4. #onetime@AgileCamp
the action or process of trying to validate or
refute a hypothesis through trying new
ideas, methods, or activities and measuring
the results.
Who here likes to experiment?
Let’s clarify… Golf swing, Gardening, cooking, marketing, etc. – what works and doesn’t work
We experiment all the time…
Remember science class? Hypothesis, etc.
Show scientific method, then simple example (finger in a socket)
Ask audience, why do we experiment?
Expect answers like:
Learning
Solve a problem
Create something new
Make something better
We experiment to learn something
What happened?
We used to learn a lot but it changes as we get older
1% of a day is 14 minutes
Explain idea that experiences have changed beliefs and makes us act or behave differently. We stop learning perhaps of how society looks at failure or not following along.
Where do we assume where the fences/boundaries are? As far as what we can and can’t do?
Are we correct about what we assume is in our Sphere of Influence and what we can control?
Edison – Light Bulb
His experiments involved the fabrication and testing of many different metal filaments, including platinum
When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.“
Harry Brearley – Stainless Steel
Discovered accidentally
Experimented for different types of metals for weapons
Metals that didn’t appear to work were thrown in a pile
After of a month of these exposed metals, he noticed one wasn’t rusted
Explain LEFT and RIGHT columns first
Explain MIDDLE column
From our previous example
Edison and Brearley were both experimenting over and over again.
They learned from their successes and failures on every ITERATION of their experiment.
Any examples of learning from experiments or mistakes from you?
Share your greatest failures and what you learned.
So, how can we execute experiments and increase our chances for learning?
It is important to be clear with what we are trying to accomplish (hypothesis)
We want to be sure that we are changing only a few things so that we know what caused the change. (iterative)
How do we know it is successful?
What will we learn from it?
Like any other User Story we work with, we need a few things to get it into our sprints
It needs a clear expected result. What does your experiment create, change or improve
Does it decrease risk in a system? Save us tons of time? Create a new opportunity for income?
Go to Worksheet
What will it take to get it done? How many people? How long will it take? (Story size and ROI)
If you try and experiment on ANYTHING here at Nelnet, what would it be? What’s the first step?
Individually, take 5 mins to think up an idea
Remember the steps to success
Each share at your table and sell your idea to each other.
Vote on the best idea
Share
Who has a story that they can put in their backlog?
Golden Gate Bridge example
Common thinking for this type of construction, at the time, was 1 death per million dollars spent.
Once the net was installed, productivity skyrocketed.
Workers were able to work with confidence.
In all only 19 people fell into the net.
Net cost $130,000 built in 1933 (roughly $2.4M today)
Saved 19 Lives
Tie to ROI
