Project Background

DoorDash's Growth Analytics team discovered a data defect in the executive KPI dashboard used to make weekly budget and pricing decisions. For the last 18 days, a mobile event instrumentation bug has undercounted first-order conversions by an estimated 11-14% in three major markets. You are the program manager coordinating the response across Analytics, Engineering, Finance, and Growth.

The issue is urgent because the COO reviews this dashboard every Monday to approve paid marketing spend and promotional discounts. The core team includes 9 people: 3 data engineers, 2 analytics engineers, 1 product analyst, 1 PM, 1 finance manager, and 1 engineering manager. Leadership wants a clear recommendation within 72 hours on whether recent business decisions should be reversed, paused, or allowed to continue.

Key Stakeholders

The COO wants a fast, simple explanation of business impact and an immediate decision recommendation. Finance wants confidence in any restatement before changing quarterly forecasts. Growth Marketing wants campaigns to continue because pausing spend could hurt acquisition. Engineering wants time to validate root cause before committing to a fix date.

Constraints

• 72 hours to prepare an executive readout
• $45K available for emergency contractor support; no new full-time headcount
• 18 days of affected data across 3 markets representing 38% of US new-customer volume
• Root-cause fix is estimated at 5 business days, but confidence is only 70%
• Board materials are due in 6 days

Complications

1. The CFO already cited the flawed conversion trend in a draft board memo.
2. Growth Marketing has a campaign expansion planned in 4 days and needs a go/no-go decision.
3. A backfill may change historical numbers again after the initial executive update.

Your Task

1. Create an execution plan for investigating, quantifying, and communicating the data issue.
2. Define how you would explain the impact on business decisions to executives and non-technical stakeholders.
3. Recommend immediate actions on dashboard usage, campaign decisions, and forecast updates.
4. Identify key risks, trade-offs, and stakeholder alignment steps.
5. Define success metrics for the response over the next 2 weeks.