dave hawkins
DESCRIPTION
graphical calculation engineTRANSCRIPT
Visual Calculation
AppDave Hawkins
2014-11-19
What brought me here…
Electrical Engineer - University of Calgary
Software, hardware and network systems in the 70’s , 80’s
Witnessed the 70’s killer app - spreadsheets
Boutique consulting, executive counsel last 16 years
Clients get value from visualization
Love the Sunshine Coast and want to see us prosper
Pitch at a Glance
Opportunity exists to
develop, market, license and sell services based on
the first widely used
general purpose interactive visual calculator -
A killer app.
Killer App: Spreadsheets
VisiCalc created the software category of “spreadsheet” (1979)
Contributed to success of the Apple II and personal computing
Now a core component of any “office suite”
Initial SS Success Factors
Visual model (used state-of-the-art graphics)
General purpose (flexible enough to be misused)
Easy to learn and use (no specialized skill required)
Elegant (complex models from a few basic concepts)
Reusable, extensible models (templates)
Familiar interface (paper spreadsheets and tables)
Augmented peoples abilities (people could manage complexity)
Technical Term: “Graph”
NodeNode
Node
Node
Edge
Edge
Edge
Connector Line
Vertex Box
Current Constraints
Separate calculating apps for each type
General purpose apps can’t calculate
Drawing - Visio, Omnigraffle
Mind maps
If you want to implement a new type of calculating graph you need to write your own app
Example: Cost Mapping
Need: To understand what things really cost in an organization
Methodology: Activity Based Costing
Existing tools: tables, spreadsheets
New tool: visual map of cost flows
DemoInteractive Visual Cost Calculator
General Purpose Interactive
Visual CalculatorA high level development environment
Variable Type Value Showlabel String entered TRUEunitCost Number entered TRUE
Variable Type Value Shownumber Number entered TRUEamount Calc number * Input.Unit.unitCost FALSE
Attribute Valueshape squareline color black
Attribute Valuearrow solidline color black
Node: Unit
Edge: Quantity
Define Mode
nameunitCost
Variable Type Value Showlabel String entered TRUEcost Calc sum of Inputs.Quantity.amount TRUEAttribute Valueshape squareline color red
Node: Total
costname
number
Use Modelabel
unitCost
Unit
Number
Total
Muck Rake
12.95
Buzz Cut
6.75
Toe Toner
49.95
Eye Snuff
9.90
43 15 250 2
Total
13,155.50
labelresult
Visual Calc App Features
Visual model (uses state-of-the-art graphics)
General purpose (flexible enough to be misused)
Easy to learn and use (no specialized skill required)
Elegant (complex models from a few basic concepts)
Reusable, extensible models (templates)
Familiar interface (boxes and lines)
Augments people’s abilities (taps into visual processing capabilities)
Uses
Full capability cost map
Project results map
Process results map
Relationship quality diagram
Strategic objective/initiative map
Next Steps?
code name
mascot
T shirts
Questions
Does such an app already exist? If not…
Is it worth creating? What will it take to create it? How would it best be created? Who has the skills to create it? How should it be marketed, packaged, licensed? What questions should I be asking?