Emerging patterns are a key point of focus. Individual data points can tell useful stories, especially when compared to other time periods. In the WBR, Amazon analyzes trend lines to highlight challenges as they emerge rather than waiting for them to be summed up in quarterly or yearly results. Graphs plot results against comparable prior periods. Metrics are intended to trend better over time. Care is taken to ensure that prior periods are structured to provide apples-to-apples comparisons so as not to highlight false variances due to predictable things like holidays or weekends. Graphs show
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