A guide to iteration, curiosity, and team ownership.
Experimentation sounds intimidating, like something only scientists in lab coats do. And with all the buzz around it these days, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. But really, it all comes down to being curious, iterating on your ideas and using data to guide you. Think of it as iterative exploration — set a goal, try something, learn from it, apply your learnings, and try again.
Experimentation helps you avoid making costly mistakes. By now, we should know that following our heart (or the loudest voice in the room) to make our product decisions leads usually to make big mistakes. On the other hand, it’s tempting to just ask customers what they want, but research and even surveys, especially about hypothetical behaviours, can be misleading. People are notoriously bad at predicting their own actions.
So, instead of asking “Would you buy this?” or “How much would you pay for this?”, find ways to observe actual behaviour in real-life situations. That is the reason at the core of experimentation.
The short answer? Always! Experimentation isn’t just a one-off activity or something you do on the side of your product process. It should be an ongoing process, woven into the fabric of your product development lifecycle, from the earliest stages to ongoing optimization.
Here’s how experimentation can play a role at every step:
Experimentation is indeed a word in the mouths of everyone nowadays. It seems such a great idea, to apply a scientific mindset in the way we build products. Makes sense: feels like the right thing to do to get the right answers. But hey, before launching yourself into it, consider a few things about the right mindset.
Even with the right mindset, experiments can be misleading, too. How? Well, if you experiment with the wrong cohort, narrow your experiments too much to technology or just create stories about the data you get. How to avoid this?
You can’t truly get the benefits of experimentation if that is only a thing that the product or design people do in your team. To get the real value of experimentation, it needs to be a team sport, and everyone needs to get involved cross-functionally.
Pay attention to your team’s maturity To truly embrace experimentation, you need to equip your teams with the right tools, processes, and mindset. If your cross-functional team is not collaborating properly, it will be impossible to embrace Experiments properly. Pay attention to where your team is, and make sure you have the basics covered.
Before you start, make sure everyone is aligned in the Why and know what are the goals we want to achieve. Also, a psychologically safe environment is non-negotiable: people feel comfortable taking risks and admitting mistakes.
Build to learn. Embed a culture of continuous learning into your development process. Every feature, every iteration, should be treated as an opportunity to learn something new. This means adopting an iterative approach, collecting data, and using that data to inform future decisions. Is not about building a car, is about finding the best way to move from A to B, together.
Embrace continuous discovery. Don’t lock yourself into a rigid roadmap. Instead, embrace a continuous discovery process where you’re constantly gathering feedback, testing assumptions, and adapting your plans based on what you learn. This allows for flexibility and ensures that you’re always building the right thing.
Experimentation isn’t just for product teams. Involve stakeholders from across the organization from marketing to sales to customer support. This will help you get a holistic view of the customer and the business, ensuring that everyone is aligned on the learning process.
and spread the experimentation mindset.
Last, but now least: do it ethically. Always remember that there are humans behind every experiment. Be transparent with them and respectful of their data.
Good luck! (and enjoy the journey)