It’s pretty commonplace for investigators to get stuck going down a rabbit hole into a vortex, which sucks you into a dark place that renders you nearly powerless.
One thing leads you to another to another and another, which will inevitably get you to a YouTube video of cats.
And you have no idea how you got there.
I know because it happens to me quite a bit.
One of the ways to avoid heading into the rabbit hole is to follow four simple rules: gather, analyze, report and repeat.
Gather the information, review and analyze the data, and draft a succinct and coherent summary of the information.
Once you have done that, you can more easily find holes, leads, missing pieces, inconsistencies, patterns, discrepancies, cracks and flaws.
Then, you go back to the beginning and start all over again.
It can be all too easy to get overwhelmed with information in the gathering phase. But a few simple steps can keep you out of the rabbit hole.