How To Win the Premier League

 

A fascinating read that explains to the reader the intricacies between football analytics. This is the book I have been looking for ever since coming across Moneyball, which revolutionized analytics in the sport of baseball.

The book uses a romantic story of how Liverpool used analytics to capture undervalued signings of Salah and Firmino to sell itself, but actually goes far beyond that, breaking down the use of stats throughout the field.

For starters, it delves into how analytics is used to break down the probabilities of goal scoring in different situations throughout the pitch. This alone would already be quite interesting, but stats can be used in all areas, and is extended to study player quality, value for money, tactics, off-the-ball movement and to top it off, managerial influence.

Stats are also used to study club finances, and finally the illustration of the wrong use of stats, which is an ever present danger of people looking to extract insight but end up going down the wrong alley.

The writer also issues a warning against individuals looking to beat the bookie, since the bookie has more resources than us. This is something i can attest to from personal experience as well.

A Friendly Guide to Software Development

Just finished this book by Leticia Portella.

Although I am not a developer, working in the IT industry means that i need to have a basic understanding of the working processes and terminology. While I would say I already know about 70-80% of the information, its presentation provides food for thought in organising my team/work and the simple explanations also provided some "oh so thats what it means" moments.

Crucially, the work of developers isnt just about developing, but there is a whole other ecosystem of work needed in order for the coding to happen. 

The key points i need to note relating to tracking and visibility of work, and making work better. Alot of points arent new, and it is heartening to know that we arent the only ones facing these issues!

1. Documentation is important for maintainability, including decision logs

2. Documentation also helps in versioning, which helps us roll back changes quickly

3. Tests should be written alongside development, similar to how they are tied to requirements

4. Incident management is intensive and stressful, and eats into project work.

5. Errors are unavoidable. Every crisis forces a re-examination of policies and practices

6. External and unpredicted work requires reprioritization, leading to fatigue, lower morale and context switching/ interrupted work

7. Communications is key. Consider making teams small enough using the Two Pizza Rule.

8. Glue work (admin such as setting up meetings, taking notes, onboarding) is also work. It should be visible and shared.

9. Good teams require psychological safety and not star players

10 . Managers should be available for their team, to be interrupted so that engineers can focus on their work. They also need to know how the team feels (likes/dislikes, feeling satisfied, learning wants)

11. Lastly, product managers, project managers, business specialists are all different roles!

Air-Con

Without knowing, it has been more than a year than i last posted. This latest post is to record my appreciation for the brand new air-con (which i paid for).

I cannot remember the last time when i entered the bedroom and felt cool air, so it was really refreshing to feel so yesterday, especially given that the bedroom is where we spend the majority of our time.

I am known for being stingy, but it was a worthwhile, albeit large purchase. Say goodbye to sweaty and sleepless nights, at least for the near future!