The goal of this interview series is to inspire and help people to transition their career into a new or next experimentation related role. In this edition Gavin Bryant shares his journey. He is Founder and Managing Director of First Principles and also host of the Experimentation Masters Podcast.
The great thing about experimentation is that it bridges so many different cross-functional teams – Product, Growth, Data Science, Data Analytics, Engineering, Design, Analytics, Marketing, User Research etc. This ensures that there will always be multiple pathways into a dedicated experimentation role through adjacencies.
Gavin Bryant
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hey there, I’m Gavin. I’ve been working in the product development, innovation and experimentation space for the past 15+ years. I’ve worked across a number of different sectors including, FMCG, Sports & Entertainment, Not For Profit, Banking & Superannuation, Energy & Utilities and Insurance. In my early career, I was an Exercise Scientist and High-Performance Manager, consulting to national and international sporting organisations to optimise performance for elite teams and athletes. I’m currently the Founder and Managing Director of First Principles.
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
My current role is Managing Director at First Principles, specialist consultants in experimentation based in Asia Pacific. I work across a range of different industries to help teams succeed with experimentation faster. What I’m really enjoying about working in the experimentation space is that no two days are the same – I’ve recently worked on developing new retail product strategies, upskilling experimentation teams, increasing program sophistication and maturity and providing experiment design support.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role? Share your origin story here.
Like many others in the industry, it was a case of, right time, right place. I was consulting in the energy sector, supporting the business to develop new product innovations and customer experiences. During my early weeks in the role, I observed a number of high-cost, high-profile, product failures and saw the opportunity to embed experimentation.
I developed a short, experimentation white paper then engaged and influenced far and wide across the business to mount a case for experimentation. All key stakeholders aligned on the opportunity to embrace product experimentation. I conducted a three week sprint with the product team to test a small subset of high-value opportunities. After three weeks, we weren’t able to perform one experiment.
While we weren’t successful, this process highlighted all the experimentation blockers that would need to be addressed. I secured investment to establish the experimentation program, and hired the founding team, developed the operating model, processes, systems etc. and scaled the program over a number of years. One thing I learned was how important it is to manage the cultural change element of experimentation. Performing experiments can often appear easy in comparison.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
I was fortunate for my undergraduate studies to be in the field of Science. I had a foundational understanding of the scientific method, hypothesis formation, experiment design and critical (objective) evaluation and analysis of experiment data and results. This held me in really good stead to approach business experimentation in a thoughtful and disciplined manner.
A background in product development complimented my studies in science by ensuring a strong customer/customer problem focus to have impact and drive strategic outcomes. From here, most of my learnings with experimentation came practically, on the job. At the time, there wasn’t as much information published by leading experimentation programs. It was a case of tinkering at the coalface, day in, day out, figuring things out.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life? (what are you tinkering with or always optimizing?)
I’m constantly experimenting in my personal life. As mentioned earlier, I have a background in exercise science and high-performance athletic training. I’ve worked with a Biochemist for a number of years to monitor blood markers so that diet, gut function and immune health can be continually optimised.
I’ve been experimenting in the recovery space a lot over the years – Sauna, Cold Therapy, Yoga, Breathwork, Oxygen Therapy, Supplementation etc. I often set myself crazy challenges to see if I can achieve the goal. A wacky goal that I set myself recently was to achieve a golf handicap of 5 in 3 years, having not played for 25 years. I’m enjoying experimenting with the technical and mental facets of golf to see if I can figure out a way to consistently score lower. With music, I have a set of Technics 1210 turntables and lots of old House, Funk and Hip Hop records. I really enjoy the creativity and escapism of DJing. It’s always fun to experiment with different mixing techniques to produce new and unique creative outcomes.
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
Given that experimentation is so broad, crossing so many knowledge domains, it’s impossible to know everything. Chasing every industry trend or fad can be a zero sum game. I spend most of my time learning about the foundational concepts that underpin our industry (I.e., experimentation, product development, acquisition, retention/engagement, research, design, psychology, stats etc.) I’m targeted with my approach to learning. When I have an area of interest, or think there’s something I need to know more about, I’ll zoom in and explore the space for a bit. I’m not exhaustive in my approach – when I feel like I have grasped the key concepts I’ll move on to explore another topic.
What recommendations would you give to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry and get their first full-time position?
The great thing about experimentation is that it bridges so many different cross-functional teams – Product, Growth, Data Science, Data Analytics, Engineering, Design, Analytics, Marketing, User Research etc. This ensures that there will always be multiple pathways into a dedicated experimentation role through adjacencies.
If you’re seeking a full-time experimentation role, but don’t yet have the experience, I would recommend the following:
- Online courses & certifications – Attend online courses on experimentation and A/B Testing (E.g.,Ronny Kohavi, CXL, Reforge, Udemy etc.)
- Reading – Build your knowledge base from books, blogs and research papers. Follow thought leaders on LinkedIn
- Practical skills – provide support on short-term projects (I.e., data analysis, user research, experiment design) to develop foundational experimentation skills
- Capability gaps – audit your skillset and identify experimentation skill gaps that need to be developed (E.g., Statistics, Data Analysis, Coding)
- Mentor – seek out a mentor in your organisation who can provide experimentation coaching and mentoring
- Personal experiments – look for opportunities to conduct experiments in your day-to-day work / personal context
- Communities – join experimentation forums and groups where you can engage and connect with industry specialists (TLC, WiE)
- Events – attend conferences, webinars and industry events to learn, connect and network with experimentation professionals (Experimentation Elite)
Which developments in experimentation excite you? How do you see the field changing in the next 5 to 10 years? What will stay the same? What’s not going to change in the next ten years?
I’ve always viewed experimentation as a broad-based utility that can be applied across many different business domains – it should not be limited to just web and app. I’m really interested to see how business experimentation expands beyond the realm of digital first, encompassing an online / offline presence in organisations. There’s no reason why experimentation shouldn’t be conducted across the entire business value chain or customer journey. What I expect to see is more offline / physical experimentation to evaluate in person experiences, complementing digital experimentation efforts. Particularly, I expect this to become more prevalent within legacy, incumbent organisations where experimentation is not the dominant operating model, like it is in say tech-first or SaaS companies.
What’s not going to change….. the radical clarity that experimentation teams will need to have on identifying the right customer problems / strategic opportunities to solve to maximise experimentation impact.
Is there anything people reading this can help you with? Or any parting words?
This year, I’m launching the Asia Pacific Experimentation Summit. This will be the first time a dedicated experimentation event has been conducted in the APAC region. If you’re located in the APAC region, or know friends, peers, or colleagues that may potentially be interested in attending, please give a friendly shout out for the conference.
I also host the Experimentation Masters Podcast. I’m regularly chatting to leaders within the industry on a range of different topics. If you’re looking to understand how some of the best in the world experiment, check out the podcast. Or, if you have an interesting experimentation story to share please reach out.
Which other experimenters would you love to read an interview by?
Oof, that’s a hard one. I’d be interested in pushing the boundaries of experimentation wider, understanding how comedians, artists, scientists etc. experiment, learn and iterate in their work.
Thank you Gavin for sharing your journey and insights.
