thinkhard.SI

Prompt repository Data & spreadsheets

Tell whether a change in a weekly number is real or noise

A weekly number moved and people want to know why, but first you need to know whether the change is real or ordinary variation.

Registry no.
DAT-052
Collection
Data & spreadsheets
Laid out for
Any chat model
Score
10 out of 10
Blanks to fill
6

Data & spreadsheetsAny chat

The prompt

Score 10 of 10, Excellent

Use it when A weekly number moved and people want to know why, but first you need to know whether the change is real or ordinary variation.

  • {{metric}}
  • {{audience}}
  • {{weekly_values}}
  • {{weeks_in_question}}
  • {{known_events}}
  • {{app}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Tell me whether the recent change in {{metric}} is a real shift or ordinary week-to-week variation, for {{audience}}, so that we react to signals and stop explaining noise. Use a process behavior chart (an XmR chart, also called an individuals chart) built from the weeks before the change.

Weekly values, oldest first, with the week each covers:
"""
{{weekly_values}}
"""

The week or weeks in question: {{weeks_in_question}}
Known events that could affect the number (holidays, launches, price changes, tracking or definition changes), with dates: {{known_events}}
Spreadsheet app, for the formulas: {{app}}

Method:
- Baseline: at least 12 weeks before the weeks in question, never including the weeks in question. Leave out weeks hit by a known event only if I listed it, and say which you left out.
- Center line: the average of the baseline. Moving ranges: the absolute difference between each baseline week and the week before it. Average moving range: their average.
- Limits: the center line plus and minus 2.66 times the average moving range.
- Signals: a week outside the limits; three of four weeks in a row closer to the same limit than to the center line; or eight weeks in a row on the same side of the center line.

Structure the answer:
1. The verdict in one or two plain sentences: signal or routine variation, and which signal rule it meets, if any.
2. The calculation with the numbers: baseline weeks used, center line, average moving range, upper and lower limits.
3. A table with the columns Week, Value, Moving range, Above or below center, Signal.
4. The {{app}} formulas to recompute the limits next week, with a helper column for the moving ranges if the app needs one.
5. If there is a signal, what to check next, up to 4 items, such as whether a definition changed.

Keep the explanation under 300 words, outside the table and formulas. A good verdict is one a manager can repeat accurately in one sentence.

Do not call a change real because it is large in percent, and do not explain what caused it; the chart only says whether something changed. Do not fill in missing weeks: if a week's value is missing or unclear, skip the moving ranges on either side of it and say so.

If there are fewer than 12 baseline weeks, still calculate, but say the limits are provisional. If the number has a strong seasonal pattern or trend, such as holiday weeks, say that these limits may mislead and suggest comparing with the same weeks last year. If a known event changed how the number is measured, ask whether to start the baseline after it.

Variables

{{metric}}
The weekly number, for example "weekly signups" or "support tickets per week".
{{audience}}
Who is asking, for example "the marketing lead, who wants to know if the new campaign worked".
{{weekly_values}}
One line per week, oldest first, with the week's start date and value. 20 or more weeks is best.
{{weeks_in_question}}
For example "the last 2 weeks" or "the week starting November 2".
{{known_events}}
Events with dates, or "none".
{{app}}
For example "Excel for Microsoft 365" or "Google Sheets".

Why it works

  • What good looks like. The limits come from the standard XmR arithmetic and three named signal rules, so the verdict rests on a stated test rather than on how big the change looks.
  • What to avoid. The answer says whether something changed, never why, and missing weeks are not filled in.
  • If unsure. A short baseline gives provisional limits, and a measurement change partway through the history becomes a question about where the baseline should start.

How to use it

  1. Press Fill in blanks and type your details into each blank. What you type stays in this browser.
  2. Copy the filled prompt into the AI tool you already use, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, or open it in the Grader or the Prompt Tester here.
  3. Before you rely on it, try it on three or four real examples. The Prompt Tester runs them all at once and shows which ones go wrong.
Use it from code

Get this prompt as JSON from the free REST API, with your own text in the blanks, or let an AI assistant fetch it through the MCP server. No key.

curl -s https://thinkhard.si/api/v1/prompts/real-change-or-noise

With the MCP server added to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code, call get_prompt with {"prompt": "real-change-or-noise"}, or just ask for it by name.