2022

In 2022, I made 3 resolutions: Run 50 experiments. I ran ~20 until April (here are some), but stopped (for no reason). I’ll continue. Speak at 10 global forums. I delivered 10+ PyCon talks. They were pre-recorded, allowing me to scale. But recording videos and no feedback are boring. I’ll explore how to scale enjoyably. Be 10X more effective. I improved my calendar effectiveness 2X in Jan. But I realized this is actually efficiency. Not effectiveness. Maybe effectiveness shouldn’t be optimized, but discovered. I’ll continue to ponder. Milestones in 2022: ...

Microsoft ported its PowerPoint Speaker Coach to Teams. Since September, it’s given me suggestions covering 11 hours in 77 calls (I speak ~10 min/call.) I say “uhh” a lot. That’s intentional I use the filler word “uhh” in 70% of my calls. That did not surprise me. I do that intentionally. On a poor network, they know I’m still connected They know I’m going to say something I sound less confident. That invites critique I can learn from But I also use filler words like “You know” and “I mean” in half the calls, and “like”, “actually”, and “basically” in a fifth. That’s NOT intentional, and I’ll be conscious. ...

Dear Alumni 🙂, A strategy consulting firm is looking for a senior person in advanced analytics at an associate partner level. Ideally someone who has come from data scientist route but has developed into business minded. If you’re interested or know anyone who is, please mail me at [email protected]. LinkedIn

Captain America: The Winter Soldier shows a newspaper with the headline “Howard and Maria Stark Die in Car Accident”. The movie crew created a newspaper with a realistic font as well as text. It reads: Howard Star, founder of Stark Industries was confirmed dead this morning after suffering massive internal injuries from a fatal car crash. His Wife, Maria Stark, was also in the car … ...

Before moving to Singapore, we listed our furniture and white goods for sale on OLX. Caller 1: Vinod buys a bed On 18th April, I got a call from +91 70868 17420. He said he was Vinod, and owned a furniture shop in Ahmedabad. He wanted to buy our bed for Rs 6,000. It was not too bad an offer, so we agreed. Vinod: “I will pay by phone, sir. Give me your WhatsApp number.” ...

I built an internal app that nudges people to respond to calendar invites in Gramener. A colleague replied, “… this is really helpful for improving hobbits”. #Autocorrect is delightfully serendipitous. I promptly watched all three #films in the Peter Jackson Hobbit series 🙂 LinkedIn

Anand Madhav described this video as “Me, convincing tech lead to solve a problem on the weekend” 🙂" For those who don’t understand Hindi, here’s a rough translation. I’ve come for help. There’s no one smarter at solving tricky problems. You’re a wizard. You’re strong AND smart. That’s why I need your help. I’ve used this strategy when reaching out. Praise does help. But has it backfired on anyone? Any examples that you can share? ...

I can’t phrase this better than Sunil Sharma who said “As if the struggle in life is not enough, they put the Oreos so beneath th Marie Golds :-(” So true. Shame on those who ate the Oreos on top and didn’t dig into the bottom, Gramener team! Work hard next time 🙂 “PS: Has anyone observed something like the “Oreos at the bottom” phenomenon in your office? LinkedIn

My family and I relocated to Singapore today. Most of my major life decisions have involved the distance from Chennai. In 1992, I wanted to study physics at IIT Kanpur or Kharagpur. My father erased the choices from my admission form and calmly said, “Tick anything in Chennai.” I ticked everything except Chemical Engineering. Prof Kalyanakrishnan saw my rank, said “You’ll get Chemical Engineering”, and ticked it for me. No one heard me say, “But I don’t like Chemical Engineering.” ...

This is the Calvin & Hobbes Hair Salon in Hinjewadi, Pune. Calvin & Hobbes fans might remember Calvin's hairdresser, Pete, who certainly "knows which side HIS bread is buttered on." Maybe I too will go get "the top of my head shaved, and the sides dyed pink and cut in horizontal stripes" 😉 The signboard has a Tirupathi Namam drawn over the names of two famous theologians -- both of whom had great hair. That's a lot of hidden connections! ...

I was surprised to see a big chunk of my #music library is from the 1960s – thanks to the songs my parents grew up with, and passed on to me. In celebration of Music Day on 21 Jun, I’m treating myself to 2 weeks of songs from the #1960s. I’ve linked to my collection. Hope you discover some gems too! LinkedIn

My music library has around 1,000 songs (mostly Tamil and Hindi, with some Telugu and English film songs). I spent this morning tagging them by year with mp3tag. (Manually. You don’t automate the pleasures of life.) I thought my 1990s collection would be the largest. I was in college, listening to lots of music then. But surprisingly, my collection has grown post the 1990s. ...

When Sunil Kardam said Gramener is the one place he got to apply all his skills - management, engineering, people skills and analytics - it reminded me how cross disciplinary Gramener is. There’s something to be said for generalists in the era of deep focus. LinkedIn

On 12 Jan 2012, on a flight back from London, I wrote: … it was clear in my mind. I would be an entrepreneur. I would create a small company that would probably fold. Then I’d do it again. And again, 10 times, because 1 in 10 companies survive. And finally, I’d be running a small business that’d be called successful by virtue of having survived. A modest, achievable ambition that I had the courage for. ...

We inaugurated a new office in #Hyderabad. 10 years ago, I wrote on my blog: “I would create a small company that would probably fold. Then I’d do it again. And again, 10 times, because 1 in 10 companies survive. And finally, I’d be running a small business that’d be called successful by virtue of having survived. A modest, achievable ambition that I had the courage for. Naveen Gattu, Mayank Kapur, Ganes Kesari, J. Ramachandran, Ravinder Ireddy, Vengatesh CR. – we’ve come a long way 😃 ...

I’m planning to publish a 3-hour self-paced #onlinecourse. But I don’t know which topic would be more useful. One topic is #datascience tools for non-programmers. Another is a step-by-step guide to #datastorytelling for analysts. What’s more useful for you? Could you share with people, so I work on the more useful course? (Thanks 🙏) LinkedIn

Film actors mostly act within their own industry. For example, Hollywood actors act outside Hollywood just 10% of the time. Chinese actors act with non-Chinese actors just 1% of the time. So, if you’re a Hollywood producer trying to cast a Chinese actor, how would you find them? One way is to list Chinese actors with the largest number of Hollywood co-stars. Let’s see who tops that list. ...

I took a 2022 goal to be 10X more effective. In Jan, I managed 2X. Here’s how. What is effectiveness? I don’t know. I’m figuring it out. But to start off, I measured the number of people my actions directly impact. For example: Discussing my Tools in Data Science Course or writing a blog post impacts ~500 people. Mailing all Gramener employees impacts ~200 people. Shopping with my wife impacts 2 people – her and me (in very different ways). Clearly, the impact is not equal. But it’s a start. ...

I emailed My Year in 2021 to ~2,700 people. It had 3 experiments. Do friends open my mail more than strangers? I split the list into 2 groups: My contacts: ~1,000 people I knew (I’ve mailed them) Strangers: ~1,700 people I didn’t know (I’ve never mailed them) My guess: strangers would open the mail 30% less often. Reality: They opened it 40% less. 50% of my contacts opened the mail, vs only 28% of strangers. ...

These are the major group actors based on who they act with most. Language. Not country. For example, the Spanish / Mexican group is across countries. But Indian actors divide into North Indian and South Indian. It’s language, not country. Time period. Old American actors are a separate group from Hollywood. (Naturally. Brad Pitt was born after Humphrey Bogart died. They couldn’t have acted together.) Genre. Hollywood Porn actors don’t act with mainstream Hollywood. Same with Japanese Porn, Hollywood TV, and Hollywood Horror actors. How are these groups themselves connected? Do Chinese actors act with Hollywood often? How isolated is Bollywood from world cinema? ...