Quarrow Data team capabilities
Honeycomb slide with six peer capabilities and their scope
A honeycomb slide shows a set of equal parts that work together, with no hierarchy and no sequence, by packing them into hexagon cells that touch on every side. This one maps the six capabilities of Quarrow Data, a fictional data team, and gives each cell a one line scope.
What is on the slide
- Title
- Quarrow Data. Six Capabilities, One Team.
- Ingestion
- Moves 140 source feeds into the warehouse by 6am each day.
- Modelling
- Keeps the 380 tested tables that every report reads from.
- Analytics
- Answers business questions within five working days.
- Data Science
- Builds the churn and demand forecasts used in planning.
- Governance
- Owns access requests, privacy reviews and the data catalogue.
- Platform
- Runs the warehouse and keeps its cost under $42,000 a month.
When this is the right slide
Choose this slide when six parts work together as peers, with no order and no centre, and each needs a short label in a cell and a measurable scope in the list beside it.
What to swap it for
Grouping: 7S Honeycomb. Swap to the 7S honeycomb when the cells are the seven elements of the McKinsey model and shared values must sit at the centre of the cluster.
What this slide shows
A small eyebrow reads Quarrow Data above the title Six Capabilities, One Team. On the left, six teal hexagons form a ring with an open centre, labelled Platform at the top, Ingestion at the upper right, Modelling at the lower right, Analytics at the bottom, Data Science at the lower left and Governance at the upper left. On the right, under the label What each cell owns, six numbered rows give each capability its scope. Ingestion moves 140 source feeds into the warehouse by 6am each day. Modelling keeps the 380 tested tables that every report reads from. Analytics answers business questions within five working days. Data Science builds the churn and demand forecasts used in planning. Governance owns access requests, privacy reviews and the data catalogue. Platform runs the warehouse and keeps its cost under $42,000 a month. The hexagons alternate between three shades of teal so neighbours are always distinct.
When this is the right slide
Use it when a set of parts works as a system without hierarchy or order: team capabilities, value pillars, an ecosystem of partners or the elements of a service. It suits team introductions, operating model reviews and capability maps presented to stakeholders who need to know what a team covers. It is the wrong slide when one element is central, which needs a seven cell honeycomb with a core or a hub diagram. It is the wrong slide for a pipeline where data or work moves from one stage to the next, which a process layout shows honestly. When the cells are the elements of the McKinsey 7S model, use the 7S honeycomb with shared values at its centre.
How to adapt it
First, test that the parts are peers by asking whether any one reports to or feeds another in a fixed order. Second, keep the cell labels to one or two words and put the scope in the sidebar, each with a number the team can be measured against. Third, keep the sidebar order identical to the order in which the cells are listed, and repeat each cell name in capitals so the match is obvious. For a marketing team, the cells might be brand, content, performance, events, partnerships and analytics. For a council service, they might be the six programs delivered from one budget. If the audience will compare the cells, follow the honeycomb with a table of the same six in the same order with one measure each, so that the shape of the team and its performance can be read side by side. Update the numbers in the sidebar whenever a scope changes. A honeycomb that still says 140 feeds after the team has taken on forty more undersells the work, and stakeholders will notice the gap between the slide and their own experience long before the team does.
What makes this slide work
Cells are peers with no centre
Six hexagons form a ring: Platform, Ingestion, Modelling, Analytics, Data Science and Governance, each touching two neighbours and none sitting above another. The shape says the capabilities depend on each other, which is true of a data team where a late feed breaks the models and a weak catalogue slows every question.
Each scope carries a number
140 source feeds by 6am. 380 tested tables. Answers within five working days. Under $42,000 a month. The sidebar gives each cell a measurable scope rather than a description of the discipline. A business stakeholder reading it learns what to expect from the team, and the team gains a baseline it can be held to.
The sidebar order matches the reading order
The rows are numbered 1 to 6 in the same sequence as the cells are listed, and each row repeats the cell name in capitals. A reader moving between the cluster and the list finds the match by name at once. The detail lives in the rows, so the hexagons stay uncluttered and legible from the back of the room.
Questions people ask
When are cells genuine peers on a honeycomb slide?
When removing any one would weaken all the others and none of them reports to another. Ingestion, modelling and governance depend on each other in both directions, which makes them peers. If one cell clearly feeds the next in order, the content is a pipeline and belongs on a process slide, even though the honeycomb looks more interesting.
How much text fits in a honeycomb cell?
A one or two word label. The hexagons are compact, and sentences inside them shrink until they cannot be read. This layout puts a one line scope for each cell in a sidebar, numbered in the same order, so the cells stay clean and the detail stays legible. Keep each scope to about 60 characters.
Does the position of a cell in the honeycomb mean anything?
In a six cell ring, no. The cells are arranged in a ring of equals with no centre, and their order follows the list. If one capability should be central, use the seven cell version with a core cell, as the McKinsey 7S example does with shared values. Say in the notes that position is not rank if the audience might read it that way.
When should a honeycomb slide be split?
When the audience needs to see how each capability performs. A honeycomb shows the shape of a team; a scorecard table shows how each part is doing. Put the measures, such as feed delivery rate or forecast accuracy, on the next slide with the cells in the same order, so the two can be read together.
What can a honeycomb slide replace?
An org chart, when the reporting lines are less important than the capabilities. A data team often has one manager and several overlapping roles, which an org chart shows poorly. The honeycomb shows what the team can do, and the sidebar shows what each part owns. Keep a separate org chart for HR purposes.
How should a honeycomb slide be presented?
Go around the sidebar in order, naming one number per cell: 140 feeds, 380 tables, five days, the forecasts, access and privacy, $42,000 a month. Then step back to the cluster and say what happens when one cell is weak. That point is the reason to draw the capabilities as a honeycomb rather than as a list.
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