[annexrichmond]

Indeed, this is part of the reason why I left my last job. I called it EDD (experiment-driven development). That's all they did for several months. I was cynical about it for many reasons:

- the premise of the experiments were often silly, basically just growth hacking to see if we can move the needle a little

- I was hardly convinced that they were "valid" experiments: was it a valid sample? are we recording data correctly? are we querying data correctly? All of which was done by engineers with minimal statistics background

- as OP said, the dissociation with users. Users were just an aggregate numbers (ie., sum of clicks). I wanted a more tangible feedback loop, like knowing more directly what the user is thinking and how they are using your product.

Now I do Infrastructure.