It shouldn’t be that hard
Let’s move back to your desk, the managing director. It has now been 2 days since you made your data request. Meanwhile, the client is wondering what on earth is taking so long to get a simple report, questioning your ability to run a tight ship. You are six feet deep in frustration because you know this isn’t a hard question to answer. This type of advice is why the client chose you in the first place, so this is not a good look. It’s not your best work.
Now that the analyst has all 5 years of spreadsheet data retrieved from QuickBooks, it is time to pull for the specific metrics that the boss man/woman asked for. Once again, the hunt ensues. In cell D:564-569 the input was fat-fingered. The mistake has to be corrected (thankfully it was caught), and somehow this process is more painful.
Now you, the managing director, have your data from the associate. Now, all you need to do is make it more meaningful to the client, perhaps add some visualizations to drill into the key points, maybe some charts and tables. At this point, there is a hot debate about using mustard or sunshine yellow for the pie charts as opposed to skyline blue. The report design process takes more time.
3 days later, you have the report prepared. It is sent to the client, and your typical day resumes.
Until tomorrow.
When client X asks how to package their company for sale, they want to retire soon.
