Deconstruct Any Metric with a Few Simple ‘What’ Questions

Vague metrics like "The improvement is 5x" are often red flags used in data storytelling to obscure the full picture. To properly deconstruct such claims, one must ask a series of "what" questions to uncover the necessary context. These questions include identifying what dimension was improved, what the baseline value was, and what comparison period is being used. By demanding this level of detail, data professionals can separate real value from clever marketing and make informed decisions based on a complete understanding of the metric.