Blueprint for clarity
Ideas to create better reports for your clients in a more efficient and timely manner
The above image that I saw on LinkedIn is what inspired this little post. Clients often come with vague reporting asks, not realizing the amount of work it can often take to produce accurate reports for them.
Of course, sometimes there are quick wins and low-hanging fruit. At other times, it's difficult to ask clarifications, especially if the person asking is a senior executive.
In this YouTube short, Anthony Smoak says the solution to vague "agile" asks is to ask the client to write two paragraphs:
- What is the business ask and who will use it?
- What metrics, filters, and when do you need it by?
Also the client creating a sketch or a rough mockup of the expected output will save the person building the reports a LOT of time.
Anastasiya Kuznetsova has good content in substack. In one post she mentions 5 behaviours that can kill your credibility. Her first point of understanding what decision the data will drive reinforces this blog post.
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