Non-shared learning is pointless
Looking at data by yourself is a waste of time. This is because actual customers tend to act in ways counterintuitive to what your team expects.
If everyone expects feature X to be a hit, but you find that nobody uses it, nobody is going to believe you unless you constantly share your data with everyone else.
Here are three ways to do this:
Share the queries
If you’re doing some one-off analysis on your db, send an e-mail when you’re done. Include the queries so that anyone remotely technical can retrace your steps. If nobody can see how you got your data, nobody is going to believe you.
Make accessible graphs
Use Gruff graphs, or one of the excellent Canvas graphing libraries to graph your most important ratios over time (E.g. conversions / signups). Make a page on your site’s admin interface that shows all the graphs. This makes it trivial for anyone on your team to quickly grasp what’s going on.
Setup dings
Chances are, you will end up being the only one looking at your graphs.
Make it so that everyone on your team is constantly getting hit over the head with your data. If your sales volume is low enough, setup an e-mail that goes out whenever anyone pays. Setup a daily e-mail that has the graphs that you made. Also setup an e-mail whenever anyone cancels their account.
These three things make it possible for your team to learn with you.
June 16, 2009
