Let’s finish out the framework we set out to describe earlier and discuss the most critical part of data storytelling – THE SUGGESTION.
Previous posts…
Data Storytelling – Introduction
1. The SETUP
2. The STORY
If you’ve been following this series, you’ve been brought along in the way I go about framing up my key analysis presentations for clients, stakeholders, and even internally when I’m trying to petition for resources. We first talked about The Setup and how to best capture the attention of your audience, then we talked about The Story and how to cement your argument with analysis, data and visualizations. Finally – we’re going to talk about how to take action with the story you’ve spent so much time building and crafting.
Most analysis I’ve seen in my career working with clients as well as mentoring consultants, analysts and data scientists have very strong insights and interpretation of what the data means. In other words, the analysis answers the business question usually with preciseness and accuracy. Often, the story ends there and the opportunity is lost to take action. Analysts tend to have all the right skills for data interpretation; however, their personalities can often be less assertive than colleagues in sales or executive positions.
It’s painful to see as such opportunities to get time like this with stakeholders is sparse and while it can seem intimidating at first, it’s really where you make your mark as an employee or consultant for your audience. YOU are the expert. YOU are the one that just spent countless hours sifting through mountains of rows of data, metrics, dimensions, reports, visualizations and data points. YOU are the one that knows more about this topic than anyone else in the room or on the team because YOU are the one that put in the time to become that expert. It’s OK to have some confidence and swagger – it’s OK to be the one with the answers and a strong recommendation.
Writing the Recommendation
So, with all that said, how do you go about framing up this bold recommendation that you’re about to make? Well, you start by reframing the business question and thesis you proposed in The Setup portion of your analysis. Give all of the details of the recommendation on HOW you propose to accomplish the improvement in your customers’ experience(s). Are you suggestion a redesign of a landing page or a critical page in your overall conversion funnel? Are you proposing that a specific customer segment be given a different user experience for logging in and support requests while new customer segments be offered something unique to help onboard them into your system?
Whatever the recommendation be…don’t spare the details and be incredibly specific in your recommendation leaving no question what it is that you wish to impact. Include details about which department(s) you need support from and how your stakeholder can either eliminate barriers internally or sponsor this project to help you gain access to the people, resources, and time necessary to execute your plan. Yes, that’s underlined, and bold…YOUR PLAN.
If you want to step out of the analyst shell and become a catalyst for change, you must own this recommendation and see it through to the end. You must be there when the rubber meets the road and learn to see how the real-world customer audience you so beautifully analyzed will react in a way you anticipate – or what additional steps for future analysis are needed to improve your business KPIs.
The Plan
Take the time to list out each of the various steps you’ll need to have to accomplish the project and note major milestones. Take your tasks and break them down into various components between departments. What will you need from Creative Design, UX, IT or Development, Project Management, or other teams?
Next, determine for each task which of those teams will need to be involved in and if they are owners that lead that task or collaborators that will be consulted on each task. Now you have a baseline of tasks, teams and ownership that you can build a basic project plan to present as part of The Suggestion portion of your presentation.
I’ve created a basic concept of what this might look like below that you can use as a starting point for your own projects. Below is an example of what a landing page redesign project might look like with key milestones highlighted.
Execution
Whether you are leading this project or will be handing it off formally for someone else to run with – you should take ownership in seeing the project start and complete. After all, this is YOUR suggestion and recommendations based on the analysis, insights and story you told! What you need to ensure is that it’s seen through to the end and that there your company learns from the experiment.
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