Deliver and close

Step 1: Send to Somchai

Send the findings report to Somchai via email. Include a brief covering message that summarizes the three or four key points: the data sources are now combined, the property differences are real but small, season matters more than the property itself, and here is something the board can use instead of comparing raw numbers.

Keep the covering message short. The report does the heavy lifting.

Step 2: Read Somchai's response

Somchai responds formally and positively. He says this is what he needed for the board. He specifically mentions the effect size translation as helpful -- saying the difference is "real but small" is exactly what the board needs to hear instead of just seeing the raw numbers.

Then he asks a follow-up: "Could we also segment by guest nationality? I suspect European guests rate differently from Asian guests."

This is a reasonable question. The data supports it -- reviewer nationality is in the reviews dataset. But adding nationality segmentation changes the comparison structure. It introduces a new factor into the analysis and needs its own assumption checks.

Step 3: Handle the scope extension

You have a choice. You can:

• Take it on briefly, if the data and time allow. Run a quick segmentation and report the finding.
• Manage the scope professionally: "That is a good question and the data supports it. I would recommend it as a follow-up analysis rather than folding it into this report, because adding nationality segmentation changes the comparison structure and needs its own assumption checks."

Either response is valid. The professional skill is making the decision deliberately rather than automatically saying yes.

Step 4: Write a decision record

Document the most consequential analytical decision in this project. Good candidates:

• The join strategy: how the date format discrepancy was resolved, what matching logic was applied, how many records matched and did not match
• The choice between parametric and non-parametric tests: why the assumption check result led to the test choice
• The regularization approach: why Ridge or Lasso, what the zeroed features told you

Format: "I chose [X] over [Y] because [reason]. The trade-off is [what I gave up]. This matters because [consequence for the analysis or the client]."

Step 5: Commit and push

Direct AI to commit the work to Git with a meaningful commit message and push to GitHub. The repository should contain the notebook, the findings report, the methodology memo, and the decision record.

Verify the push succeeded.