Chart type · Trend
Waterfall
Start, contributions, end: each step peels off a running total, and the payoff brackets how far the end landed from the start.
How to read it
Start at the first bar, apply each floating step up or down, and land on the final bar. The connectors and the dotted level line carry the running total; the dashed outline on the final bar is where you started.
Best for
Explaining how a total got from one figure to another.
When not to use it
The steps do not actually sum to the difference between the start and the end.
The common mistake
Burying a large unexplained residual in an “other” bar, which is usually where a waterfall's honesty goes.
Examples
No waterfall videos published yet. Browse the rest of the library.
Related chart types
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- FunnelA true-width drop-off funnel: a stream of dots spills out at every step, a live counter falls stage by stage, and the leakiest step cracks open at the end.
- ScatterPoints revealed against two axes, with an optional fitted trendline, the gap to it for the story point, and a refit without that point.