Before you ask your data team – read this first!

In too many meetings, the conversation between business leaders and data teams starts like this: “Can you pull customer numbers in segment X with behavior Y?” Or:“How many units did we sell last quarter in this category, gross vs. net, and can you correlate that with unit costs?”

Sounds simple. But the reality is way more complex.

What exactly do we mean by “number of customers”? Active or inactive? Over what time frame? In which market? What behavior are we tracking? Which products? Do we include legacy systems or only new ones?.. but most importantly in which context = why?

A “simple question” quickly becomes a data expedition. And the reason? We overestimate the structure of our data — and underestimate the complexity of our business logic.

The problem isn’t the data!

It’s how we frame the question.

Instead of jumping straight to a datapoint, give you data, so YOU can think, start by framing the business challenge: “We’ve seen a drop in Q3 sales — can we together analyze what could be driving that?”

That one shift opens up a whole new conversation:

Critical analysis instead of mechanical reporting. Deeper insights instead of shallow trends. Solutions that actually move the business forward and not endless back and forth sending of structured datapoints.

When you treat your analysts like order-takers, you limit their potential.

But when you bring them in as partners in solving the problem, something else happens: They think bigger. They connect unexpected dots you could not think of. They help you make smarter decisions.

This isn’t just about analysis quality. It’s about building a culture where data becomes part of your business strategy, not just your reporting layer.

So next time you ask for analysis — start by describing the business challenge, not just the data need.

Let your data team join the exploration. Shape the questions together. Build the insight collaboratively. If your data analysts aren´t that good in the business, then you have a problem you need to solve.. and what better way of including them, they are usually very smart people and will learn faster than you think I promise you, just by working with data in the right context.

Data analysis isn’t a request. It’s a conversation.

Better questions lead to better answers. Better answers lead to better decisions. And better decisions change the game.

It doesn’t start in the database. It starts in how you think. And how you lead.