As described by David Spiegelharter in his excellent book “Art of Statistics”, PPDAC cycle underscores that formal techniques of data analysis play only one part in the entire problem-solving life cycle. The cycle starts with fierce interrogation process: asking a lot of questions. This is where we elicit information. This is nothing new. Socratic method, established over 2,000 years ago, had at its core a focus on generating more questions than answers. Answers are not a stopping point but the beginning of further analysis. Relentless questioning helps us in framing the problem correctly. A famous approach is Sakichi Toyoda’s (founder of Toyota) “why questions” which argued that by asking why questions five times, the nature of the problem, as well as its solution, becomes clear.

To take the PPDAC paradigm one step further (in today’s ever rapidly evolving business environment), we have to consider how decision making (and action taking) is affected & further finetuned through rapid iteration of the previous three steps (data collection/analysis/conclusion).  When yesterday’s decision/action is no longer serving the bottom line, going back to the questioning and reframing the problem and starting the PPDACA cycle all over again is the agility and adaptability required to stand out from competition.