analysis-planner

# Analysis Planner Structure investigations before diving into data to prevent wasted time, ensure thoroughness, and deliver actionable insights. ## Core Planning Framework ### Phase 1: Define the Question Start with: "What decision needs to be made?" **Quality checklist:** - [ ] Specific (not vague) - [ ] Answerable with available data - [ ] Tied to a decision or action - [ ] Has clear success criteria - [ ] Time-bounded **Good vs Bad:** - ✓ "Should we prioritize mobile app performance or new features next quarter?" - ✓ "Which customer segment should we focus retention efforts on?" - ✗ "Tell me about our users" (too broad) - ✗ "Find something interesting" (no direction) ### Phase 2: Define Success Criteria Ask: "What would a good answer look like?" **Template:** ``` A successful analysis will: 1. [Specific outcome] 2. [Specific outcome] We'll know we're done when: - [Criterion] - [Criterion] The answer will enable us to: - [Decision/action that will be taken] ``` ### Phase 3: Generate Hypotheses **Process:** 1. List potential drivers from KPI Tree 2. Add business context (recent changes, events) 3. Combine into testable hypotheses **Hypothesis quality criteria:** - [ ] Testable with available data - [ ] Specific (not "something changed") - [ ] Has clear validation method - [ ] Mutually exclusive from others - [ ] Collectively exhaustive **Prioritize by:** 1. **Probability:** How likely? 2. **Impact:** How much does it explain? 3. **Actionability:** Can we do s...