Talks about Experiments

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Early Morning Talks9:00 AM - 11:15 AM

• Data-Driven Done RightExperimentsMetricsReducing Risk
  Dan McKinley, Radico, @mcfunley
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  We all hear that we should make “data-driven” decisions in deciding what to test and how to measure results. But few of us have much experience actually doing that. With real and accessible examples, Dan McKinley walks us through the process–and the simple math–he developed to test, or scrap, new ideas at Etsy.
• Test Your Way to the Right AnswerCustomer DevelopmentExperiments
  Anita Newton, Mighty Green Solutions, Adknowledge, @anitabnewton
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Brand-new startups begin with almost zero customer data–a risky position from which to build a new product. But when you have very little money, how can you acquire critical information quickly? Anita Newton advisor, investor, and marketer at Mighty Handle, reveals how her bootstrapped, non-technical startup did clever customer development online, and rapidly tested its way into the customer insights it needed to sell its consumer packaged goods to the largest retailer in the world.
• Giving Voice to Good IdeasEnterpriseExperimentsLeadership
  Hugh Molotsi , Intuit , @hughmolotsi
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Every business leader knows that, in theory, good ideas can–and should–come from anywhere in your organization. But in reality, the voices of introverts and people far-removed from decision makers often go unheard. Hugh Molotsi, Vice President of the Intuit Labs Incubator and self-proclaimed introvert, talks about how Lean Startup methods at Intuit have helped surface game-changing ideas from quiet employees, front-line staff and unexpected corners of the organization.

Late Morning Talks11:50 PM - 1:00 PM

• When Failure Is a SuccessExperimentsPivots
  Ursula Shekufendeh, AppFolio, Inc., @ursheku
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  It’s one thing to decide that you’ll rigorously test product ideas, and it’s entirely another matter to actually kill something that isn’t clearly a dud. AppFolio faced this dilemma when deciding whether to launch a new product last year. Product Manager Ursula Shekefundeh takes us through the surprising–and hard–decisions her team made at the persevere/pivot/kill crossroads.
• An Experiment on StageExperiments
  Bill Gross, Idealab, @Bill_Gross
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  As the founder and CEO of Idealab, Bill Gross has started more than 100 companies, with MVPs of all kinds. This afternoon, he’ll share his best advice for making them successful–and this morning, as an experiment within the conference, he’ll share a preview of that talk from the main stage.

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 12:10 PM - 2:50 PM

• MVPs You Can Learn FromExperiments
  Bill Gross, Idealab, @Bill_Gross
  Room: Gold

  As the founder and CEO of Idealab, Bill Gross has started more than 100 companies over the last 20 years and has seen MVPs of all kinds deployed. He shares the best ones and best practices to help you make the most successful startup with the MVP methodology.
• Identify and Validate Your Riskiest AssumptionsExperimentsReducing Risk
  Laura Klein, Hint Health, @lauraklein
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  MVPs are great–unless you’re building them to test assumptions that aren’t really mission-critical. In this hands-on session, Laura Klein, author of UX for Lean Startups and head of product development for Hint Health, breaks down the kinds of assumptions you should look for and a process for developing hypotheses that reveal your true barriers to growth.
• Attendee-Led Conversation: Using Digital Tools -- YouTube, Facebook, Google and More -- to Drive Early Sales and Validate MVPsCustomer DevelopmentExperiments
  Emmanuel Eleyae, COO, satinlinedcaps.com, @satinlinedcaps
  Room: Grand Ballroom Lounge

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 34:00 PM - 4:20PM

• Create a Culture of ExperimentationEnterpriseExperimentsLeadership
  Manuel Rosso, Scripps Networks Interactive, @manuelrosso
  Room: Crystal

  What happens when your team uses Lean Startup methods, but other people in your organization don’t? Manuel Rosso, VP of Commerce at Scripps Networks Interactive, explains how his team taught coworkers to value experimentation over expertise.
• Mobile Experiments: Easier Than You ThinkExperimentsMobile
  Sheena Allen, Sheena Allen Apps, @whoisSheena
  Room: Fountain

  Mobile development presents particular challenges for experimentation. With competing operating systems and app stores to contend with, how can you move rapidly? Sheena Allen of Sheena Allen Apps walks us through the framework she used for launching–and learning from–six mobile apps on various platforms.
• How a 30-Year-Old Hardware Company Is Bringing Products to Market 3x FasterExperimentsHardware
  Kevin Ellsworth, Cirris Systems Corp

  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Hardware companies face particular challenges testing and iterating on their product ideas. It’s often cost-prohibitive to get an MVP in the hands of customers, and it can be seemingly impossible to ramp up production cycles. But you can push the boundaries of convention. Kevin Ellsworth, Product Manager at Cirris, explains how his team has built systems for consistent learning that have helped them release new products over a matter of months rather than years.

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 44:30 PM - 4:50 PM

• Get Comfortable Shipping Imperfect ProductsExperimentsLeadership
  Lauren Gilchrist, Pivotal Labs, @lgilchrist
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Top product managers must have great customer empathy–but too much of it can slow you down. On the one hand, you need empathy to understand your customers, so that you can build products that solve their problems. On the other hand, too much empathy can prevent you from releasing a product that doesn’t solve all of your customers’ needs at once. Lauren Gilchrist, Product Manager at Pivotal Labs, gives five tips for shipping less-than-perfect MVPs so that you can all learn from end users, fast.

Evening Session8:30 PM - 10:00 PM

• Create Great Videos--the Lean Startup WayContent StrategyExperiments
  Bill Grundfest, Hollywood Content, @BillGrundfest
  Room: Crown Room

  Video provides a powerful way for businesses to attract customers. But with so much video and other content out there, how can your productions compete? Golden Globe Award winning writer-producer Bill Grundfest leads a fun, hands-on session teaching you to use Lean Startup methods as you create compelling business videos.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Early Morning Talks11:00 AM

• Live Lean Startup ExperimentsEnterpriseExperiments
  Brant Cooper, Moves the Needle, @brantcooper
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Team leaders from Brant Cooper’s December 9 workshop, Introducing Lean Startup in Your Corporation, share real-time conference experiment results, giving you a chance to see what evidence-based decision making looks like.
• How HP Shipped Faster--Much FasterEnterpriseExperiments
  Kathryn Kuhn, Hewlett-Packard, @kathryn_e_kuhn
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  It’s no secret that product leaders in big companies who need to test new ideas quickly are often stuck with slow release cycles and rigid team processes. How can you overcome the legacy approach? Kathryn Kuhn discusses the calculated tradeoffs her Hewlett-Packard innovation team made in order to speed up its product development cycle, bringing a complex product to market in a matter of months.
• A Conversation with Melissa Bell and Sarah MilsteinExperimentsLeadershipScaling
  Melissa Bell, Vox, @melissabell
  Sarah Milstein, Lean Startup Productions, @SarahM
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Vox.com has been one of the most closely watched media launches of the year–and it took the team just nine weeks to develop the high-profile site. As its Senior Product Manager and Executive Editor, Melissa Bell has been responsible for leading a lot of Vox.com’s success. Sarah Milstein interviews Melissa to learn how the company has moved unusually quickly and how it continues to experiment on a scrutinzed site.
• Launch a New Product that Doesn't Hurt Your Existing BrandEnterpriseExperiments
  Andrew Homeyer, Rally Software / Waffle.io, @andrewhomeyer
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  When established companies experiment, you have to figure out how to test ideas without harming your existing brand. Andrew Homeyer, Engineer and Intrapreneur at Rally Software, explains how his team launched a new product under a fresh brand and reached an entirely new customer segment.
• An Experiment on StageEnterpriseExperimentsHardware
  Susana Jurado, Telefonica R&D, @sjapru
  María Olano, Telefonica R&D, @mdomata
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Telefonica, a Spanish broadband and telecommunications company, is one of the largest mobile network providers in the world. What happened when the employees wanted to experiment with a new handset idea? Susana Jurado and Maria Olano, Innovation Managers at the company, have a detailed and instructive story to tell this afternoon–and in an on-stage experiment, they preview that talk from the main stage.

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 12:20 PM - 3:00 PM

• Case Study: Lean Product Development in a Very Big OrganizationEnterpriseExperimentsHardware
  Susana Jurado, Telefonica R&D, @sjapru
  María Olano, Telefonica R&D, @mdomata
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  Telefonica, a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider with operations in Europe, North America and South America, is one of the largest mobile network providers in the world. What happened when the employees wanted to experiment with a new handset idea? Susana Jurado and Mario Olano, Innovation Managers at the company, have a detailed and instructive story to tell.

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 23:10 PM - 3:50 PM

• Attendee-led Conversation: Accounting for Failure and Keeping Track of What You've LearnedExperiments
  Elisha Tan, Founder and CEO, Learnemy, @elishatan
  Room: Grand Ballroom Lounge

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 34:00 PM - 4:20 PM

• Build a Technical Infrastructure that Supports InnovationExperimentsScalingTechnical
  Florian Motlik, Codeship, @flomotlik
  Room: Crystal

  When you’re building a new product, you have to experiment quickly and change constantly. If your product is digital, and you have a technical infrastructure that isn’t built to deal with these conditions, it can stonewall any kind of innovation. In this talk for technical team members, Codeship co-founder Florian Motlik introduces different ways to build your infrastructure and processes for constant change, experimentation and innovation.
• Use Experimentation to Build a Thriving CommunityExperiments
  Anthony Frasier, The Phat Startup, @anthonyfrasier
  Room: Fountain

  Fostering an active local community is easier said than done. It’s hard to gain momentum, and people often say that they want something but then do the exact opposite. Anthony Fraiser, founder of The Phat Startup, teaches the experimentation process and metrics he used to build a vibrant entrepreneurship community in Newark, NJ, from scratch.

Concurrent Afternoon Talks 44:30 PM - 4:50 PM

• How We Funded 1,000 ExperimentsEnterpriseExperiments
  Mark Randall, Adobe, @markran
  Room: Grand Ballroom

  What would happen if your organization funded every single new product idea from any employee, no questions asked? This past year, Adobe did exactly that. Mark Randall, Chief Strategist, VP of Creativity, shares surprising lessons and tangible results from Adobe’s new Kickbox process–including details about how experimentation has transformed good staff into great innovators.
• Tactics for Truly Effective Experiment DesignExperiments
  Grace Ng, Javelin.com, @uxceo
  Room: Gold

  It’s deceptively easy to test the wrong aspect of your business, wasting time and money while you head down the wrong path. Rather than test the wrong hypotheses or an inappropriate risk for your stage of product development, learn from Grace Ng, co-founder at QuickMVP, as she lays out road-tested tactics for truly effective experiment design.