Research suggests that only 13% of data projects reach completion, and of those that do, only 8% of leaders report being completely satisfied with the outcome. It’s therefore essential to kick off your project on the right footing.  Many of the items on the checklist may seem obvious - they reflect a common sense approach to projects and product development. Some are unique to data science. All are based on practical experience of conducting projects as part of in- house data teams and as data science consultants to governments and companies across the world.