Practical A/B Testing

Taking Risks, Being Bold

In life (and in software development), you have to be able to accept a certain amount of risk. There’s the risk you’ll make a self-deprecating joke to yourself while forgetting to click the mute button on a Zoom meeting. There’s the risk your team will make a simple configuration change to a web service that causes a major outage. And then there’s the risk that you’ll launch a feature that degrades key business metrics, such as revenue or retention. You could knock on wood, cross your fingers, and hope these scenarios never happen, or you could take steps to minimize the risk. This is exactly where A/B testing can help.

A/B testing is a risk management tool. It’s your best way to identify features that potentially harm ...