Ebook: Practical A/B Testing: Creating Experimentation-Driven Products

Whether you're a catalyst for organizational change or have the support you need to create an engineering culture that embraces A/B testing, this book will help you do it right. The step-by-step instructions will demystify the entire process, from constructing an A/B test to breaking down the decision factors to build an engineering platform. When you're ready to run the A/B test of your dreams, you'll have the perfect blueprint.

With smart, tactful approaches to orchestrating A/B testing on a product, you'll quickly discover how to reap all the benefits that A/B testing has to offer - benefits that span your users, your product, and your team. Take the reins today, and be the change you want to see in your engineering and product organizations.

Develop a hypothesis statement that's backed with metrics that demonstrate if your prediction for the experiment is correct. Build more inclusive products by leveraging audience segmentation strategies and ad-hoc post analysis to better understand the impact of changes on specific user groups. Determine which path is best for your team when deciding whether to go with a third-party A/B test framework or to build the A/B testing platform in-house. And finally, learn how to cultivate an experimentation-friendly culture within your team.

Leverage the A/B testing methodology to demonstrate the impact of changes on a product to your users, your key business metrics, and the way your team works together. After all, if you aren't measuring the impact of the changes you make, how will you know if you're truly making improvements?

From the Publisher

Practical A/B Testing

From The Preface

How to Get Started

The only thing worse than not A/B testing is waiting years to build the perfect engineering platform. You can actually get started with very little. You just need the fundamentals.

This book will introduce you to the core concepts—the anatomy of an A/B test, audience segmentation logic, and the infrastructure to serve and monitor performance. You’ll learn how to define a hypothesis, create eligibility criteria, and select metrics to demonstrate the impact of the test.

Understanding the practical examples detailed in this book will help you integrate this experimentation methodology into your product. You’ll be able to go into conversations with your engineering and product teams with the right vocabulary and tactics to get started.

What to Expect

This book will not teach you everything there is to know, but it will help you get more comfortable with the key components and concepts so you can kickstart your A/B testing journey. Whether you’re an engineer, manager, or product owner, this book is a starting point, overflowing with techniques and practical ways for you to approach the A/B testing process.

To illustrate these concepts, you’ll find references to a fictitious company called CableMax. The CableMax narrative is highly influenced by the experiences I already alluded to—my time at Comcast. The majority of the examples throughout this book are anchored on this experience of building an in-house solution to run experiments on a video product used by millions. When you’re ready to get started, you’ll have the perfect blueprint.

It’s worth noting that the CableMax use case will also provide a means for you to practice what you’ve learned by reading the sidebars for relevant tasks throughout this book, so don’t forget to check those out!

OK, So What's Next?

If you’re not currently A/B testing, this book will help identify some of the tools and techniques you need to move forward. By learning from the practical examples and exploring how they may apply to your product, you’ll be A/B testing changes sooner than you think.