“How I Do Personal Experiments” — @CedricChin
Why this is in the vault
Cedric’s tacit-knowledge series is the spine of his entire body of work — the argument that expertise in any wicked domain (business, agents, engineering) is pattern-matching that can only be acquired through reps with feedback. This directly shapes how RDCO trains AI agents (deliberate-practice loops) and how we develop the founder’s own deployment expertise.
The core argument
Methodology for running n-of-1 experiments on yourself (productivity, health, learning) without falling into the self-tracking-as-procrastination trap. Key discipline: define the dependent variable, time-box the experiment, and commit in advance to what would change your mind. Most personal experiments fail because none of these are done.
Mapping against Ray Data Co
Two load-bearing applications: (1) Agent training methodology — agents need the same perceptual-exposure + feedback-loop structure Cedric describes for human experts; we’re explicit about this in our agent-deployer pitch. (2) The founder’s own learning loop — every client deployment is a rep, the vault is the playback, Sanity Check is the forcing function for articulating what was learned.
Related
- 2026-04-15-commoncog-no-truth-in-business-only-knowledge
- 2026-04-15-commoncog-data-driven-will-not-skill
- 2026-04-15-commoncog-no-learning-dont-close-loops
Source: How I Do Personal Experiments by Cedric Chin (Commoncog). 2309 words. Filed 2026-04-19 as part of Start-Here + Business-Expertise-Triad backfill cohort.