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  • March–April 2020
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

Building A Culture of Experimentation

By: Stefan Thomke
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Why don’t organizations test more? After examining this question for several years, I can tell you that the central reason is culture. As companies try to scale up their experimentation capacity, they often find that the obstacles are not tools and technology but shared behaviors, beliefs, and values. For every online experiment that succeeds, nearly 10 don’t—and in the eyes of many organizations that emphasize efficiency, predictability, and “winning,” those failures are wasteful. To successfully innovate, companies need to make experimentation an integral part of everyday life—even when budgets are tight. That means creating an environment where employees’ curiosity is nurtured, data trumps opinion, anyone (not just people in R&D) can conduct or commission a test, all experiments are done ethically, and managers embrace a new model of leadership. In this article, I look at several companies that have managed to do those things well.

Keywords

Experimentation; Culture; Innovation; Online; Customer Experience; Organizational Culture; Innovation and Invention; Internet and the Web; Attitudes; Decision Making; Change; Leadership

Citation

Thomke, Stefan. "Building A Culture of Experimentation." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 2 (March–April 2020): 40–48.
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About The Author

Stefan H. Thomke

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

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  • Porsche By: Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer
  • Capture New Value from Your Existing Tech Infrastructure By: Stefan Thomke and Anthony Rodrigo
  • Act Like a Scientist: Great Leaders Challenge Assumptions, Run Experiments, and Follow the Evidence By: Stefan Thomke and Gary W. Loveman
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