Write the question, and name the decision a different answer would change.
4a · the question the report answers
Start with the business question
Start with the example, then try it yourself. The last case is optional practice.
Meet Elena.
Elena connects a report to the work behind it. She helps trace the evidence, explain the limits of a number, and choose what to investigate next.
Elena · Reporting lead
The case
A dashboard without a clear business question
A reporting field is useful when it answers a named business question and supports a decision someone can take.
Requested as
"Visibility into inbound follow-through"
Built
On time, correctly, from good data
Looked at
Most Mondays
Decisions changed because of it
None anyone can name
What is wrong with it
Nothing. That is the problem.
Your task
Choose the report’s question and measures. Then use the event trace to find the missing outcome and its owner.
Need a little guidance?
You’re done when: The reporting design has one stated question and no decorative metrics that do not affect that decision.
A report should begin with the decision it supports, not the charts available.
Need a reminder? Reopen the worked example
Watch one example first
A team asks what share of qualified requests reached a booked conversation last quarter. Completed tasks describe activity; verified booking events supply the outcome numerator.
Why this follows from the evidence
Start from the decision the reader will make. Capture both the eligible population and outcome evidence so the report can reveal missed work instead of only completed work.
GTM Lab
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Case evidence
A dashboard without a clear business question
Requested as
"Visibility into inbound follow-through"
Built
On time, correctly, from good data
Looked at
Most Mondays
Decisions changed because of it
None anyone can name
What is wrong with it
Nothing. That is the problem.
The dashboard above is correct, current, and has never changed a decision. Write the question it should have been built to answer.
Shape the report around a decision, then trace the missing outcome
In this request, a team wants to know whether qualified inbound requests reach a booked conversation, and where unbooked requests stall. Build the question before choosing a chart.
Define the question
Choose measures that help answer that question
0 of 5 measures classified. Completed work can show activity; it does not by itself establish the business outcome.
Prepared event trace
09:14Request qualified. Decision event exists; it was logged at 09:30.
10:05Contact attempt. Personal-mailbox activity was not linked to the request.
11:15Booking outcome. No confirmation event reached the reporting record.
Example question: Of the qualified inbound requests received last quarter, what share reached a booked conversation, and where did the rest stop?
