Last week I went down to Osaka to give a presentation to the Design Matters group at the Apple Store. I originally prepared a very geeky software-centric dive into the magic of using statistics to improve your software, but I was informed that the audience wouldn’t be as geeky as I had expected, so with great help from Andreas and company I retooled the presentation into something less technical and more interesting on the same topic. I don’t believe it was videotaped, but you can see my presentation and notes on Data-driven Software Design below:
Data Driven Software Design Presentation (plus bonus interview)
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View more presentations from Patrick McKenzie.
(Incidentally, that Slideshare widget is great SEO now isn’t it. I’m leaving their links attached out of sheer amusement.)
After the presentation, I met with some folks from MessaLiberty, one of the most impressive companies I’ve seen in Japan. They do lots of WordPress/website consulting and are coming out with a recommendation engine product one of these days — all with a team of about seven young engineers working sane hours. Ah, there is hope for the future yet.
Anyhow, they asked if they could interview me for their video blog. You can see the interview in English and, in the near future (after they get done editing it) in Japanese. Topics include a brief overview of the above presentation, when you should start A/B testing versus when to redirect your efforts elsewhere, and my advice for getting a job in Japan (spoiler: learn Japanese).