Читать книгу Becoming a Data Head - Alex J. Gutman - Страница 39

The last question a Data Head should ask prepares the stakeholders for something they'd rather overlook—the possibility their assumptions were wrong. “What if we don't like the results?” imagines you are at the point of no return. You've spent hours on a project only to find out the results show something different. Notice this is different from having data that can't answer the question. Here, the data can answer the question, perhaps quite confidently, but the answer is not what the stakeholders wanted.

It's never easy to get to the end of a project only to find out the results were not what you expected. This all too real scenario happens more often than we'd like to admit. Thinking first about the possibility that the project might reach an unwanted conclusion will ensure you have a plan in motion when you have to deliver the bad news.

Asking this question will also expose differences in how individuals will accept the results of the project. For instance, consider our avatar George from the introduction. George is the type of person who would ignore the results if they don't align to his beliefs, while simultaneously promoting favorable results that do. The question will hopefully uncover his bias early on before the project starts.

You don't want to start a project where you know there's only one accepted result.