What Is an Analysis? When analyzing things, you are essentially trying to convert a lot of information into smaller actionable bites. You are trying to find relationships among different inputs to make inferences about why certain things are happening. By breaking larger problems into smaller problems, you and your team can more easily tackle big-picture outcomes. Converting information into meaningful intelligence is actually one step in a larger process called competitive intelligence (see Figure 5-2). Business author Jim Underwood writes, “Competitive intelligence is the process of legally and ethically gathering, analyzing, and acting on information about an organization’s market environment, competition, and other forces that may impact its future [35] success.” What Underwood is saying is that the impartial research should lead to impartial decisions. And that’s one reason why clients hire consultants — to help them to avoid emotionally fueled judgments. Figure 5-2. Gaining competitive intelligence is a four-step process This analytical approach also ties into the Build-Measure-Learn loop from Lean