Ten Foot Mirrorball

Ten Foot Mirrorball

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Pausing for cartography

I've started and stopped writing a bunch of different posts over the last few months – dozens, if you count all the topics I mapped out in my head that never made it to the keyboard. It's less a function of losing interest in topics and more

Generative AI, traditional ML, and systems of magic

GenAI and traditional ML can both seem like magic when leveraged properly, but that doesn't absolve practitioners from understanding how they work. I think of ML as a lot like the highly structured type of magic often depicted in fantasy novels, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons. There

The main weakness in my management approach

Every manager has a different approach that, ideally, aligns with their priorities (although alarmingly often does not – different topic though). There is no perfect approach; there is only a set of tradeoffs that you make relative to your team's strengths and weaknesses, company goals, and your personal style

Earning trust with an inherited team

The other day, one of my team members asked me how you earn the trust of a team you inherit as compared to a team you've hired yourself. Certainly hiring someone starts you off at a higher baseline, and depending on the situation your new team may or

Your first tech management role

I've been lucky enough to get to support a bunch of people transitioning from a technical IC role into their first management role and it's become a bit of a specialty for me as well as a source of joy and pride. The transition from IC

What makes a successful Data Scientist?

I've been lucky enough to manage somewhere in the low three digits of Data Scientists and other developers (Software Engineers, ML Engineers, Data Engineers, etc.) and work with and around another order of magnitude's worth. I've been even luckier that the majority of my