Ajai, I really like the idea of creating a resume based on the Toyota Production System A3 report (http://www.coe.montana.edu/IE/faculty/sobek/A3/report.htm htt

Ajai, I really like the idea of creating a resume based on the Toyota Production System A3 report (http://www.coe.montana.edu/IE/faculty/sobek/A3/report.htm http://www.coe.montana.edu/IE/faculty/sobek/A3/report.htm). I'm not sure if that's what you meant to do, but the idea certainly is striking. Specific comments, clockwise from the top left: -------------------------------------------------- The chart of effort over time -------------------------------------------------- * The axes are unlabeled, which makes for an unclear chart. Although it seems that the horizontal axis is time, I don't know what the vertical axis is; the name of the chart implies that the vertical axis is "effort", but I'm not sure how to read that (eg, what are the units of effort that you are using here?) * The third dimension of the chart clearly does not add any informational value, and in my opinion does not add any aesthetic value. * The grid lines make the words inside the chart harder to read, and do not contribute to an easier understanding of the data. * I think you were going for a stacked area chart, which would be a pretty good choice for this, but I would clean it up: drop the third dimension, remove the grid lines, clarify the axes and units. * The scattering of achievements underneath the chart use colors in the stars that match colors in the chart above, but do not seem to have any real connection to the information in the chart. In addition, I think the achievements would be more powerful presented in a separate timeline chart. -------------------------------------------------- The chart of drivers -------------------------------------------------- * The meters are a little dark, and hard to read. * The numbers on each meter go up to 100, which seems to imply a percentage. Ie, 40% driven by money, 70% driven by coffee. But, since the numbers don't total to 100%, my interpretation is wrong, or the chart is misleading. Either way, the meaning of the numbers you are using should be cleared up: what are the units, and what is the relation between the different meters? * The chart also implies that deadlines are more effective at driving you than money is, which makes me think that if I give you a lot of deadlines, I don't have to pay you very much. Is this your intent? * Overall, I think the use of meters here does not do well to communicate what I think you are trying to get across: that you are driven by interest in the material, by the importance of delivering a product, and only then by the money. I get that, but it takes awhile to unpack the meaning. -------------------------------------------------- The tag cloud -------------------------------------------------- * This is essentially just a bunch of words of various sizes. On a website, I can see the purpose: indicating the relative appearance of the words in twitter posts, or in tags used to describe a set of blog posts, etc. In this context, I think you're trying to communicate the relative strength of your interests on various topics. Not a bad idea. I'd make the difference between the sizes of the words a little stronger, make the big ones bigger, and the small ones smaller. Right now, they are all sort of the same size. The things you want to make more prominent should be really obvious. -------------------------------------------------- The chart of desired careers -------------------------------------------------- * I don't know what information the colors are supposed to communicate to me. Maybe you just wanted to use some color in the chart, but it seems like the colors want to be telling me something. But there is no key to the colors, so I end up confused as to the purpose of the colors. * No units on the chart. Maybe this is, again, a relative measure of your desire. If so, that needs to be a little clearer. At any rate, should I be reading this as your desire for a career in coding is 1/9th your desire for a career in entrepreneurship? * That's a lot of space taken up to tell me not a whole lot of information. -------------------------------------------------- The binder clipped note -------------------------------------------------- * Is this telling me that your resume is licensed under the creative commons, or something else? I am not at all clear what this block is trying to tell me. -------------------------------------------------- The yellow sticky note -------------------------------------------------- * No notes here. The information is clear. -------------------------------------------------- The chart of skills in various categories -------------------------------------------------- * The categories are never named, leaving the reader to infer the categories from the items in each pie chart. You should list the categories over each pie chart. * The last pie chart doesn't make any sense to me. Pie charts are for showing relative values between multiple things. A pie chart with 100% of something doesn't tell me anything, unless there is a list of other things that are not in the pie chart. Like, 100% on people and networking skills, 0% on animal training skills, 0% on sewing and crocheting skills. Otherwise, what does that pie chart communicate? -------------------------------------------------- Conclusion -------------------------------------------------- Overall, I think the idea is very smart. A3 reports are a great way to communicate a lot of complicated and important information in a confined space, forcing the report writer to analyze and summarize for the benefit of other people. I'm far less concerned than other people as to the beauty of this resume; A3 reports are not known for their aesthetic merits, and I've seen a lot of ugly but invaluable A3 reports. This is a solid start, but it needs a lot of work to clean it up, emphasize the important information, and remove the unnecessary graphical cruft. The chart in the upper left (effort over time) is a good anchor for the rest of the resume; cleaned up and simplified, it could be a powerful and clear way to represent your work over the last few years.