The summary.
WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS
Using the information your business already produces to answer questions you would act on.
Most valuable analysis in a small business is arithmetic on clean records, not advanced technique.
START WITH A QUESTION, NOT A TOOL
The test for a good question: would you do something differently depending on the answer?
If not, it is not worth answering. Dashboards built before questions produce charts nobody acts on.
THE THREE QUESTIONS TO ASK OF ANY NUMBER
Compared to what? Why? So what?
Most reporting never answers the third.
WHAT PREVENTS MOST WRONG CONCLUSIONS
Asking what would disprove your conclusion, and checking that too.
Two things moving together is not one causing the other, and that confusion causes more bad decisions than any other.
WHAT MOST BUSINESSES ARE MISSING
Not volume of data. The connections between it — sales recorded without the customer, enquiries without the source, costs without the job.
WHAT DATA CANNOT TELL YOU
Why something happened, what customers think, or whether a change caused a result.
Use data to find what to investigate, then investigate.
THE HABIT THAT PRODUCES THE VALUE
An hour a month that changes something.
