What is the PGAI Framework?

A hard part of data work is explaining why any of it matters. You need to be able to connect the numbers to the decisions that need to be made and the outcomes the organisation is trying to achieve.

This is where many data stories fall flat. The analysis is correct, but the communication is missing a layer of context that would give it meaning. The PGAI Framework is a structured way to find it.

What the PGAI Framework is

PGAI stands for Problem, Goal, Action, Impact. It's a framework from The Data Storyteller's Handbook that helps data professionals understand and articulate the organisation's context behind their work before they start communicating it.

The four elements work together.

Problem: What is the organisation struggling with? Every actionable piece of data work exists because something needs to change or improve. Identifying the problem grounds your work in something the audience already recognises and cares about.

Goal: What outcome would minimise the problem? Goals are outcomes you aim for, and this particular goal helps solve the above problem. Understanding it will help you explain what you were trying to achieve and why.

Action: What did/could the organisation do to achieve the goal? Without action, you won't achieve your goals. This action is what specifically needs to happen to achieve your goal, and this is where data storytelling plays its most direct role. A data story can influence a decision about a future action, or share the outcome of a past one. Knowing what side of the action you're on changes how you frame your communication.

Impact: What value did/could the action create? Impact is the effect your action has on a organisation's overall success. It's what engages the people who commission and fund data work. You will struggle to communicate the impact of your work if you don't know how your data is used once it's left you.

Why it's important to understand before you build anything

The PGAI Framework is most useful when it's applied before the data story is written, even before the analysis is started. When you know your problem, goal, action, and impact, you can be confident that your work is contributing to something the organisation actually needs. It also gives you the language to engage people at different levels because you can speak to the wider context of the work. For example, a senior leader needs to understand impact, a direct manager needs to understand the action and the goal.

The framework in practice

Tania is a Digital Analyst whose organisation's website has a low conversion rate compared to the industry average. Her PGAI looks like this:

Problem: The website's conversion rate is below the industry average.

Goal: Increase the conversion rate by 25% within three months.

Action: A/B test strategic website changes.

Impact: Generate an additional $125,000 in sales revenue over three months.

With those four elements in place, Tania can write different data stories for different audiences while keeping the same business argument at the centre. For a general organisation audience, she frames the work around the opportunity for impact it presents. For her manager, she makes a specific case for additional web development resource by framing her goal around the problem she's solving.

A framework for influence

One of the most valuable things the PGAI Framework does is shift how a data professional thinks about their work. When you understand the problem you're solving, the goal you're serving, and the impact you're creating, you stop thinking of yourself as someone who produces reports and start thinking of yourself as someone who contributes to outcomes.

This changes how you communicate, and how you're perceived.

The PGAI Framework is covered in full in The Data Storyteller's Handbook, along with free templates to help you apply it to your own work. The online course and Rogue Penguin workshops develop the skill of putting it into practice.

Kat Greenbrook is a data storytelling consultant, author, and workshop facilitator based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is the founder of Rogue Penguin and the author of The Data Storyteller's Handbook.