Robert J. Neal

@robertjneal

Formerly:
Software Engineer on Rapid Regression Detection at Netflix
Head of Experimentation / Director of Engineering at LaunchDarkly
Software Engineer on Product Insights & Experimentation at Twitter
Head of Experimentation at Udemy
Tech Lead on Experimentation Platform at Credit Karma

My focus recently is on experimentation methodology, epistemology of statistics, and reinforcement learning. The best way to reach me is on bluesky.

Education

PhD Dropout, Philosophy Florida State University

MSc, Epistemology, Ethics & Mind University of Edinburgh

BA, Philosophy Arizona State University

Invited Talks

2025

• Effects of Data Visualization Choices on Beliefs and Decision at University of Edinburgh Cognition Computation and Development Lab Mini-Conference

2018

• Online Experimentation at Scale: How Bayesian Statistics Solves Common Problems when Analyzing Large Samples at Jheronimus Academy of Data Science's CLLQM Series

Recent Work

2024

• Color-Coded Forest Plots in Data Dashboards: A Source of Misinterpretation and Suboptimal Decision-Making

Other Selected Talks

2024

• Effects of Data Visualization Choices on Beliefs and Decision at MIT Conference on Digital Experimentatin (CODE)

2023

• Using LLMs in Experimentation at AWS re:Invent

2021

• Beyond t-tests: Randomization, Traffic Allocation, & Multi-Armed Bandits at SF Big Analytics Meetup
• Leave Nothing to Chance with Experimentation at Hackernoon

2020

• A Reinforcement Learning Framework in Scala 3 at Scale by the Bay

2018

• Scaling Bayesian Experimentation with Paul Cho at Scale by the Bay
• Large Scale, Online Experimentation at SF Big Analytics Meetup

2017

• Experimental Methodology as Philosophical Methodology at Arizona State University 2017 Graduate Philosophy Conference

2016

• Why Our Customers' Brains Fail and How to Design For It at Service Design Global Conference

2015

• Applied Behavioral Economics for IA & UX at IA Summit
• Applied Behavioral Economics for Startups at Phoenix Startup Week

2014

• Applied Cognitive Science Framework for Interaction Design at IxDA Phoenix
• How Our Brains Fail Us (And How To Design For It) at Phoenix Design Week - Content Strategy

2013

• Gamification at IxDA Phoenix

2012

• Designing for Persuasion at PechaKucha Tampa Bay

2009

• UX Design And The Mind (UX Design + Persuasion) at Phoenix Design Week

2007

• Introduction to SQL Server Service Broker for Distributed Messaging at Desert Code Camp

Other Selected Writing

2017

• A primer on Frequentist Stopping Rules on Credit Karma's Engineering Blog

2016

• Redesigning Uber's Surge Pricing: A Behavioural Economics Approach to Service Design (Touchpoint Vol. 7 No. 3) (2016)