Hubsessed Office Hours — Reporting and Dashboards

Same words, different languages, and the denominator first

Joshua Oakes · Thursday, October 8, 2026

We use the same words, but we're actually speaking different languages. Admin and RevOps people are speaking data dictionary. Our stakeholders and executives are using their business terms. Sometimes we're simply not using the same definitions. And sometimes they aren't yet clear on what the ask, or the unknown problem they're trying to solve, actually is. Madelyn's point: even creating the report and hitting roadblocks often points out issues with processes, before anyone looks at the report. I hear some form of this pretty regularly: I need a pipeline stage report. So my first question is, what's the denominator? From which stage to which stage? Say there were 10 deals in a stage and five advanced, but the five that remain aren't eligible to advance because they haven't met stage criteria. You could argue 50% advanced. Or you could argue 100% of eligible deals advanced. What that stakeholder actually wants the report to represent relies on those definitions. What's the denominator in the stage report your team looks at most? Replay clip from Hubsessed Office Hours: Reporting and Dashboards. Madelyn Donovan and I hosted as equals. Clip page: https://www.hubsessed.io/clips/rd-2026-10-07-same-words-different-languages