The concept of Lean Data Science Presented on Data Quality Meetup by Michael Kaminsky, Data Strategist & Entrepreneur, Co-author of Locally Optimistic – blog on data organizations Learn more about Data Quality Meetup https://www.datafold.com/blog/data-quality-meetup-2

1. https://kaminsky.rocks/ @mike_kaminsky
Lean Data Science
2020-11-19

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Who is this guy?
Michael Kaminsky
Data Scientist / Analytics Engineer
Built Data Team @ Harry’s
Founded Locally Optimistic
Entrepreneur
Technical & Data Strategy Advisor

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What is the goal of doing data science?

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Learn new skills to earn more $$ in next job?

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Fry an egg on a laptop during model training?

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Impress other data scientists at conferences?
h/t @josh_wills for this joke.

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Sound really smart in meetings?

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No.

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We are here to create business value
● Just like every other team in the organization
● But (maybe) data scientists use data to do it

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But this is hard

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“Science” means it’s experimental

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Don’t know what’s possible until we try it

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Uncertainty on Uncertainty
Even if the science parts works, will the “product” part work as well?

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So what do we do about it?

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Maximize:
value(x): potential impact of a DS endeavor
effort(x): amount of work / time required for the endeavor
p(x): probability DS endeavor will pan out
Optimize Expected Value

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We can improve outcomes by learning over time
Each week, we can gain more information about
● value(x) -- will this project be as valuable as we think it is?
● effort(x) -- how hard will this problem be to solve?
● p(x) -- how likely are we to eventually solve it and gain value from it?

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Explore & Exploit
We want to optimize for:
● Making forward progress on high expected-value projects
● Learning more about which projects have the highest expected value

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Lean Startup & Validated Learning
● Startups are highly uncertain
● Have the ability to move fast and “pivot”
● Must root work in what drives the most value

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Lean
Data
Science

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1. Measure business outcomes, not model performance
❌

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2. Ship early and often

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3. Embrace failure and accept good enough

23. https://kaminsky.rocks/ @mike_kaminsky
Lean Data Science
● Measure business outcomes, not model performance
● Ship early and often
● Embrace failure and accept good enough