

Eric Ries: Vanity Metrics vs. Actionable Metrics - _pius
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/19/vanity-metrics-vs-actionable-metrics/

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tophat02
"Actionable Metrics" is quite possibly the worst business buzzword combination
I've ever heard.

Hey Lawrence, when you're at work does anyone ever talk to you about
"Actionable Metrics?"

No. NO. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked for saying
something like'gat man.

~~~
davidbnewquist
Despite seeming a little jargon heavy, I was able to distill out few useful
ideas.

For example, say you're considering a cool new CAPTCHA for your registration
page. The article would advise doing an "A/B split test" before phasing out
the old CAPTCHA.

Such a test would involve creating an alternate registration page with the new
CAPTCHA, and randomly directing x% of users to the alternate page. You could
then obtain registration completion % from both groups, which would drive your
decision to switch to fully switch to the new CAPTCHA.

~~~
jfarmer
Why is cohort analysis a buzzword? It's a specific technique for doing
longitudinal studies.

