The Slopegraph

A one-page slopegraph that takes two snapshots of the same set of things — start vs now, plan vs actual, last quarter vs this one — and draws each item as a single line sloping from its first reading to its second. The slope is the whole story: a line that climbs went up, one that falls went down, and where two lines cross, they swapped rank. It is the chart for a before-and-after conversation, because two columns of numbers make you do the subtraction in your head while a slopegraph makes the winners and losers pop off the page. One shared axis fits both columns, so it works best when your values share a scale — survey scores, percentages, prices, times, ratings — and each end is labelled with its number so nothing is lost. Green lines mark what rose and red lines what fell, the change is spelled out as a coloured pill on the right, and the header tallies how many climbed against how many dropped. Use it to compare an engagement survey quarter over quarter, prices this year against last, your habits at day 1 versus day 90, budget planned against actual, exam scores before and after a course, team rankings across a season, or any set you measured twice and want to see move. List a label and its two readings per line and the lines, dots, colours and pills draw themselves; leave it blank to print two bare columns and slope by hand.

• Landscape
• 1 page
• Tracking

Best for: Comparing the same set of things across two moments — before vs after, plan vs actual, Q1 vs Q2 — as sloping lines that climb or fall so the movers stand out at a glance.