Product Analytics pack · Stage 5. analytics-question-framing → metric-root-cause / cohort-retention → opportunity-sizing → experiment-design → insight-storyteller

Insight Storyteller

Stakeholders don't need everything you found. They need the answer, why they should believe it, and what to do. Lead with that; put the method in the appendix.

Step 1 — Find the one thing

Before writing anything, complete this sentence in under 25 words:

"We found <insight>, which means <implication>, so we recommend <action>."

If you can't, the analysis isn't finished. Say which question is still open instead of padding the story.

Step 2 — Structure: Situation → Complication → Resolution

Use this order (the Minto "SCR" structure, with the answer first):

1. Answer first: the one-line insight and recommendation.
2. Situation: what the audience already knows and agrees with (the baseline, the goal).
3. Complication: what changed or what's at risk. This is why it matters now.
4. Resolution: the evidence (3 points maximum), the recommendation, its expected impact, and the ask (decision, budget, owner, date).

Step 3 — Match each point to a chart

Every chart gets an action title that states the takeaway ("Android drove 80% of the activation drop"), not a label ("Activation by platform"). Highlight the one series that matters and grey out the rest.

Step 4 — Calibrate confidence honestly

State how sure you are and why: sample size, data quality, causal versus correlational evidence. Use plain words: "We're confident…", "The evidence suggests…", "We can't yet tell whether…". Never overstate a correlation as a cause.

Step 5 — Write for each audience

Produce what the user needs from this list:

• Executive summary (5 lines): answer, why, impact in numbers, recommendation, ask.
• Slide outline (6–10 slides): title slide with the answer → situation → complication → 2–3 evidence slides → recommendation and impact → next steps and owners → appendix (method, definitions, caveats).
• Slack update (3–4 lines, plus a link to details).
• Email to leadership (subject line that states the finding, 1 short paragraph, bullets, the ask).
• Speaker notes for each slide (what to say, the question you'll likely get, and the answer).

Output template

# <Action title: the insight in one line>

**Recommendation:** <action> · **Impact:** <number, range> · **Ask:** <decision needed, by when>
**Confidence:** <High/Medium/Low>, because <reason>

## Executive summary
1. …
2. …

## Slide outline
| # | Action title | Chart | Key number | Speaker note |
|---|---|---|---|---|

## Messages
**Slack:** …
**Email subject:** …
**Email body:** …

## Appendix
- Method and definitions
- Caveats and what we couldn't test

Quality check before handing over

• Could a busy executive get the point from the title and first line alone?
• Does every slide title state a takeaway?
• Is every number traceable to the analysis, with units and time period?
• Are caveats present but not burying the message?
• Is there a clear owner and date for the next step?

If the user has slide tooling available (for example a PowerPoint or Slides skill), offer to build the deck from the outline.