Readme

A user manual to operating Eugene Yan. A work in progress, just like me.

A short intro

• I’m from Singapore; spent most of my life and met my wife there. Now in Seattle.
• I’m an introvert by nature and spend my weekends mostly at home. Nonetheless, work and public speaking has trained me to be a pseudo-extrovert.
• Started in investment policy, then transitioned to data science.

My experience so far

• Investment Analysis @ Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore
• Data Science @ IBM (Supply chain, anti-fraud, workforce analytics)
• Data Science @ Lazada, an e-commerce start-up; acquired by Alibaba
• Data Science @ uCare.ai, a healthtech start-up
• Applied Science @ Amazon (current)

What are my super powers?

• Empathy: I care about doing the right thing for customers, the business, and team.
• Extreme ownership: I cannot help but act like an owner; nothing is not my job.
• Bias for action + Delivering results: I iterate & ship fast, and measure results.
• Pragmatism + Simplicity: I design simple solutions to complex problems.
• Communication: I’ve been told that I write & speak better than most tech folks.
• Based on my StandOutAsssessment, I’m a Provider-Teacher. (I’m surprised too.)

What my weaknesses?

• Trying too hard to bring others along: I spend too much energy explaining ML/AI and the bigger picture (because I think it builds team capabilities and we’ll work together again in the future). This is likely suboptimal use of time and leads to slower decisions. Learning to escalate earlier or just make the final call as STO.
• Not thinking big enough: I’m impatient for customer feedback and bias towards simplicity. Thus, I focus on solutions that solve short to medium-term problems for my org. Learning how to step back and consider how it could help other orgs, or solve multi-year problems, even if it means going slower at the start.
• Take failures too hard: I take my work too seriously. Major hiccups, as inevitable as they may be, show too clearly on my face and body language. This causes mostly unnecessary worry for the team and leadership. Learning how to be more chill and not let it affect me as much, or at the very least, have a better pokerface.

What are my quirks?

• Chronic Imposter Syndrome: I’m surrounded by people much better than me; the Internet makes this easy. Thus, I never feel good enough (and value Growth).
• I find faces distracting: When we talk, I’ll often be staring somewhere above your head—this is how I focus. Please don’t be offended.
• I like to joke and kid a lot: If I’m poking fun at you, it means I’m close to you and trust you can take it. But do let me know if I should stop.

What do I value most?

• Learning broadly & deeply: To satisfy my curiosity and self-actualize
• Building quickly & effectively: To solve problems & serve others at scale
• Writing usefully & clearly: To help others and as a conduit for thinking
• Forging strong relationships: For mutual care, inspiration, and growth
• Living virtuously & sustainably: Via my Stoic principles and to stay healthy

What do I enjoy working on?

• Shipping data & ML systems (end-to-end) to serve customers and deliver results.
• Engaging with business to define (the right) problems, deliverables, and outcomes.
• Building high-performing teams & mentoring practitioners to grow the industry.
• Writing & speaking about how to be effective in data science and machine learning.

How do I prefer to work?

• Starting with Intent (What’s the goal?), Deliverable (What should a solution look like?), and Boundaries (What can I not do? Having boundaries provides more freedom than without boundaries).
• My energy and focus is highest early in the morning (8 am), and wanes past 3 - 4 pm. Thus, I prefer Deep Work at this time, and meetings after. Brain-dead at 6 pm.
• I prefer running some analysis or building a prototype before sharing my ideas—they seem so outlandish to me that I rather test them before wasting your time.
• I enjoy working end-to-end: This means everything from “Defining the Problem”, to “Deploying the Solution”, to “Measuring the Results”. This lets me iterate & ship quickly. I’m generally aligned with these approaches by Stitch Fix and Netflix.
• I prefer to Ship Early, Ship Often: One A/B test every 2 weeks = 26 lessons a year. Not shipping after 3 - 6 months is probably too slow for me.
• Definition of Done: The system should be deployed and the impact measurable.

How am I like to work with?

• I’m not always on email or messenger. I usually check once before lunch, and once before end of day. If you need me, don’t hesitate to @eugeneyan or call on the phone.
• I default to openness and complete trust—it’s just easier to work this way.
• A good leader only needs to do 3 things: Provide (training, motivation, resources, opportunities, etc.), remove (blockers, confusion, politics) and get out of the way.
• What makes a good leader? I like a16z’s definition: Vision (Steve Jobs), Caring for people (Bill Campbell), Execution ability (Andy Grove)—at least two out of three.

How do I prefer to communicate and get feedback?

• 2-minutes: I might ask you for 2-minutes to bounce an idea off you, or to rubber duck. 2-minutes is usually 10 - 30 minutes. 15-minutes = “We have a problem.”
• Face-to-face: Writing just doesn’t convey the message well enough, the facial expressions and tone matter.
• Feedback: I enjoy feedback early and often. My default qns - “What should I do more of? What should I do less of/stop doing? What can I improve on?”
• Crocker’s Law: I believe feedback is a gift and will not take offence; I don’t need the shit sandwich around it.
• When giving others feedback, I prefer to give it in a private, casual setting, preferably 1-on-1.

What do I not have patience for?

• Politics: Backstabbing, putting people down, stealing credit, malicious gossip, etc.
• Bullshitters that try to fake it till they make it—most never succeed legitimately.

Favourite quotes?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle (and Will Durant)

“The number one predictor of success for a very young startup: rate of iteration.” - Sam Altman

“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you’re not innovating.” - Elon Musk

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler

“Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.” — Edsger Dijkstra

“The world wants you to be typical - in a thousand ways, it pulls at you. Don’t let it happen. You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness, and it’s worth it. … but don’t expect it to be easy or free. You’ll have to put energy into it continuously.” — Jeff Bezos