Asking questions is easy. It’s so easy that, as askers, we often don’t think about the quality of our questions. Poorly framed questions waste everyone’s time—yours included—because they require the answerer to make assumptions. When it comes to asking analysts to explore a problem you’re trying to solve, better questions will drive better analysis and, ultimately, more actionable answers.

Here’s an example:

Marketer: “How many people converted from paid ad…

Over the course of a startup’s lifetime, a company can face a range of data challenges. In the beginning, startup founders do most analysis themselves using tools like Google Analytics. As a company grows, business and product leaders often have analytical questions that these tools—and busy executives—can’t answer.

For many companies, reaching this point is a signal to start building an analytics team. But who do you hire? An analyst might be able to deliver value right away, but…