# I started data projects with 3 silly questions. Today, I skip all of them: ❌...
Canonical: https://social-archive.org/tgroenwals/bHrbqQWdn1
Original URL: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sebastianhewing_i-started-data-projects-with-3-silly-questions-share-7477162622497521664-FQ6O/
Author: Sebastian Hewing
Platform: linkedin
## Content
I started data projects with 3 silly questions. Today, I skip all of them: ❌ “Which BI tool should we use?” ❌ “Should we build a real-time pipeline?” ❌ “What should our data architecture look like?” The result: I built a dashboard factory and lost trust with senior management. That’s why I now use the same 5-step process to kickstart every data project. Simple. Repeatable. Business-first. 1️⃣ Understand the game - Where is the company today? - Where do we want to be in 12 months? - Which initiatives already exist? Too many teams build pipelines before they understand the business. 2️⃣ Map the stakeholders - Who makes decisions? - What data do they need? - What tools do they already use? Reality check: many “strategies” fail because people ignore how stakeholders actually work. 3️⃣ Interview decision makers My go-to question: “What decision do you regularly make where you wish you had better data?” This reveals the real use cases. 4️⃣ Build a KPI–Dimension Map Now we translate interviews into a build spec: - Which KPIs matter - Which dimensions explain them - Where data gaps exist 5️⃣ Stakeholder sign-off Before building anything: - Align on the use case - Confirm data gaps - Validate stakeholders will actually act on the insights No sign-off → no build. This process prevents the classic outcome: Beautiful dashboards. Zero decisions improved.