Company
Date Published
Author
Vineeth Madhusudanan, Wonjae Lee
Word count
996
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Experimentation in product development involves a shift from focusing on academic statistical debates to addressing practical concerns like best practices and feedback mechanisms, as observed by many companies including Meta and Amazon. Effective experimentation is likened to manager training, where peer reviews and critiques are essential for calibrating expectations and learning. This approach mirrors the scientific method, integrating skepticism and peer review to mitigate biases such as confirmation bias and p-hacking. Experimenters are encouraged to document and review their plans and outcomes, fostering organizational learning and distributing best practices. Insights gained from experiments, whether successful or not, help shape future priorities and metrics, as exemplified by Amazon's and Facebook's well-documented findings. The ultimate goal of experimentation is to cultivate a learning organization, with companies like Statsig offering a culture that supports hackathons and innovative projects to reinforce this ethos.