4 ms·

ASmartBear Knows What to Measure

40 points by thingsilearned 16y ago

cjkundin 16y ago
I think this is very good advice! Drilling down is especially important for us and I like the idea of keeping the dashboard clear of information you wouldn't look at on a daily basis. The hardest thing for me is to look at something that is metrically failing and be willing to pull the plug, especially if I built it. Luckily I have heard this advice enough where I consciously question my motive for not pulling something.
acconrad 16y ago
Enough cannot be said about "willful ignorance". There seems to be a trend in many articles that say "follow the analytics and the revenues will follow," as if by magic, if you make decisions solely on what the numbers are telling you, that you have to change your code/design. Particularly consumer enterprises, people simply do not know what they like, or at least cannot articulate it. There is so much noise in consumer data that everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.
- sfphotoarts 16y ago
  Saying people do not know what they like is clearly shortsighted. In large aggregate there are trends and lessons to be learned from consumer data and it is not all noise, nor is it to be taken with a grain of salt. Analytics is a tool, along side vision, design and innovation. If analytics were simply asking people 'do you like this color better than that' then it would not have much viability. However by segmenting sufficient numbers of people into groups and observing the behavioral differences makes for valuable data. Your argument is similar to the criticisms leveled at Twitter as just a bunch of people tweeting about what they had for lunch. There is enormous semantic data in this 'noise'. For example, while people are tweeting about hamburgers they are not tweeting about an Earthquake in Silicon Valley, or a flood or shooting or.... Sometimes noise means something more than it might given only a cursory glance.
icco 16y ago
Good advice, although I don't think I can trust chart.io as a company when they have a spelling error on their front page. "Chart.io quickly hooks up to your database and lets your create real time charts of the metrics you care about."
- thingsilearned 16y ago
  LOL. Thank your very much ;) We just changed our front page yesterday. Thanks for catching that.
  - icco 16y ago
    No problem, thanks for seeing the humor in it unlike some other hN readers ;)

I think this is very good advice! Drilling down is especially important for us and I like the idea of keeping the dashboard clear of information you wouldn't look at on a daily basis. The hardest thing for me is to look at something that is metrically failing and be willing to pull the plug, especially if I built it. Luckily I have heard this advice enough where I consciously question my motive for not pulling something.

acconrad 16y ago

Enough cannot be said about "willful ignorance". There seems to be a trend in many articles that say "follow the analytics and the revenues will follow," as if by magic, if you make decisions solely on what the numbers are telling you, that you have to change your code/design. Particularly consumer enterprises, people simply do not know what they like, or at least cannot articulate it. There is so much noise in consumer data that everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.

sfphotoarts 16y ago
Saying people do not know what they like is clearly shortsighted. In large aggregate there are trends and lessons to be learned from consumer data and it is not all noise, nor is it to be taken with a grain of salt. Analytics is a tool, along side vision, design and innovation. If analytics were simply asking people 'do you like this color better than that' then it would not have much viability. However by segmenting sufficient numbers of people into groups and observing the behavioral differences makes for valuable data. Your argument is similar to the criticisms leveled at Twitter as just a bunch of people tweeting about what they had for lunch. There is enormous semantic data in this 'noise'. For example, while people are tweeting about hamburgers they are not tweeting about an Earthquake in Silicon Valley, or a flood or shooting or.... Sometimes noise means something more than it might given only a cursory glance.

icco 16y ago

Good advice, although I don't think I can trust chart.io as a company when they have a spelling error on their front page. "Chart.io quickly hooks up to your database and lets your create real time charts of the metrics you care about."

thingsilearned 16y ago
LOL. Thank your very much ;) We just changed our front page yesterday. Thanks for catching that.
- icco 16y ago
  No problem, thanks for seeing the humor in it unlike some other hN readers ;)