August 16th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »
Jefferson Valadares held a keynote on intuition vs. metrics, a discussion point many directors have to face when asking themselves what strategy they should apply to their studio or game.
To jump right to the conclusion of the keynote, you need both intuition and metrics. How you apply them is what determines the success rate in your decision-making strategy. Good intuition comes from experience but should be applied on a high level and, if possible, be backed with metrics. When discussions are purely about the smaller details, metrics often provide the best base for your decision.
Important to know about metrics is that what gets measured, gets done. Good metrics drive good behavior and decisions. The ideal environment when using metrics is an environment where you have short feedback loops i.e. connected gaming. When acquiring metrics, you need to keep it simple. Make sure the metrics you are collecting are in-line with the questions you want them to answer and make sure they are up to date.
