(FYI, I’m intending to cross-post upcoming entries to Substack, in case it’s easier to follow there: https://seantime.substack.com/)
I recently took a break from working on Google Search, after 15 years as a data scientist and most recently as an acting product manager. It was certainly a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be able to work with so many amazing colleagues on a product that was and is so impactful in society as a whole.
Having now the privilege of some extra time, I feel drawn to put some of my thoughts in writing because nuanced, subtly careless mistakes around data, metrics, and scale were so prevalent among my exceptional colleagues, including software engineers and data scientists, many of whom were much smarter than me. These nuances go beyond the occasional lapses in what we called “statistical thinking” or “probabilistic thinking”, though ultimately many issues are derived from the further implications of such.
There are many intelligent people who have thought about these topics more deeply than I have. I can only draw from my personal experiences and hope to slightly contribute to the conversation.
My goals for the next few months are to reflect on some of the highest-level insights I think I’ve learned in my career. I hope some of these reflections may be relevant or useful for some of you.
I’ll be upfront that my intention is to explore beyond the sphere of work and career. With any luck, I’ll have the fortitude in the future to more directly probe some of the broader and far more important issues that misinterpretations of data, metrics, and scale contribute to society.
This will undoubtedly be a wandering journey with many digressions, and many posts will be rough. Content is unlikely to be published with consistent frequency, so please subscribe on Substack to get email updates.