What is actually an experiment?

In this mini-episode of Datadrivet, Joni Lindgren and Jasmin Yaya pick at a word people use every day without always meaning the same thing: experiment.

Jasmin ran into this while working in an experiment team. She asked teammates what share of their time went into experiments, and the answers ranged from 20% to 80%. Digging in, she found the spread came down to definitions. Many people counted only A/B tests as experiments and left out other valid methods, like user testing, user interviews, content testing and smoke tests. Once the team agreed that all of those count as experiments too, everyone could fairly say they spend 100% of their time on experimental work.

The point is small but useful. If your team cannot agree on what an experiment is, you cannot really compare how much experimenting you do or talk about it clearly. Settling the definition is what made the numbers mean something.

This one runs under five minutes. The hosts point listeners to the episode “Så kommer du igång med experiment” for a deeper look at getting started.

Listen to the full episode of Datadrivet for the full conversation.