In this session, anyone interested in newsroom experimentation will learn how to set up and apply a light and simple methodology for the process. Applying a methodology helps teams be confident answering the question, “Did it work?” and eliminates the fear of not knowing whether or not something is worth doing again.
Key parts of the methodology, which was refined during two years of effective experimentation by the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab, include developing a one-sentence hypothesis, defining success metrics based on all aspects of the user’s experience, implementing analytics tracking and deploying feedback surveys to gather real data about how things went for the audience, as well as organizing an inclusive “burndown” meeting afterwards to discuss what went well, what didn’t and what you could be better next time.
Many of us want to try new things in our newsrooms, but when we don’t set ourselves up to know what success looks like, then we’re just “winging it.” And if we wing it, we’re unable provide important stakeholders with insights into the value we added to the business with the time we spent experimenting. If we do this too many times, our ability to find buy-in, energy and momentum for future experiments becomes a much more difficult task.
Let’s stop the madness, and start experimenting with intention!