My manager vaguely remembers that Sarah from an adjacent group did something similar last winter. He looks through his email and forwards me a deck. I discuss the topic with a few peers, and apparently, John from product had a comparable report last year. I’m sizing an opportunity for a department head, and it turns out I’m not the first person to look into this space. So I review the deck and the report. Sarah and John are clearly veterans: polished deck, clear story line, an appropriate level of detail for leadership, and a clear call to action. This is great work, and I’m sure they helped move the business in the right direction. There’s something missing from my perspective though: why and how did they come to these conclusions? After all, I need to do the work needed for my department head, not the same audience as theirs. ...
“Hey Thinh, we’re creating this new product that can transform the market. We want to size the potential fit for our customer base and pilot the product for a subset of clients. Can you help us understand how many clients fit into buckets A, B, C? These are the clients who are eligible to try the product. And by the way, we think that pre-retirees are the most likely clients who will benefit from this product.” ...