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When Your Stakeholder Asks "Can You Just..." (Translation Guide)
Karina Samsonova
January 09, 2026
Several years ago I got a JIRA ticket.
The description - "Build marketing dashboard"
No metrics. No KPIs. No data sources. No deadline. No context about what decisions this dashboard would inform.
Just: "Build marketing dashboard."
And then, presumably, someone sat back thinking, "Great, I've done my part. Now the data team can handle it."
This is my nightmare.
Today, let's talk about the vague requests that drive data analysts insane, and how to handle them without losing your mind.
My Introduction to Kanban Boards
Before I worked in data, I spent 5 years in finance. Requests were... different. People would walk up to your desk or send an email: "I need the Q3 numbers." You'd figure out what they meant and deliver it. In finance you're always working with the same set of standardised reports. Profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow. Accounting is precise. There are templates. Everyone speaks the same language.
Then I got my first data analyst role.
The DBA, bless him, was so tired of vague requests that he created a kanban board with mandatory fields.
You couldn't even submit a request without filling in:
Time frame: What period does this cover?
Granularity: Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly?
Frequency: Is this ad-hoc or recurring?
Data sources: Which systems/tables?
Output format: Dashboard? Report? Excel file?
At first, I thought: "Wow, that's a lot of inputs to fill in."
Years later, I totally get it.
Mind you, at that point I couldn’t write a single line of SQL, so I didn’t understand why he is asking these questions. It looked like bureaucracy to me.
The "Can You Just..." Hall of Fame
Over 12 years, I've collected some classics. Let me translate them for you:
What they say: "Can you just pull this data real quick?"
What they mean: "Can you join 5 tables, handle duplicate records, filter for specific date ranges, exclude cancelled orders, aggregate by region, and export to Excel?"
Actual time: 2-3 hours, not 5 minutes.
What they say: "Can you just add this metric to the dashboard?"
What they mean: "Can you query a new data source, create a calculation that doesn't exist, add it to an already crowded dashboard, make sure it updates automatically, and ensure it doesn't break the existing layout?"
Actual time: Half a day, plus testing.
What they say: "Can you just automate this report?"
What they mean: "Can you recreate my manual Excel process (which I've never documented and changes slightly each time I run it) into code, schedule it to run automatically, handle edge cases, add error handling, and email it to 15 people?"
Actual time: 1-2 weeks.
The word “just” is dangerous. Because it is never “just”.
Why This Happens
People genuinely don't know what's involved in data work. Same like me 12 years ago.
To them, it's all behind a screen. It's all "computer stuff." If you can write one SQL query, surely you can write any SQL query. If you built one dashboard, surely you can build any dashboard.
They don't see:
The data cleaning
The business logic decisions
The edge cases
The validation
The documentation
The testing
They just see the output.
And honestly? I get it. I don't know what's involved in most other people's jobs either.
My "Build Marketing Dashboard" Story
Back to that JIRA ticket.
I did what the DBA taught me years ago: I asked questions.
I replied to the ticket:
"Thanks for the request! To build something useful, I need a bit more context:
What decisions will this dashboard inform?
Which marketing metrics matter most? (traffic, conversions, campaign ROI, lead quality, etc.)
What's the priority order if we can't include everything?
Who's the audience? (executives, marketing team, external stakeholders?)
What's the time frame you want to analyse? (last 30 days, quarter, year?)
How often do you need this updated? (real-time, daily, weekly?)
What format works best?
When do you need this by?"
The response I got back:
"Oh, good questions. Let me check with the team and get back to you."
Translation: They hadn't thought it through either.
Then we had a meeting to discuss the details. The rest of the project went smooth.
The Questions That Save You Time
Before starting ANY data request, ask these:
About the purpose:
What decision will this inform?
Why do you need this now? (What changed?)
About the scope:
What exactly do you need to see?
What level of detail? (daily, weekly, by product, by region?)
What time period?
Are there any specific filters or segments?
About the delivery:
Who's the audience?
What format? (dashboard, report, presentation, Excel)
How often do you need this? (one-time, weekly, monthly)
When do you actually need this? (not "ASAP"—an actual date. Because everything is ASAP and Urgent all the time)
About success:
What does "done" look like?
Is there an existing report/dashboard you're trying to replace or improve?
These questions aren't bureaucracy. They're clarity.
And clarity saves everyone time.
When "Just" Actually Means "Just"
To be fair, sometimes requests ARE simple.
"Can you just send me last month's sales total?" → Actually 2 minutes (I have this report).
"Can you just rerun the same report with updated dates?" → Actually quick.
"Can you just export this table to CSV?" → Literally one click.
The difference? These requests are:
Specific
Using existing work
Single, clear output
No decisions required from you
But "build a dashboard" or "create a report"? Never "just."
Now, years later, I'm that DBA. Who would have thought?!
I'm the one advocating for structured request processes. JIRA tickets with required fields. Intake forms. Request templates.
Not because I love bureaucracy. Because I love efficiency.
And nothing is less efficient than building the wrong thing.
Your Action Plan
If you're receiving vague requests:
Create a request template or intake form with required fields:
Business purpose / decision this informs
Specific metrics or data needed
Time frame and granularity
Audience
Deadline (realistic one)
Frequency (one-time vs recurring)
Share it with stakeholders. Use it consistently. At some point they will get used to filling in the form 😃
If you're the one making requests:
Before you hit "submit" on that JIRA ticket, ask yourself:
Have I explained WHY I need this?
Have I specified WHAT exactly I need?
Have I given a realistic WHEN?
Could someone action this without asking follow-up questions?
If not, add more detail.
So the next time someone asks you to "just" do something, pause.
Ask questions.
Get specific.
Then build the right thing.
It'll save you both time in the long run.
Keep pushing 💪,
Karina
Python Tip
pathlib is the modern way to handle file paths
Old way:
import os
path = os.path.join('data', 'raw', 'file.csv')
if os.path.exists(path):
with open(path, 'r') as f:
data = f.read()New way:
from pathlib import Path
# New way
path = Path('data') / 'raw' / 'file.csv'
if path.exists():
data = path.read_text()Example:
from pathlib import Path
# Create paths naturally
path = Path('data') / 'processed' / 'output.csv'
# Check existence
path.exists() # True/False
path.is_file()
path.is_dir()
# Read/write easily
path.read_text()
path.write_text('content')
# Get file info
path.name # 'output.csv'
path.stem # 'output'
path.suffix # '.csv'
path.parent # Path('data/processed')
# Create directories
path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
# List files
for file in Path('data').glob('*.csv'):
print(file)Grab your freebies if you haven’t done already:
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 | Data Analyst & Data Scientist |