langreiter.com plain, simple: 2009-03-20-dareFree

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2009-03-20-dareFree

CREATED BY chris • LAST EDITED BY chris 5725 days AGO

Douglas Bowman: "When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions."

"Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that."

Imagine: Trapped near a local optimum, and no way to A/B you out.