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Data Analytics in Practice · Working With Stakeholders

Scoping requests

Reading40mLesson 1 of 3 in this module

Turn a vague stakeholder request into a clear analysis brief with a decision, questions, scope and deadline.

Why it matters

"Can you pull the numbers on churn?" is a typical request. It could mean a single figure for a slide due in an hour, or a three-week investigation into why customers leave. Analysts who start querying immediately often deliver the wrong thing, late, and then do it again. Scoping, a short conversation and a one-page brief before the work starts, is the habit that most separates mid-level analysts from juniors. It saves more time than any SQL trick.

Ask about the decision, not the data

The most useful question is: "What will you do differently depending on the answer?" If the answer is "nothing", the request may not need doing. If it is "we will decide whether to offer annual discounts", you now know what the analysis must inform.

Other good questions:

  • Why now? Something triggered this: a board meeting, a drop in a metric, a competitor launch.
  • What do you expect to find? Their hypothesis tells you where to look first, and what would surprise them.
  • Who else will see it? An executive slide needs a different format from a team working session.
  • When do you need it, and what is the minimum useful version? A rough answer on Thursday may beat a perfect one next month.
  • What does success look like? A number, a chart, a recommendation, a dashboard?
  • What do you already know or have? Earlier reports, definitions, data sources.

Repeat back what you heard: "So you want to know whether customers on monthly plans churn faster than annual ones, to decide by the 15th whether to push annual discounts. Is that right?"

The analysis brief

Write it down, even briefly, and share it for agreement. A one-page template:

Title:        Monthly vs annual plan churn
Requester:    Priya (Head of Growth)        Analyst: you
Decision:     Whether to promote annual plans with a discount next quarter
Questions:    1. What is 90-day churn for monthly vs annual customers?
              2. Does the gap hold within each acquisition channel?
              3. What revenue difference would a 10-point shift to annual make?
Out of scope: Reasons for churn (survey analysis), pricing elasticity
Data:         subscriptions, payments tables; churn = no active plan 30 days after period end
Deliverable:  3-slide summary + query in the team repo
Deadline:     Draft Thursday 12th, final Monday 16th
Assumptions/risks: plan-switchers counted by plan at signup; 2025 data before
                   the price change excluded

The out of scope line is as important as the questions. It protects you from scope creep and makes trade-offs explicit.

Size and prioritise

Estimate effort roughly (hours, days, weeks) and say it. If the team has many requests, a simple priority rule helps: impact of the decision × urgency ÷ effort. Many teams run an intake form or ticket queue for requests so they are visible and comparable. When you must say no or "not yet", offer an alternative: an existing dashboard, a quicker partial answer, or a later date.

Worked example: a vague request

"Marketing says the new campaign is doing great. Can you confirm?"

Scoping questions reveal: the decision is whether to double the campaign budget next month; "doing great" refers to clicks; the real question is whether the campaign brought incremental paying customers. The brief narrows the work to: paid conversions attributed to the campaign, compared with a matched period or a holdout region, with cost per acquired customer. Out of scope: brand awareness. Deadline: before the budget meeting on the 20th.

Without scoping, you might have delivered a nice click chart that answered nothing.

Common mistakes

  • Starting work on the literal request without asking about the decision.
  • Agreeing verbally and never writing it down.
  • No deadline or minimum version, so the work expands.
  • Accepting a metric name ("active users") without agreeing its definition.
  • Not checking back mid-way when findings change the question.

Quick recap

  • Ask what decision the answer will change, why now, and when it is needed.
  • Repeat the request back in your own words.
  • Write a one-page brief: decision, questions, out of scope, data, deliverable, deadline, assumptions.
  • Estimate effort, prioritise openly, and offer alternatives when you say no.

Try it

The Do tab walks you through turning a real or practice request into a written brief.

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