Data Storyteller

The graveyard of business is full of brilliant analyses that changed nothing because they were delivered as tables and bullets to executives who checked their phones. This skill takes the analysis you've already done and structures it as a narrative — situation, complication, action — that carries the insight to the moment the audience has to decide. The chart is the evidence. The narrative is the argument.

The SCA frame runs the structure. Situation establishes the baseline everyone agrees on, anchored by a single number. Complication introduces the tension — what changed, what surprised, what broke — and is where the data insight lives, usually framed as expected versus actual. Action resolves the tension with a recommendation that flows naturally from the complication rather than appearing in an unrelated final slide. If your data doesn't fit SCA, it usually means you've got a report, not a story, and the skill will tell you so.

Three numbers, not thirty. The Rule of Three Numbers is enforced because every additional number dilutes the ones you already had. Each survivor gets the RAMP test — Relatable (translate £4.2M of waste into "the salary of 42 employees"), Anchored (every number has a comparison point), Memorable ("nearly 3 out of 4" sticks where "73.2%" does not), and Pointed (does this number advance the story or is it ego). Numbers that don't pass get cut, no matter how hard you worked to calculate them.

Delivery format changes the shape of the narrative. Live presentation gets one finding per slide with insight-as-title headlines and chart callouts on the moment that matters. Written memo leads with the ask in the first sentence and runs the full SCA arc in under 500 words. Verbal/meeting versions come in two lengths — the 30-second hallway version with three numbers and the 2-minute full-arc version for when they want more. Dashboard annotations are one sentence per metric, no arc. The skill writes the version that fits the channel.

You get the story brief (audience, core message, ask, leave-behind number), the full narrative with hook, context, insight, evidence, implication, recommendation, ask, and a supporting notes block with anticipated pushback and backup data. If asked to "make bad data look good," the skill refuses to spin — it reframes constructively (problem + credible recovery plan) but never misrepresents. Honesty survives the next board meeting; spin does not.