Create intermediate Works with: Any AI

Waterfall and Bridge Chart for Changes

Structured brief Has example

Explain how a number moved from A to B.

The Open buttons send the prompt text as currently shown below to that site only when you click. Fill in the placeholders first.

Create a waterfall chart plan. Starting value, ending value and the contributing changes: [VALUES_CHANGES]. Audience: [AUDIENCE].

Check that the contributions sum exactly to the change and show the arithmetic. Order the steps sensibly (largest first or logical flow) and choose colours for increases and decreases that are readable without relying on colour alone. Provide Python code to draw the chart with a standard plotting library and labels showing values and percentages. Add a title that states the finding, a one-sentence caption, and a table version for accessibility. Suggest what to do if there are too many small items (group into other).

Add a worked example with invented numbers for revenue changing from one quarter to the next, showing the arithmetic, the labels and the one-sentence takeaway. Include a check list for reviewing the chart with a colleague, such as whether anyone can state the largest driver in five seconds.

Also add the rule I should use for the order of steps if two contributions are nearly equal, and how to label a very small step legibly.

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Start: Q1 revenue 480. End: Q2 revenue 530. Change +50.
Steps: New customers +45; Upsell +30; Churn -20; Price change +5; Refunds -10. Sum: 45 + 30 - 20 + 5 - 10 = 50. Check passes.
Order: largest absolute first. Colours: up = blue with a plus sign, down = orange with a minus sign (readable in greyscale).
Title: "New customers drove most of the 50-point rise; churn took back 20."
Caption: Revenue in thousands, Q1 to Q2.
Table version: Item | Change | Share of net. Small items (price change) could be grouped as Other if there are many.

• viz
• structured-brief