What Stakeholders Say vs What They Actually Need

Why I’m writing this

One thing I’ve noticed - both from my previous roles and now while learning data - is how often what people ask for is not actually what they need.

And it’s not because they don’t know what they’re doing.

It’s because they’re trying to solve a problem, not describe it perfectly.

What it looks like in practice

You hear things like:

“I need a dashboard.”

“Can you pull the data?”

“We need more data.”

On the surface, these sound like clear requests.

But they’re often just the starting point.

What usually sits underneath

Behind those requests, there is usually something else:

• uncertainty about what is actually happening

• pressure to make a decision

• a need to explain something to someone else

• or simply not knowing where the problem really is

  
  

The request is just the visible part.

Why this matters

If you take the request at face value, you might deliver exactly what was asked for.

A dashboard.

A dataset.

A report.

And technically, it might be correct.

But it still might not help.

Because it doesn’t address the actual problem.

How I try to approach it

Instead of starting with the output, I try to step back and understand the context.

What decision is this supposed to support?

What is unclear right now?

What would change based on the answer?

Sometimes that leads to a dashboard.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

A simple example

Someone asks for a report on performance.

It sounds straightforward.

But in reality, they might be trying to understand:

• why results are dropping

• whether a target is still realistic

• or how to explain the situation to management

  
  

Without that context, even a well-built report can miss the point.

Final thought

Analysis doesn’t start with data.

It starts with understanding what the business is actually trying to solve.

And sometimes, the most important part of the job is not answering the question - but understanding the right one.