Category: General
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Fine Lessons: What recent fines can teach us about the cost of staying compliant
In the last few years I have had the pleasure of working in the very regulated area that is AML (anti-money laundering), CTF (counter-terrorism financing), and sanctions. These areas may sound dry to some, but they are a vital component of keeping a financial institution compliant. Thus, even if it isn’t directly driving revenue, it…
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Changes in the Data: reasons and mitigations
I recently wrote a post that delved into why iterating and improving data products can take considerable time, what with all the work that goes into testing and rolling out the changes. Here I want to briefly flesh out some common simple scenarios as to why your data changes, and some guidelines for addressing them.…
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Data products and the cost of iteration
It is great working with data products. You are providing users with information to make better decisions on their own data, and really unlocking its potential. That said, iterating on such products can be a very involved affair, and you can be left wondering whether it really has to be so slow. This post explores…
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Understand your bugs, understand your product
As a product manager, more time than I’d care to admit has been dedicated to understanding, prioritising, and resolving bugs. I know that I am far from alone in that, and yet you do not see bugs prominently feature in the product management thought pieces. Perhaps this is because they are just considered a chore…
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Like Rome, great products are not built in a day
I like small, frequent product releases. These tend to be less risky, offer more opportunities to learn, and provide potential value sooner. However, this does not mean mindlessly pursuing quick wins, or even that these quick releases will on their own be particularly monumental. There are no shortcuts to making an impact: one still needs…
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Charting the data: Three takeaways from working on an analytics product
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a good chart is definitely a match for even the most verbose images. This might help explain why analytics are everywhere. Take Twitter as an example. It would never be as popular as it is without showing its users how well their tweets are doing. Analytics…
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I can’t read your mind: Four things I learned from psychology
Whenever I tell people that I have a background in psychology, the most common reactions I get tend to be “Oh my god, you must be analysing me!”, “Are you reading my mind?” This is an understandable reaction, but the answer in both cases is no. This informal polling (if one can call it that)…
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Remote working: Shortening the distance
As I am writing this it is late 2020, and circumstances have forced thousands companies to adopt remote working, even if temporarily. By definition this is a more isolated setup than the alternative, and not everyone’s cup of tea. However several companies, such as Github and Zapier, have been operating this way for years, so…
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Need for speeds
“If you want to improve the UX of your product, make it 10% faster!” I heard this years ago in an episode of “What is wrong with UX” and I still ponder upon it and think “Yeah, that is pretty spot on, those two self-described ‘old ladies who yell at each other’ really hit the…
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Transitioning from academia to product management
The world of academia can be great for several reasons. There are many benefits, from the loftier goals of advancing human knowledge to the variety that academic roles provide. There is of course also academia’s much vaunted flexibility. While this is all arguably true, I found myself comparing it to a partner you like but…