Trigger Strategy is now Tentacles 101: What's NOT emergent?
Apr 13, 2025
Dive into the intriguing world of emergence and its opposites, where the hosts explore complex strategies in business. They dissect philosophical ideas, contrasting ancient and modern views on complexity. The discussion highlights the pitfalls of oversimplifying problems and the limitations of traditional A/B testing. Learn how embracing complexity can enhance conversion strategies and why unconventional choices in design matter. This conversation is a rich blend of insights aimed at boosting your understanding of effective strategies.
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Understanding Inherent vs Emergent
- True inherent properties are part of an object's nature, unlike emergent properties which arise from interactions.
- Examples include mechanical systems like car engines where the whole is exactly the sum of its parts.
Know When To Use Reductionism
- Not everything is complex; some problems are complicated and predictable like mechanical systems.
- Mistakes occur when complexity methods are forced onto reducible problems, or reductionism is overapplied to emergent cases.
Andrew Anderson's Testing Story
- Andrew Anderson showed that designers can't predict what works; broad A/B testing across radical options yields better insights.
- Testing many vastly different variants prevents mostly null results and finds surprising winners like Comic Sans as a font.