Kathy Villella (pictured to the left) is cofounder of
PowerFrameworks and is primarily responsible for the site content. She has provided presentation development support for 20 years. Kathy supported client engagement teams and supervised and trained team support at McKinsey & Company,
Inc., for nearly 15 years and has provided freelance production
support to world-class firms for over 13 years. Kathy continues
to maintain a freelance client base.
Geetesh:
Tell us more about yourself, and what led to PowerFrameworks.
Kathy:
I have always been a support person, first as an administrative
assistant and then, at McKinsey, as a report production
assistant and trainer/supervisor.
It was at McKinsey that
I learned the complexities of presenting information in
a clear and persuasive manner.
I learned in two ways:
Observing high-functioning McKinsey teams brilliantly frame concepts
on slides, and
Being encouraged to come up with conceptual
layouts for the team to review – both opportunities
were equally engaging. In fact, without this aspect of
my job, I don’t think I would have lasted as long
as I did – you can be fulfilled for only so long
building pie charts and bulleted lists.
My tenure at McKinsey also provided me with an appreciation of the MECE approach
to presenting information, the need for consistency and
continuity within and between presentations to establish
branding and make it easy for audiences to extract information,
and the need to understand the presenter’s main point
for each slide so that the slide’s prime real estate
is utilized correctly.
I worked at McKinsey until they centralized and relocated their presentation production
resources in India. I, therefore, lost my “tools,” which
were a basic set of frameworks, data-driven charts, and
text tables. PowerFrameworks came about as a result of
needing tools to support my freelance clientele, not finding
them, and deciding to partner with a person of vision to
create them. Lisa Baker, website developer and extraordinary
craftsperson and artist in the higher-end production applications,
took a leap of faith and, together, we brought PowerFrameworks
to life.
Geetesh:
Tell us more about the MECE approach.
Kathy:
MECE means Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive. It simply means that no redundancy or overlap exists
and everything is covered or represented. This principle
is very useful when applied to presentation slides, particularly
with data-driven material. Slide content real estate
(that which is not occupied by logos and template design
elements) is precious and should be used thoughtfully.
For example, in a column chart (columns of data on a
horizontal baseline), if there are numeric values above
each column, do you really need a Y axis (vertical baseline
with incremental values)? No. Eliminating the Y axis
is in keeping with “mutually exclusive.” Another
example is units of measure: a unit of measure should
always be included to identify and qualify the data being
presented. Making sure that the data is fully defined
is in keeping with “collectively exhaustive.” Employing
the MECE principle keeps the clutter down on the slide
and elevates the understandability of the material being
presented. Worth considering.
Geetesh:
What sort of interaction do you have with your subscribers?
Kathy:
We encourage our subscribers to contact us often and with whatever
is on their minds.
The interactions so far have been in the form of requests:
Specific types of content. For example, the addition of the preformatted
text table category sprang from a subscriber suggestion.
The tables in this category are purpose-driven and convey
specific concepts. They are not the vanilla, too-generic-for-real-use
text tables. They are completely in keeping with the other
conceptual tools in the PowerFrameworks library.
Examples.
Subscribers appreciate that each series showcases a representative
framework conveying an actual concept. A quote about Powerframeworks
from Bill Jelen’s (Mr. Excel’s) soon-to-be-released
book states, “The ideas alone are worth the price.” That
kicked us into gear! We’re focused on increasing
the number of examples on the site, taking advantage of
providing downloadable examples whenever we can, and enhancing
the look of the examples (look for examples that
have backgrounds provided courtesy of ppted.com).
Subscriber-defined
search functionality. This was a great suggestion that
we implemented immediately. The subscriber can now set
search criteria so that more series are displayed on a
page for brainstorming or fewer series on a page for narrower,
more specific searches for particular concepts.
How tos, why tos, when tos. It became apparent rather quickly
that it is not enough to just provide frameworks (although
frameworks are the primary offering at PowerFrameworks).
It is also important to help subscribers think about the
right things as they format the frameworks (via tutorials
for each series and FAQs) and craft their messages (philosophies
and methodologies via best practices and feature articles).
Developing presentation slides with purpose and skill always
produces a better result.
Illustrator-drawn concepts. Subscribers are anteing up with ideas
for new visual analogies. The success of and demand for
these types visual analogies/metaphors was something that
we were not really prepared for at first. But we are ramping
up the production of these illustrations, so we are adding
more to the library as fast as we can. They are an
extension of clipart, in that the pieces are separate and
in varied positions and conditions. This allows presenters
to assemble, label, and animate the analogy components
so they can more effectively deliver their concepts visually.
PowerFrameworks has grown into something that had not originally been envisioned. Much
of this growth and shape-changing is due to subscriber
interaction. They say that in business you begin building
a giraffe, but end up with an elephant. We now have an
elephant, but are excitedly looking forward to...
Geetesh:
What sort of industry and business sectors can benefit
the most from your frameworks?.
Kathy:
Because of my background supporting strategic management consultants
(who engage in all industry sectors), we started out thinking
that our primary customers were consulting firms. What
quickly became apparent, however, was the diverse makeup
of our growing subscribership. We have, therefore, begun
to be more inclusive in how we broadcast our service availability.
Concepts are universal; therefore, language is not a barrier
and there are no industry constraints. PowerFrameworks
has broad relevance for presenters in general.
Geetesh:
Tell us more about your support infrastructure. And also who creates these frameworks?
Kathy:
Lisa is in charge of PowerFrameworks site operations and developing
the more complex frameworks. I am primarily responsible
for site content and developing the easier frameworks.
We also employ illustrators who develop the visual analogies
for us. They are an impressive bunch: a teacher at CSUF/architect,
a full-time freelance children’s book illustrator,
a freelancing graphic artist who works full time for a
regional ad agency, an illustrator for online computer
games. Preliminary support requests come in via the help
desk; responses and resolutions are handled either via
help desk or via personal direct contact.
Our frameworks and visual analogies are classified as “primitives.” They
are frameworks, without fill or embellishment. We believe
that this will be PowerFrameworks’ strength. The
frameworks are easily formatted within subscribers’ templates,
using their own color palettes and formatting preferences – the
frameworks become branded graphics that reflect their company’s
style. Many of the other prefabricated design layouts out
there sometimes do not blend that well with companies’ established
color palettes and style choices.
Geetesh:
Can you share any trivia – or maybe a funny incident, an unconventional use of your
frameworks – or just anything you want to share with Indezine readers?.
Kathy:
I think people should embrace their jobs broadly and with enthusiasm. You never know when
and where an opportunity will arise to step out of your comfort zone and bring a happy
spotlight onto you and your efforts – that quick win that establishes your credibility
and creativity with those around you. There is a specific incidence that made me a believer
in this concept.
Being shorthanded in the office one day many years ago, I was pulled from my normal
duties to cover for the assistant to the office’s managing director. This particular
gentleman was fast-paced, demanding, composed under the weight of huge responsibility –
and more than a little intimidating. My first interaction with him was an early morning call requesting that I find someone to put a trailer hitch on his car while he drove around the
block waiting for directions. Yikes! The first auto service center I called was close by, open, had the needed part, and could handle the job immediately – pure luck and he
was on his way to get his trailer hitch in less than 3 minutes and begin his vacation with
his family. But from then on, I was requested to fill in for his assistant. That one
incidence established my credibility with him and provided an opportunity for me to really
prove myself. It taught me to seek opportunities to provide service, even if it is “not
in the job description.” We seek opportunities to provide service at PowerFrameworks.
