The anatomy of great experiment docs

Good documentation separates teams that learn from teams that just launch. Without clear experiment documentation, your learnings vanish into the ether, and future teams repeat the same mistakes.

Effective experiment docs start with a clear hypothesis written before you run the test. State exactly what you expect to happen and why. Include your success criteria upfront. What specific metrics or behaviors would convince you the hypothesis is true? What results would prove it false? This pre-commitment prevents you from retrofitting explanations to match whatever happens.

Your documentation should capture the experiment setup, participant criteria, and exact conditions. Include screenshots, prototypes, or test materials so others can understand exactly what users experienced. Document both quantitative metrics and qualitative observations. Most importantly, record your conclusions and next steps while the insights are fresh. These documents become your team's learning library, turning individual experiments into organizational knowledge.