Workflow Wednesday: From Questions to Data to AI Impact 🕵️♂️

Art by @basilonmypizza: https://lnkd.in/eF8FkWzN - https://basilhefti.ch/

AI without the right data is like a detective chasing the wrong lead. You look busy, but you won’t solve the case. The data model is the case board on the wall, the evidence map that guides every move.

One overlooked tool to ensure the right data: business questions.

Take “How many customers do we have?” Sounds obvious. It isn’t. Do we count invoice addresses, subscriptions, or beneficiaries? Each choice changes the answer.

Questions, like clues, can mislead. “New customer” can mean many things, churn and migration often overlap. To crack the case, you cluster and refine: “How many customers?” splits by type, region, or time.

This detective work delivers business concepts and perspectives, and it isn’t a solo job: modelling requires collaboration across departments.

Formulating business questions ensures your AI has the right data and a validation metric: does the model answer them? If not, it’s incomplete.

For AI, this is decisive: miscounted customers distort churn, misdefined products skew campaigns. Business questions root the model in reality: the foundation for value and impact.

Now, I’ll light my pipe and follow the next clue.

• Happy Birthday, Thomas H. Zurbuchen ;)

• Storey, Lukyanenko, Castellanos: Conceptual modeling: Topics, Themes, and Technology Trends: https://lnkd.in/ef8H5Cjz

• Art by @basilonmypizza: https://lnkd.in/eF8FkWzN https://basilhefti.ch/