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If it helps, it's not for you.

Execs can't do this themselves because they don't have the information they need, and are trying to be predictable and compete in a market. So think about it as an ELI5 exercise where you're infantilizing up, or as it's more commonly and professionally referred to, managing up, or more plainly, helping the business make better decisions.

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Helping the boss convince the market he made better decisions.

I often feel the frustration when I'm writing some data-crunching report-extraction thing, of the knowledge that the output of it will be some administrator squinting shrewdly at it and thinking himself better informed. Then he'll do pretty much whatever he would be doing anyway.

And that's the better case. I suspect in many cases they don't look at the information they ask for at all.

Maybe with a shitty boss and a complacent environment. Help them not squint at it and make a gut decision. Why not instead ensure the objective of the report is clear, there's a meaningful target around which to hinge on a decision, and present the data in a way that helps make the decision? And in lieu of the time or resources to do that, work on those problems?

Well, since I recently quit, I suppose that's what I'm trying.

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