The Simple Lesson: Define Your Output Structure First, Then Map Your Input
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:15 am
I was trying to convert a list of customer feedback points, each a free-text comment, into a structured dataset for analysis. My old method would have been to just start pasting comments and then trying to extract sentiment, keywords, and action items afterwards. This always resulted in a messy, incomplete table.
The "aha!" moment came when a colleague, observing my struggles, simply asked, "What do you want the final data to look like?"
It hit me. I was so focused on the input (the list) that I wasn't adequately defining the output (the str brother cell phone list uctured data). Instead of starting with the list and trying to force it into a structure, I needed to start with the desired structure and then figure out how to extract and fit the list items into it.
Here's how this simple lesson transformed my approach:
I stopped looking at the "list" as just text and started seeing it as "potential data points." Each item in my list wasn't just a bullet point; it was a record waiting to be broken down into its constituent parts.
I began by designing the schema of my output. Before touching the list, I would now create the headers for my spreadsheet or the fields for my database. For the customer feedback example, this meant defining columns like.
The "aha!" moment came when a colleague, observing my struggles, simply asked, "What do you want the final data to look like?"
It hit me. I was so focused on the input (the list) that I wasn't adequately defining the output (the str brother cell phone list uctured data). Instead of starting with the list and trying to force it into a structure, I needed to start with the desired structure and then figure out how to extract and fit the list items into it.
Here's how this simple lesson transformed my approach:
I stopped looking at the "list" as just text and started seeing it as "potential data points." Each item in my list wasn't just a bullet point; it was a record waiting to be broken down into its constituent parts.
I began by designing the schema of my output. Before touching the list, I would now create the headers for my spreadsheet or the fields for my database. For the customer feedback example, this meant defining columns like.