At Babbel we set out to create an innovative new language learning product. We encountered some mind-opening surprises during this journey. This talk spans discoveries in brand and character development, product innovation, and the lessons we learned while iterating toward a key metric.

1. Ritual at the Crossroads
of Innovation
Scott Weiss, March 2019

2. Language learning…

3. Cultivating
flexibility

4. Measuring up

5. Commitment counts

6. Top grossing language learning app
600 employees in Berlin
and New York
Millions of subscribers

7. Everyone
Learning
Our mission
Languages

8. 14 learning languages

9. 8 display languages

10. We wanted to create
an innovative language
learning tool

11. We didn’t want to iterate our
existing product, but instead
to create a new product

12. Adaptive Language Learning

13. Adaptive Language Learning
Confidence is key

14. Adaptive Language Learning

15. Salt landing page
Bea, your personal
language coach

16. Strong visuals
with custom
photography

17. Adapting to learner ability

18. Goal setting & tracking

19. So how did we do it?

20. Team formation

21. Iterations were driven by
qualitative and quantitative metrics

24. The adaptivity
model was a tree
structure

25. The adaptivity
model was a tree
structure

26. The team wanted to build a
modular adaptivity model

28. Sometimes things don’t work out

29. We weren’t
iterating
toward a
product
It looks like you’re
trying to create a
marketing concept…

30. Can I help you
with that?We weren’t
iterating
toward a
product

31. We focused on a single metric

32. When features mirror

33. We learned some things

34. Notes on non-negotiable priorities

35. Team formation:
what happened

40. No one is expendable

41. The KJ method

42. Data purists will freeze every good idea

43. Single metric focus—the wrong metric
Build
Measure
Learn

44. Were Windows users
hampered by their audio
settings?
Was the lack of a progress
indicator a problem?

45. Were learning goals hard…
Or too easy?
Were the learning goals
too long?

46. The function of ritual

47. Bringing the team
back into the fold

48. From product team
to project team

49. Conclusions:
1. Failure breeds innovation
2. Democracy diffuses
alienation
3. Ritual is generative and
grounding

50. Thank you