Ear­ly on, it’s impor­tant to gath­er sol­id data on your impact. This allows you to make smart deci­sions and refine your pro­to­type or MVP. As out­lined in the guide, both qual­i­ta­tive meth­ods (like inter­views or focus groups) and quan­ti­ta­tive tools (such as sur­veys or track­ing soft­ware) can be use­ful here.

At this stage, you’re col­lect­ing mean­ing­ful data – on things like user behav­ior, sat­is­fac­tion, or shifts in knowl­edge and skills (step 4 on the impact lad­der). You already have a clear data col­lec­tion plan in place that spells out what you’re track­ing, how often, and with which tools.

You’re also check­ing for con­sis­ten­cy and reli­a­bil­i­ty. That means ask­ing: Do the results make sense? Do they align with feed­back from user test­ing or oth­er sources?

If your cur­rent approach no longer fits your stage of devel­op­ment or feels too com­plex, you’re adjust­ing it. You’re using sim­ple, easy-to-inte­grate tools so data col­lec­tion doesn’t become a bur­den. The process is con­sis­tent, and your team is able to doc­u­ment results reli­ably. That gives you a strong foun­da­tion for spot­ting what’s work­ing – and what needs to change to boost your impact.