One of the things that I get asked a lot at work is to create a reports, run an analysis, or get some data so we can get visibility on XYZ, normally as a result of a question asked by a HiPPO (highest paid person in the office) because they were "curious". To these people... Continue Reading →
Making algorithms more human
I once wrote about one of the dangers of machine learning algorithms (e.g. the thing that powers the rules behind which many decisions are made in the real world): the closed feedback loop. An algorithm that falls into one of these closed feedback loops starts to lose its ability to learn from more data, since... Continue Reading →
The passionate introvert
This TED talk really surprised me. The content was great, but it was Brian Little's delivery that really made me go "wow!" So many times during the talk it felt I wasn't listening to him talk on the subject of "personality" but rather his grandchildren. His passion was evident, and his joy contagious. I couldn't... Continue Reading →
Getting the most bang for your charitable buck
I just received a mailer from Effective Altruism, via which I do a monthly donation to charity. The mailer asked me to rate from 1 to 10, with 1 being least likely and 10 being most, how likely I would be to recommend Effective Altruism to a friend. I gave it a 10. And since... Continue Reading →
Deceitful Statistics
Came across this question on Quora today: What are the most subtle ways to deceive people with statistics? The answers are legendary. Going to be one for the bookmarks.
Machine Learning and the New Racism
Scary stuff, but something I think we're already deeply mired in: Physiognomy's New Clothes (the new racism, courtesy of machine learning). Reminds me of the book Weapons of Math Destruction, which also highlighted many important points about the problems with "runaway" algorithms, which not only face the danger of falling into a closed feedback loop (and... Continue Reading →
Getting Excited About Small Data
The next few quarters for analytics in my company are, from my perspective, going to be game-changing, and I'm excited to say my team's taking the lead on it: from machine learning and advanced visualisations to new ways of thinking about data, we're currently taking the steps to get to what I call "the next... Continue Reading →
What’s Sales Reporting Governance got to do with Bribery?
I lead a Sales Operations team, and one of our objectives for this year is to establish a "sales reporting governance structure": to ensure that the right reports/tools get developed, with the right specifications, at the right time; and, perhaps most importantly, with the buy-in by the right people. Essentially this governance structure looks at controlling the reporting... Continue Reading →
Playing Baseball without a Bat – a great example of effective statistical visualisation
Came across a very interesting and persuasive video on baseball via Kottke.org today. It's a great example of what an interesting question, effective visualisation, and some statistical knowledge can do. The question the video seeks to answer is the following: what would happen if baseball player Barry Bonds, who happened to play one of his greatest... Continue Reading →
Business Experimentation
Imagine for a moment that you want to implement a new sales initiative that you think will transform your business. The problem is, you're not too sure if it'd work. You decide, prudently, that maybe a pilot test would be good: let's roll out the initiative to just a small subset of the company, the... Continue Reading →
