Questions First, Data Second
Data-driven insights address previously unanswered questions, enabling more accurate economic decisions, but this is only possible if you ask the right questions.
Welcome to the Data Score newsletter, composed by DataChorus LLC. The newsletter is your go-to source for insights into the world of data-driven decision-making. Whether you're an insight seeker, a unique data company, a software-as-a-service provider, or an investor, this newsletter is for you. I'm Jason DeRise, a seasoned expert in the field of data-driven insights. As one of the first 10 members of UBS Evidence Lab, I was at the forefront of pioneering new ways to generate actionable insights from alternative data. Before that, I successfully built a sell-side equity research franchise based on proprietary data and non-consensus insights. After moving on from UBS Evidence Lab, I’ve remained active in the intersection of data, technology, and financial insights. Through my extensive experience as a purchaser and creator of data, I have gained a unique perspective, which I am sharing through the newsletter.
Decision-making often falls short due to a lack of critical questioning. Jumping to solutions without fully understanding the problem can lead to missed opportunities and ineffective strategies. The article emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions to gain data-driven insights for effective decision-making in economics. It covers techniques like the "5 Whys", "Question Bursts", and "Jobs to Be Done1" interviews, highlighting the need for curiosity and thorough inquiry in business and financial contexts.
The critical role of questions
Extracting information to understand the problem and the outcomes needed at a deeper level is the most often skipped step in solution design. Often, we hastily jump to solutions upon hearing just a fragment of the problem, particularly if it seems familiar. Humans naturally think back to analogous situations. This can be dangerous if situations are similar on the surface but actually structurally different. It’s important to slow down and ask the deeper questions to truly understand if the analogy is appropriate or if something brand new must be designed to answer the critical questions.
Asking the right questions starts with legitimately being curious about how things work. If there weren’t natural tensions between the goals we want to achieve, tradeoffs between choices, and constraining factors, there wouldn’t even be a challenge to solve. Decisions need to be made at the point where there is tension in a choice, supported by data. However, those key breaking points in a decision process as a consumer or a business are where the economic opportunities are and when data is at its most important.
Understanding the outcomes, constraints, and trade-offs—and how each of those is changing in response to changes in the economy, competition, regulations, prices, and disruptive factors—reveals a deeper understanding of how corporate decisions and consumer behaviors are likely to play out as new information is provided.
How do we know if we are answering the right question?
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.” - Peter Drucker