The initial experiment is over!

I posted 19 total votes. 3 are still pending, 10 were approved, and 6 were rejected. I’ve finished three of them, and am in the midst of five of them.

My initial hypothesis was that direct control of my TV watching would be compelling to a subset of my shareholders and I decided that the key performance indicator of this experiment would be shareholder involvement measured not my total votes cast but by number of shareholders.

Success: The number of shareholder votes increases during the experiment.
Failure: The number of shareholder votes decreases during the experiment.

Of the 18 shows that have been completed the results are:

I have about 8 to 10 shareholders that consistently vote, with the lowest votes going to more obscure shows people don’t have an opinion on. I did not consider in my initial experiment that the number of shareholder votes would be pretty static, nor did I do much to promote the idea of controlling my television watching, nor is there much reward for controlling my television watching.

Ultimately the initial experiment is a success because I have a subset of engaged shareholders and as I stated in the conclusion to the first experiment I have found that I am watching better shows and caring more about what I watch.

Phase II

For phase II of WATCHMIKE I want to provide more updates and feedback on the shows I’m watching as a way to respond to the votes and also entice more shareholders to participate.

Hypothesis: Direct control of my television watching will be more engaging if there is a reporting aspect to the television I watch. Simple stats via an Airtable are not enough, and the reporting method should be as easy and valuable as possible for as many shareholders as possible.

Start Date: November 1st, 2020
End Date: December 31st, 2020

KPI: Involvement by shareholders as measured by number of votes cast (not shares).

Success:
Primary: The number of shareholder votes increases during the experiment.
Secondary: I get more enjoyment from the shows I watch by thinking critically about them both before I watch them (ie putting them up for a vote) and after I watch them (is reporting on them to the shareholders).
Failure:
Primary: The number of shareholder votes decreases during the experiment.
Secondary: The effort of reporting is more taxing and I end up not watching as many shows.

Implementation

In order to make reporting as easy as possible I’ll take over the dormant 3 Minute Review podcast and use that to talk about the television I watch.