“Effective data communication”. Seems pretty daunting doesn’t it? Although it is a critical part of the consulting process; its purpose is understanding data. So in order to do this, it’s best to understand the general flow of a task.
These questions are my creed when going into a project.
- Who is the audience? Program Manager, Stakeholders, The Boss
- How data-savvy are they? - 90% of communication will be with this person
- They are the ones - The person asking you to build.
who will receive the work.
2. What do you need them to do?
- Action/Verb (CHANGE)
3. How will the data help?
- Prove your point (Explain)
- Make more informed decisions
- Be able to grasp/verbalize a chart.
4. Where are the highlights? What's interesting?
- If these can’t be answered, it's fine! Just need to dig deeper by doing more EDA.
- Sometimes nothing interesting is happening. This might mean it's business as usual.
5. Where should they focus on?
- Investigate the WHY.
- Offer recommendations, but not instructions on how to do their business.
- That is their job and field of expertise.
In conclusion, these initial questions help understand the general background of a project. It’s as if you're sketching the outline of your portrait. Something important to learn is you will always be refining, revising, and rewriting your work. It is better to do it sooner than later. I hope this helps and gives you some insight to tackle your next project.
