Why We Use Separate Tech Stacks for Personalization and Experimentation

Why We Use Separate Tech Stacks for Personalization and Experimentation

Why We Use Separate Tech Stacks for Personalization and Experimentation

Original URL: https://engineering.atspotify.com/2026/1/why-we-use-separate-tech-stacks-for-personalization-and-experimentation

Article Written: January 1, 2026

Added: January 8, 2026

Type: vision

Summary

The article discusses the importance of separating tech stacks for personalization and experimentation at Spotify. It explains how personalized applications enhance user experiences by tailoring content to individual preferences using advanced machine learning models. The distinction between personalization and experimentation is highlighted, emphasizing the need for different infrastructures and methodologies for each. The article also outlines the benefits of this separation in terms of scalability and efficiency in evaluating recommendation systems.

💭 Your Thoughts

very agreed with this example: "A recommendation algorithm might boost immediate listening time by only suggesting familiar songs users already love. While this looks great on short-term engagement metrics, it reduces music discovery and ultimately harms long-term satisfaction. "