Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments

But it is characteristic of complex systems that small actions can make a disproportionate impact. You just don’t know, won’t know, until you try. Experiments are how you explore the ecosystem, the boundaries of which you can’t quite discern.

Experiments are what you do when you don’t know what you can do; they’re ideal for complex environments because they yield clues about the systems we inhabit.

The great advantage of experiments is that they stop you being stuck; they’re one way to prototype a future we think we want. You could say that experiments are how we learn everything. We try to stand up, fall over, recalibrate and next time find we can teeter for a second or two. Keep at it and mastery emerges. Misbehave and feedback provides evi