I am appalled by the situation in Ukraine. It is horrendous to see so many people in pain, trouble and even dying. I sincerely hope this will stop very soon, but I fear otherwise. For this week I’m going to find a way to support the people from Ukraine, but also try to become news-resilient.
🔎 What I’ve been reading last week
1. Why becoming a data-driven organization is so hard
Company culture is a harder hurdle to clear than any technical problem.
Randy Bean offers three principles to help companies achieve their goals.
2. Six skills leaders need in the digital age
Transforming an organization starts with transforming its leaders. Data from 1,700 executives by Linda Hill and colleagues reveals the most important skills and traits leaders need now. For example:
Leaders need to learn to experiment, iterate, and pivot themselves if their organizations are going to be able to thrive. In order to get comfortable with the inevitable missteps and unconfirmed hypotheses of experimentation, leaders need a new attitude toward risk.
3. Learn A/B testing from Ronny Kohavi — bit.ly
March 28, the third cohort of the ‘accelerating innovation with A/B testing’ class starts. Ronny Kohavi will teach you everything he knows about A/B testing in 5 two hour sessions. Subscribe via this link and you will receive a $50 Amazon gift card.
4. 15 behaviors of healthy, data-informed product teams
John Cutler on what sets healthy, data-informed product teams apart.
Experiments “fail” as often as they succeed. While not everyone’s favorite moment, it also isn’t frowned upon or shunned. A team that succeeds all the time is either lying to themselves, or playing it far too safe.
Another gem by John Cutler. Especially helpful when you are in the phase of setting new OKRs for next quarter.
6. A/B Testing for Product Managers
Post by Andrew Hon (PM for the experimentation platform at Tinder) on the value of A/B testing.
7. Salesforce's no-meetings experiment
From execs to individual contributors, Salesforce encouraged everyone to cancel all meetings for a full week. Here’s what happened.
8. Spotify's journey towards better experimentation
… requires creating an environment where adapting ways of working to improve our experimentation culture feels empowering, rather than uncomfortable, in a diverse team with different disciplines and varying levels of knowledge.
9. Podcast: Why do most ideas fail to scale?
Interview with economist John List on the Freakonomics podcast about his new book: The Voltage Effect.
He teaches us how to avoid false positives, how to know whether a given success is due to the chef or the ingredients, and how to practice “optimal quitting.”
🚀 Job opportunities
Featured: CRO Specialist at RTL — experimentalmind.com
DUTCH: Wil jij grote digitale platformen zoals Videoland, RTL Nieuws of Buienradar helpen optimaliseren? RTL is op zoek naar jou.
All featured roles:
- Digital Analyst at RTL (Hilversum, NL)
- CRO Specialist at RTL (Hilversum, NL)
- Principal Analyst Experimentation at Vista (remote EU)
Or checkout the other 36 open roles.
📅 Upcoming events
Upcoming events in the next three months:
- MeasureCamp North America (Feb 26, virtual)
- Flagship 2022 (Mar 9-10, virtual)
- Conversionboost (Mar 15, Copenhagen)
- Accelerating Innovation with A/B Testing (Mar 28, virtual)
- Emerce Conversion (Apr 21, Amsterdam)
- Experimentation Elite (Apr 27, London)
See the full overview of events to find 15+ other events and conferences for you and your team.
💬 Quote of the week
“Reward worthy failure. Experimentation.” — Bill Gates
😉 Fun of the week
Do you see what is missing? [via John Biasi]
☕ Thanks for reading
If you’re enjoying the Experimental Mind newsletter and want to say thank you? Buy me a coffee. Or share this newsletter with a friend or colleague. Have a great week — and keep experimenting.
Kevin
