Spotify Launches “Confidence” to Optimize Software Development
Spotify is introducing a new commercial product for software development teams called “Confidence,” which is based on its homegrown experimentation platform. Confidence is designed to make it easy for teams to set up, run, coordinate, and analyze their own user tests so they can quickly optimize their ideas. Confidence is currently only available as a private beta.
“Spotify’s data scientists and engineers have been developing and honing our product testing methods for years,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Whether it’s automatically coordinating simultaneous A/B tests or orchestrating the rollout of an AI recommendation system across mobile, desktop, and web, the platform we built scales experimentation best practices and capabilities to all our teams. Soon this experimentation platform will be available to any company that wants to build, test, and iterate ideas the way we do at Spotify: quickly, reliably, and with confidence.”
Spotify says Confidence is designed to help software development teams whether they have outgrown their current testing platform or are looking for a quick and easy way to get started with A/B testing.
The music streaming service says its experimentation efforts began in the early 2010s when a few data scientists and engineers started conducting small A/B tests internally. Although these tests were manual and error-prone, Spotify understood the importance of experimenting and wanted to get better at it. The company then decided to build its own basic A/B testing platform, which it called ABBA.
The platform did feature flagging and analysis for a set of standardized metrics. Spotify says this unlocked a wave of experimentation across the company, and that it grew from running fewer than 20 priority experiments per year to running hundreds of experiments per year across multiple squads.
Confidence will be available to customers in three ways. First, it can be run as a managed service, which means you can access the experimentation platform as a standalone web service managed by Spotify. Second, you can run it as a Backstage plugin. Last, you can integrate the Confidence platform into your own infrastructure via APIs.
Software development teams can now sign up for the waitlist to be eligible for an invite to Confidence. Spotify did not say when it plans to make Confidence more widely available.
It’s worth noting that Confidence is Spotify’s second commercial product for monetizing developers. Last December, Spotify unveiled its plan to monetize developers via its open source Backstage project. Spotify Backstage is platform designed to bring order to companies’ infrastructure by enabling them to build customized “developer portals,” combining all their tooling, apps, data, services, APIs, and documents in a single interface.
Today’s announcement indicates that although Spotify is mainly known for its consumer-facing music streaming service, it’s looking to branch out beyond that notion.
Spotify has introduced a new commercial product called “Confidence” for software development teams. This product is based on Spotify’s homegrown experimentation platform and aims to help teams optimize their ideas by allowing them to easily set up, run, coordinate, and analyze user tests. Currently available as a private beta, Confidence is expected to be accessible to any company willing to build, test, and iterate ideas quickly and reliably.
According to Spotify, Confidence is particularly useful for teams that have outgrown their current testing platforms or are looking for a straightforward way to start A/B testing. The company’s experimentation efforts began in the early 2010s with manual and error-prone A/B tests conducted by data scientists and engineers. To further enhance the experimentation process, Spotify developed its own basic A/B testing platform called ABBA, which facilitated flagging and analysis for standardized metrics. This led to a significant increase in the number of experiments conducted across multiple squads.
Confidence will be available to customers in three ways. It can be used as a managed service, enabling teams to access the experimentation platform as a standalone web service managed by Spotify. Alternatively, it can be employed as a Backstage plugin or integrated into an organization’s infrastructure via APIs. Interested software development teams can sign up for the waitlist to become eligible for an invite to Confidence, although Spotify has not announced a wider release date.
This is Spotify’s second commercial product for monetizing developers, following its open source Backstage project announced in December. Backstage helps companies streamline their infrastructure by creating customized developer portals that consolidate various tools, apps, data, services, APIs, and documents in a unified interface. These initiatives demonstrate Spotify’s ambition to expand beyond its core music streaming service.
Spotify has unveiled a new commercial product, Confidence, aimed at software development teams. Confidence is based on Spotify’s experimentation platform and enables teams to easily execute user tests, allowing them to optimize their ideas swiftly. With Confidence currently available as a private beta, all software development teams have the opportunity to participate by signing up for the waitlist and receiving an invite.
Spotify’s experimentation journey began with manual A/B tests in the early 2010s. The company developed its own A/B testing platform, ABBA, which featured flagging and analysis for standardized metrics. This platform facilitated a significant increase in experiments conducted within Spotify.
Confidence assists software development teams that have outgrown their current testing platforms or are searching for a simple solution to commence A/B testing. Spotify offers three methods for accessing Confidence: as a managed service, a Backstage plugin, or via integration into an organization’s existing infrastructure using APIs.
This recent announcement follows Spotify’s previous commercial product, the Backstage project, which monetizes developers through the creation of customizable developer portals. By expanding their offerings, Spotify displays their intention to move beyond their established reputation as a music streaming service and into the software development realm.
Add
Spotify Launches “Confidence” to Optimize Software Development
Spotify is introducing a new commercial product for software development teams called “Confidence,” which is based on its homegrown experimentation platform. Confidence is designed to make it easy for teams to set up, run, coordinate, and analyze their own user tests so they can quickly optimize their ideas. Confidence is currently only available as a private beta.
Spotify has introduced a new commercial product called “Confidence” for software development teams…
Spotify has unveiled a new commercial product, Confidence, aimed at software development teams…
Add
Spotify has introduced a new commercial product called “Confidence” for software development teams…