ML EXPLAINED

Category: Book Review

  • Book Review – Inspired by Marty Cagan

    As Data Scientists, we should always try to understand the product side of things as well. A good product is useless if there is no demand for it. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love gives us an insight into what a good product manager should do and also how should he interact or work with designers and engineers to get the best out of them.

    The book is divided into three parts: discovery, delivery, and scale. In the discovery phase, Cagan discusses the importance of understanding user needs, defining a product vision, and creating a high-fidelity prototype. In the delivery phase, he covers topics such as iterative development, team collaboration, and product launch. In the scale phase, he discusses how to grow a product and create a sustainable business.

    Like all books related to management or ways of working, it often repeats itself but there are a few major takeaways which I really liked. The emphasis on speaking with the users and the creation of a high-fidelity prototype and the reasoning behind it was key learning points for me. The book also covers the importance of testing and having good test frameworks, which although standard practice within software engineering, is often lacking with Data Scientists.

    There are a few cons as well, like it’s repetitive, a lot, like we get it, there should be a product vision, having an entire section on it felt unnecessary. It also emphasises that everyone who is working on a product should share the same working space. In modern work dynamics, this idea seems a bit dated.

    My final verdict will be that it’s worth a read due to its concepts on product prototyping and iteration.

    Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

  • The Making Of A Manager – An Insightful Read into people who are starting their journey as a leader

    Julie Zhou’s The Making Of A Manager does one thing and excels at driving home the point, that being a manager is more than assigning tasks to your team members and making sure that they adhere to the set deadlines.

    It is instead someone who has the responsibility that both the collective and individual goals are achieved. It is someone who understands the bigger picture and at times can also take the harder decisions. Being a manager also involves being straight in your feedback and it also involves a learning curve where you first have to manage yourself.

    The decisions taken by a manager in how he handles the growth of his team or which persons he brings into the team will dictate the direction that the team takes. A good manager will take a mediocre team and with the team make it into an outstanding one whereas a bad manager or someone in the wrong place at the wrong time will take a high-performing team and make it into a mediocre one.

    All the lessons in the book like balancing between not being a micro manager and being too distant from the team are nothing new and things we already know, the beauty of the book is in how it lays emphasis on these points and shines further clarity on them with some personal anecdotes.

    If you want to buy the book, you can do so from by visiting this link. It also supports the blog.

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

  • Mini book review – Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

    I’ll say that this is a must-read for anyone who wants to either develop a habit or get rid of a bad one. I’ll want to credit this book for helping me build better habits, whether it be reading or solving coding problems. The book gives frameworks you can use to create long-lasting habits, like giving yourself a treat for completing a habit or not being hard on yourself if you didn’t practice your guitar the day you were supposed to. It drives home the point that you can start with tiny habits and then scale up. Don’t aim to run a mile daily, aim to just walk for 5 minutes, or something tiny of the original goal.

    If you take away one thing from the book then it will be this point, you should not punish yourself for not achieving your goals towards your habit, but the act of trying to pursue that habit itself every day should be the cause of celebration.

    In case you want to buy the book, you can click this link to purchase it from amazon and also support the blog.

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

  • Invisible Women – Book Review

    Mini book review – I just read invisible women by caroline Perez. This book is a must-read by anyone who is working with data. The book highlights key issues in everyday life that women deal with. Even small things such as the temperature of AC in office buildings are often set according to male norms. As data scientists, this book highlights key points that we should be aware of, like gender bias in our data and be cognizant that the tools we are building should have inclusivity at their core.

    In case you want are also interested in reading the book, you can purchase it on Amazon by clicking here.

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

  • The Unicorn Project

    The Unicorn Project is the successor to The Phoenix Project, written by Gene Kim. It’s a successor and not a sequel as you don’t need to read The Phoenix Project before reading this book. It introduces new characters in the story of Parts Unlimited. The story is told from the viewpoint of Maxine, a senior lead developer.

    The story starts with Maxine being exiles to work on The Phoenix Project and there she is crippled by the way things work and she cannot even get her dev environment at the beginning and is stuck in a cycle of approvals and tickets. The book goes over familiar situations that developers and even Data Scientists or ML Engineers often come across where lack of proper infrastructure or planning of services hinder our development and delay things for weeks which can be done in hours had the design or processes been designed in a better manner.

    It’s not just a story of the issues we face in our daily work life but also about overcoming those challenges, what best practices to follow and how leaders inspire and handle pressure situations. The novel coveys some essential skills that everyone should aspire to achieve in a fun story about the struggles of working on the behemoth that is The Phoenix Project and how Maxine with her friends of rebels creates The Unicorn Project. It is a story of failure and success, of how even a senior lead developer can learn from her peers and grow despite the hurdles imposed on her by the organisation. It also showcases how it is very important to know how your customers are using the product you’re building and whether the features you are introducing will help them or not.

    The Unicorn Project is a must read for anyone working in the tech industry, whether you’re a software engineer, a DevOps or a Machine Learning Engineer, this book is for everyone.

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

  • Storytelling with Data – Book Review

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    Storytelling with Data is a must-read, not just for Data Analysts, but even for ML Engineers and Data Scientists. The book highlights the importance of how to present the analysis and draw the attention of the people consuming that information to the right places.

    I personally had this as an audiobook and had to refer to the accompanying pdf over and over again, so I recommend buying the kindle or paperback version.

    The book goes over some essential things that one should keep in mind while building a visualisation and what aspects to cover to make sure that your point is understood by the person who you’re making the visualisation for and also in the easiest way possible.

    Some of the concepts covered in the book are –

    • Choosing the right visualisation
    • Decluttering your dasboards
    • Drawing focus to the right place
    • Using colour effectively

    The book is example driven and you will find a lot of use cases which drive home the point the author is trying to make.

    In conclusion, after reading the book you will see visualisations in a different way than you did before. In case you want to buy the book you can do so here.