2 Describe the current situation

The next step is to describe the current situation or the status quo of the problem. What are the facts, assumptions, constraints, and challenges that you are facing? How do you measure and monitor the current situation? What are the gaps or discrepancies between the current situation and the goal? For example, if you are a marketer, you could describe the current conversion rate of your website, the sources of traffic, the user behavior, and the competitors.

3 Formulate the question

The third step is to formulate the question or the hypothesis that you want to answer or test with data analysis. The question should be clear, concise, and relevant to the goal and the current situation. It should also be answerable with the data that you have or can obtain. For example, if you are a marketer, your question could be: What are the factors that influence the conversion rate of your website?

4 Define the scope

The fourth step is to define the scope or the boundaries of the problem. What are the variables, dimensions, segments, or groups that you want to include or exclude in your analysis? How do you categorize, filter, or aggregate the data? What are the time frames, geographies, or contexts that you want to consider or ignore? For example, if you are a marketer, you could define the scope of your analysis by focusing on a specific product, channel, or audience.

5 Specify the outputs

The fifth step is to specify the outputs or the deliverables of the problem. What are the formats, methods, or tools that you will use to present or communicate your findings and recommendations? How will you visualize, summarize, or report the data? What are the metrics, indicators, or benchmarks that you will use to evaluate your results? For example, if you are a marketer, you could specify the outputs of your analysis by creating a dashboard, a report, or a slide deck.

6 Review and refine

The final step is to review and refine your problem definition. You should check if your problem definition is complete, consistent, and coherent. You should also validate if your problem definition is aligned with your goal, your data, and your stakeholders. You may need to revise or refine your problem definition as you collect more data, perform more analysis, or receive more feedback. For example, if you are a marketer, you could review and refine your problem definition by testing your assumptions, exploring your data, or consulting your clients.