Top Challenges from the first Practical Online Controlled Experiments Summit

TLDR

Online controlled experiments (OCEs), also known as A/B tests, are ubiquitous for evaluating software changes, yet despite their simplicity, they face many practical challenges at scale. The summit aimed to identify the top practical challenges of large‑scale OCEs and stimulate further research. Thirty‑four experts from the thirteen organizations met in Sunnyvale, CA, on December 13‑14, 2018, to discuss these challenges. The summit revealed that the industry executed over 100,000 experiment treatments last year and identified the leading cross‑company challenges and shared solutions, marking the first comprehensive industry‑wide overview.

Abstract

Online controlled experiments (OCEs), also known as A/B tests, have become ubiquitous in evaluating the impact of changes made to software products and services. While the concept of online controlled experiments is simple, there are many practical challenges in running OCEs at scale. To understand the top practical challenges in running OCEs at scale and encourage further academic and industrial exploration, representatives with experience in large-scale experimentation from thirteen different organizations (Airbnb, Amazon, Booking.com, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Lyft, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Uber, Yandex, and Stanford University) were invited to the first Practical Online Controlled Experiments Summit. All thirteen organizations sent representatives. Together these organizations have tested more than one hundred thousand experiment treatments last year. Thirty-four experts from these organizations participated in the summit in Sunnyvale, CA, USA on December 13-14, 2018. While there are papers from individual organizations on some of the challenges and pitfalls in running OCEs at scale, this is the first paper to provide the top challenges faced across the industry for running OCEs at scale and some common solutions.