Understanding and Translating Client Needs

On Day 2, we talked about how important it is to really understand and translate what clients want. Often, we don't ask the right questions or assume clients know something they might not. It's crucial to not only understand what the client is asking for but also what they really need to make a positive impact. This is especially important during our initial engagement so we can move forward correctly.

Example: NFL Combine Dashboard

The NFL Scouting Combine is an annual event where college football players go through physical and mental tests in front of NFL coaches, general managers, and scouts. Their performances in these drills help NFL teams evaluate and compare prospects before the draft.

The author did a great job visualizing the changes in performance across each discipline and highlighting top all-time performers. But when working with a client who might have specific needs, like scouting for promising talents in a given year, I created my own version of the dashboard (apologies for my messy handwriting).

My version compares the top athletes in the same year and positions across the six disciplines, with options to filter by year and position. I also added a table at the top to show the top athletes with the highest average scores across all six disciplines. This way, a client looking for promising talents can easily see the top performers in each discipline and those who did the best overall.

While this doesn't let us compare performances across different years, it's great for comparing athletes in the same position within the same year. This can help decide which athletes to keep an eye on.

Ultimately, our data analysis and visualization should answer specific questions clearly. Good communication between a consultant and a client is key to making sure we're on the same page. Otherwise, we might end up confused, like Monkey and Butterfly in "Monkey Puzzle." :)

Author:
Thomas Duong
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