Experimentation cadence
By Dave Whittemore · Updated · 5 company case studies
What is Experimentation cadence?
In complex decision contexts strategy is discovered, not derived. The operating model must therefore include a deliberate cadence of probes, a rule for what counts as a signal, and a way to kill probes that fail — otherwise 'experimentation' is drift.
How Experimentation cadence works
Learning speed is the advantage in complex domains; it is the operating-model counterpart of the arena's predictability reading.
Case studies tagged with Experimentation cadence
Each link opens the passage tagged with this concept.
The question to ask of a company
What did the firm learn last quarter that changed a decision? Is there a cadence, or a series of one-off pilots?
Examples
- Amazon's 'two-way door' decision rule.
- Growth teams running weekly experiment reviews against a loop model.
Who names it
| Author | What they call it / where it appears |
|---|---|
| Snowden + | Probe–sense–respond (complex domain) |
| Rumelt + | Proximate objectives as the unit of learning |