Add to prompts

[rparrish]

Here are 13 questions that I ask to help define decisions, frame analyses, and gather context when helping XFN partners and stakeholders to use data efficiently to make effective decisions. Feel free to borrow these questions, and let me know if they help with your process!

Questions to help define the decision:

• What decision will you make or action will you take with this data?
• What are your options?
• What is your goal?
• What does a good outcome look like?
• Are there any outcomes that are unacceptable or must be avoided?

Questions to define context and constraints for decision (which impact data analysis):

• Is there a deadline for your decision? What happens if you don't meet it?
• Is your decision reversible?
• What are your other practical constraints (for the decisions or the process to make it)
• Which is more important: getting the answer quickly, or getting an accurate answer?

Questions to help determine what data will be impactful:

• What information will help you to reduce uncertainty and make a good decision?
• Is there data that would unequivocally tip the scale toward any given option?
• If you're leaning in one direction, what data would change your mind and make you choose an alternative?
• Hypothetically audition data values: "If you knew the value of X was Y, how would that impact your thinking?"

Here are some benefits to asking these questions for data scientists and the teams they work with:

• Validating that your work will be useful before you build it ensures that you're tackling the right problems
• Combining data and context leads to higher-quality and more data-informed decisions
• Cutting through the back-and-forth of what's useful before analysis means that you and your team can make decisions more efficiently and effectively