Editing 1445: Efficiency
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One method of trying to determine the best way of performing a task is to perform {{w|A/B testing}} where a trial is performed where the two strategies, A and B, are implemented and compared. Often the two strategies are simple to implement (for instance, two versions of a web page with different text and colours to determine which provides the better rate of click through) and therefore the amount of time required to implement the strategies (the "time cost") could easily be considerably less than the time to determine if the results are statistically significant. | One method of trying to determine the best way of performing a task is to perform {{w|A/B testing}} where a trial is performed where the two strategies, A and B, are implemented and compared. Often the two strategies are simple to implement (for instance, two versions of a web page with different text and colours to determine which provides the better rate of click through) and therefore the amount of time required to implement the strategies (the "time cost") could easily be considerably less than the time to determine if the results are statistically significant. | ||
− | The title text references a supposed incident in which [[Randall]] did not commence writing a research paper because he spent the entire assignment period deciding whether to learn an entirely different keyboard layout just to potentially be slightly more efficient in his typing speed. It refers to the {{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} keyboard layout, an alternative to the most commonly accepted {{w|QWERTY}} layout. Some believe the Dvorak keyboard offers greater typing efficiency. Efficiency of the Dvorak keyboard layout was mentioned in | + | The title text references a supposed incident in which [[Randall]] did not commence writing a research paper because he spent the entire assignment period deciding whether to learn an entirely different keyboard layout just to potentially be slightly more efficient in his typing speed. It refers to the {{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} keyboard layout, an alternative to the most commonly accepted {{w|QWERTY}} layout. Some believe the Dvorak keyboard offers greater typing efficiency. Efficiency of the Dvorak keyboard layout was mentioned in [[561: Well]]. |
− | + | Another comic about spending too many resources on decisions that ultimately might not matter is [[309: Shopping Teams]]. Several other comics address similarly wasted time due to bad time management. See for instance [[1205: Is It Worth the Time?]] or the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Time_management Time management category]. | |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[A | + | :[A graph titled Time Cost.] |
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:Strategy A | :Strategy A | ||
+ | :[Short line beside A.] | ||
:Strategy B | :Strategy B | ||
+ | :[Slightly longer line beside B.] | ||
:Analyzing whether strategy A or B is more efficient | :Analyzing whether strategy A or B is more efficient | ||
− | + | :[A much longer line next to this, about 10 times the length of B.] | |
− | :[ | ||
:The reason I am so inefficient | :The reason I am so inefficient | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
− | + | [[Category:Charts]] | |
− | [[Category: | ||
[[Category:Time management]] | [[Category:Time management]] | ||
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