Read time: ~5 minutes · Series: Business & Operations onboarding · Previous: Why sign off on the Plan · Next: How to review a Plan
A "let me just take a quick look" number made it into the weekly meeting
An analyst asked a couple of questions in Quick Analysis, and the conversation turned up "roughly 15% conversion." You pasted the screenshot into the weekly report. Finance probed the definition—no Plan, no Executed Report, and nobody can explain where this 15% came from.
Quick is good for exploring and validating ideas; a number destined for a meeting, for external use, or for a finance process should come from a focused project → a reviewed Plan → Execute → Report.
Two modes, and how the business side should tell them apart
| Quick Analysis | Project (Plan → Execute → Report) | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical use | Whether a column exists, whether the direction is right | Campaign retrospectives, funnel disputes, sign-off-ready deliverables |
| Definition evidence | Mostly in the conversation and SQL tabs, no complete Plan flow | Plan + Report + limitations |
| How you should treat it | Unofficial, don't use as an external number | Reviewable Plan, acceptable Report |
| Approve & Execute | No such button (not a formal project analysis) | The analyst approves the Plan and formally kicks off the run |
If the analyst says "this was just a quick look in Quick," then do not put the number into external materials, unless it's later upgraded into a project and completes Execute.
Common team rules (adopt them directly)
- External numbers must come from the Report of an Executed project
- Quick results are labeled "unofficial / to be confirmed" by default
- Finance or external PR does not accept chat screenshots or Quick conversation summaries
Aligned with PM: The quality bar.
One thing you can do right now
Next time you receive a number, ask two questions first: "Is this Quick, or an already-Executed Report?" "Which section of the Plan defines the denominator?"