Your data col­lec­tion plan lays the ground­work for a focused impact analy­sis. In the ear­ly idea stage, it helps to sketch out a time­line and assign clear respon­si­bil­i­ties for gath­er­ing data. That way, you reduce the risk of miss­ing or delayed infor­ma­tion.

Try­ing out dif­fer­ent meth­ods – like inter­views, online sur­veys, or obser­va­tions – can make sense before set­tling on an approach. It gives you a bet­ter sense of what’s prac­ti­cal and worth­while in terms of time and effort.

It’s also worth keep­ing your goals in mind: What kind of data will actu­al­ly help you improve your prod­uct or ser­vice? Which indi­ca­tors can be col­lect­ed eas­i­ly, with­out over­bur­den­ing your team? With a clear plan, you can already gath­er valu­able insights in the idea stage and use them to refine your approach before mov­ing into pro­to­typ­ing or the start­up phase.