
How Zynga Uses Ghetto Testing, A/B Testing, Minimum Viable Products - DanielRibeiro
http://grattisfaction.com/2010/01/how-zynga-does-customer-development-minimum-viable-product
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aresant
This is such a powerful, simple concept.

We've discussed this before on HN:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=539900>

And there's a whole forum dedicated to this style of product creation /
testing on Tim Ferris' site:

[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/forumdisplay.php?s...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=9ae24b28914ac9d68687698104da781e&f=5)

Lots of goodies buried in there.

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jgmmo
How about 'interest testing' instead.

And, BTW people have been doing this for years. Write up some google ads for
nonexistent products and then watch and wait to see what value props and
features matter to your test market.

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jaredmck
Ghetto testing? That's a terrible name for this...

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jessedhillon
I really wish "ghetto" -- as a stand-in for ill-conceived, poorly executed,
low quality, substandard etc. -- would die.

IMO when people use it, they are introducing the suggestion that these
"ghetto" things are what poor blacks or Latinos would do/use. We also have in
America (and elsewhere?) the concept of "white trash" which I view as the poor
white American analog of "ghetto". It also needs to go.

(Bracing for downvotes)

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aneth
I take ghetto to mean substandard, unpolished, incomplete, etc... No racial
undertone. An overly sensitive, dare I say politically correct and self
righteous person, can read offense into anything.

To suggest that Pincus's comment had anything to do with race is your own
self-oriented projection.

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jmathai
>> I take ghetto to mean substandard, unpolished, incomplete, etc...

Except that's not what it means. If we're making up definitions then that's a
whole different ballgame.

Wikipedia: A ghetto is a section of a city occupied by a group who live there
especially because of social, economic, or legal pressure. A ghetto is now
described as an overcrowded urban area often associated with a specific ethnic
or racial population.

Definitions: 1. A part of a city, esp. a slum area, occupied by a minority
group or groups. 2\. The Jewish quarter in a city: "the Warsaw Ghetto".

I know that in current day society the word isn't always intended on meaning
that. It doesn't change the fact that this is what it actually means. And I
definitely don't believe Pincus was using it with any sort of racial
undertones.

That being said, I still agree with the parents statement and I too wish it
would die.

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jessedhillon
I'm not saying that anyone here used it with racial intent. I'm saying that I
believe the word originates from an intent to disparage people who live in
ghettos, i.e. certain minorities.

I'm talking about what it what the connotations of something being ghetto are
-- especially when I someone is being accused of ghetto behavior.

In some parts of the country, "Aunt Jemima" (and "Canadian", I've heard) are
used as slurs against black Americans. The dictionary definition standard
would permit this, since Aunt Jemima is only the name of a brand of maple
syrup.

The notion that the dictionary defines what is an isn't racist is wrong.
Dictionary definitions trail modern usage, they don't lead it.

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tritogeneia
Test and iterate is obvious. What's not obvious here is just how early and
where: test the idea before you have a project, test on a high-traffic site
instead of picking a group of test users to play in a private setting.

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rokhayakebe
I frankly doubt there is a way to know which product will make a viable
business or not. If you think about it Google has more data then anyone on
what users actually want, and they still create products which fail.

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r00fus
Perhaps if they based their new features on users testing like Zynga, instead
of the 20% projects of their employees they might have features that have more
market success (keep in mind Google's and Zynga's market are not directly
comparable).

Implementation wise, I could see Google doing a "labs ghetto" where some set
of white-listed MVPs would go out to small percentage of their user-base.

It's a powerful concept.

