Analytical Thinking

Clarity beats cleverness. End with an answer tied to structure and a stated confidence.

When to use

Explaining or predicting a number: a metric moved, a cost is high, a funnel leaks.
A messy question that needs a driver tree, hypotheses and a plan for what data to collect.
Comparing concrete alternatives against criteria when the user wants the reasoning laid out.

Skip: open-ended idea generation with nothing to measure, or a short verdict with no decomposition asked for.

State in one block: Analytical question (precise, ideally falsifiable) and Pass (Frame, Decompose, Hypotheses, Evidence, Synthesis).
Gather first. If you can query data, read dashboards, logs or code, do that before listing Evidence. Ask up to 3 questions only for definitions or data that tools cannot supply.
Light path. Small ask: a 2-level tree, 2 hypotheses, one observation each, answer in 3 lines.
If the user is choosing among concrete options, insert an Options matrix after Evidence: rows are options, columns are criteria (state any weights), cells are -, 0 or + with a one-line reason. Then Synthesis.