What is an experiment?
The word ‘experiment’ is used to refer to testing an idea (also called an hypothesis) or a product or service, and implies differing levels of rigour depending on the frame you are looking through.
I am no stranger to experimentation - I spent several years grappling with how to run an urban experiment in keeping with the scientific definition of the word - ultimately landing on non-experimental design or ‘observational’ analysis to test hypotheses about the relationship between travel behaviour and the built environment.
Lately, I’ve found a mode of ‘experimentation’ that gives expression to my creativity while getting ideas out of my head and into the realm of validation. It gives me energy because it encourages me to create with others - no - relies on it. It’s called validated learning and is drawn on by design thinkers and entrepreneurs alike.
So what is an experiment?
In science, an experiment has a very specific definition and refers to a randomised controlled trial that allows you to test a hypothesis by exposing one population to the treatment and comparing to another that does not. The challenges of running such trials are often rooted in ethics but also logistics, so experiments often end up being quasi-experimental (you can't relocate a population to a different city to see how they behave).
In design thinking, experimentation might mean prototyping and testing concepts or working models with potential users and testing if it meets their needs or enables them achieve a certain outcome.
In entrepreneurship, especially lean innovation, experimentation refers to validated learning cycles whereby a minimum viable product is developed ('built'), tested ('measured') with its intended users or beneficiaries (also known as a market) and results evaluated to see if it the value proposition is viable/desirable/feasible ('learn').
A systems view of the world posits that observed behaviours are a consequence of underlying structures, norms and mindsets, themselves interdependent. Knowledge is never complete; rather we can only keep learning and observing, iterating and adjusting course.
Common to all modes of experimentation is involvement of people in testing a solution. It is from this that the expression "bias to action" arises - don't just think about things, try them out! What if we used experiments as a method of social learning, of engagement? This type of experimentation is critical to entrepreneurial innovation and underlies a curious worldview that often stands in contrast to being 'all-knowing' or 'expert'.
What if we took an experimental approach to intervention design? Is this possible in large organisations? What about in small teams? Or our individual approaches to tasks, jobs, projects? Cities?
Do you experiment in your work? Let me know what form your experiments take…
Cover image by UX Indonesia on Unsplash