive and result in substantial change.

It is often technology that provides the means and the opportunity to overhaul some existing status quo. Perhaps the car and the horse is the most obvious example. But the march of solar and wind power and their combined impact on the world we live in is also a good example. The microchip is another.

Perhaps time is the most mysterious of the physical phenomenon we try to make sense of through abstractions. Our clocks, calendars and approaches to visualizing time are venerable. How we assess and measure our place in time relative to other things that have occurred, are occurring or will occur has not changed materially in over 100 years. We have used technology to duplicate our calendars, clocks and timetables but little beyond that. This is at odds with the prevailing view that time is the most valuable commodity we have.

We ask more now from our calendars and timetables as we try to fit more complex activities into shorter timescales than ever before. Complexity becomes an issue only where we lack the tools and mechanisms to manage it effectively. A warehouse full of books is a problem. A library is an asset. Often, complexity can be overcome by innovation. A library with a computerized inventory management system is a more valuable asset.

Few greater examples of complexity exist than the delivery of $45T of projects mobilised globally every year. Many of these projects will fail. Little innovation has taken place for decades, incremental changes to software and how we visualize complex schedules has been the collective output for the last 40 years. The complexity, detail and need for schedules is greater than ever and there is no indication of any reversal in this trend

When our beliefs are valid (and validated) this results in trust. When there is a gap in what we expect and what actually happens, then distrust is the result. Our combined belief that it is 1pm, that it is 20th August, that it is 20 degrees Celsius outside is what makes it so. Your belief that ￡10 will be tendered for roughly the equivalent value in groceries is a belief. You trust the British financial system. When projects deliver, they build trust When projects fail, it results in the erosion of trust

To date there has been no satisfactory way to visualize complex schedules. The exception is for the few whose job it is to spend the time, the money and the effort to acquire specialist knowledge and put it into practice using specialist tools to generate and maintain complex schedules. Even for these few, there are limits. This needs to change if the world is to deliver more ambitious change at ever greater scale and pace in a world that it is itself changing more than ever. Any solution needs to be as adaptable and usable as the wristwatch, clock or calendar. It cannot be a complex solution usable only by the few but must instead be a simple solution designed for the many. Its input will be data. The output will be information, knowledge and insight for everyone. Just as there is no need to understand the workings of a watch to tell the time there should be no need to be an expert to know what is going on.

At Omnivisto, we believe the Vistogram and the ideas that underpin it are a small yet material change to long standing norms. By abstracting complexity, it provides knowledge and insight to everyone rather than data and detail to the few.

We designed the Vistogram to be the best way for most people in most settings to visualize complex schedules.

We hope you like it.