Doing it "Right"

2011/4/12

Dr. Pete

Dear Dr. Pete:
I recently was given a research report to read that was circulating in the client company. Compared to what I originally had written for the client, it lacked any technical details about the sampling, weighting schemes and all the other important things we do. If clients don't care about such things, why should we? Surely it would be easier not to do things "by the book?"

-Pelo Livro

Dear Pelo:
Oh, but they do care. They do. It's just that they expect you to have taken care of these things.

What is generally more interesting at this point in the food chain is not how it was done, but what it means and how it can be applied. If you've ever seen a CEO either rolling his eyes or walking out of your presentation after 20 minutes, it's not because he doesn't care; it's because you're still droning on about methods.
Now let's take a look at your second point—would it be easier not to do things "by the book?" I've a couple of things to say here. Firstly, you are going to come unstuck one day and your client is not going to like your data. Whether you believe he cares about methodology or not, he is going to ask some tough questions about what you did. At this point you have two choices, the first is to tell the truth. To be frank, I'd have to say rather you than me as you try to explain (without of course saying that you think he doesn't care about methodology) that you have singlehandedly invented a better way of doing market research and have kept quiet about it until now. Your second option is to lie. My advice to anyone thinking of lying their way out of a situation—don't. You will get caught.

All in all, I'd say don't go rushing around making up new ways to do stuff—it's hard. Might as well do it right. At least then when your client doesn't like your data, it's more his problem than yours. Just keep on doing it "right" and don't worry about what happens down the line.

-Dr. Pete