that tension usually reflects a definition problem more than a raw data problem. teams often say data is good because fields are populated and reports run, but if marketing, sales, and revops attach different operational meanings to the same stages or statuses, downstream metrics diverge even when the underlying records are technically accurate, which is why aligning on a shared metric dictionary tied to decision use cases tends to move the needle faster than another cleanup sprint. it’s not fully deterministic how misalignment compounds until pipeline reviews start surfacing contradictions.