- I'm in Central Time (UTC-06:00 or UTC-05:00 during DST)
- I strive to be a creator and an educator over being a data scientist, data engineer, software engineer, analyst, researcher, leader, etc.
- I am introverted, intentional, task-driven, and value-driven.
- I am biased towards action and decision over inaction and indecision.
- I love clarity and consensus and am happy to talk through problems, conflict, and ambiguity to achieve this. I excel at this when problems are technical in nature or ALL parties are mutually striving towards consensus and clarity.
- Please be sensitive to my "flow" - I work in a deep flow and interruptions crush my productivity.
- If you need my help or time, send me a slack message or schedule a meeting on my calendar and tell me in that message/cal invite what you want my help with. Don't just ask if I have a second to chat with you.
My name is Ryan Boyer, and I'm currently a Senior Data Scientist at Shopify. I'm a big believer in clarity in communication and relationships. I want my coworkers and friends to know who I am, how I function, what my faults and skills are, and how to interact with me for mutual success.
This document aims to provide quick insight about these things. It is a living document. People grow and change over time, and I am no exception.
Last updated 2021/07/08.
- I'm an introvert.
- I'm a huge advocate of work-life integration. It takes structured downtime to turn my brain off, which is essential for me to perform at my highest levels. I try to actively encourage coworkers to fight for a sustainable job and career by prioritizing their own selves.
- I have my life outside of work planned out days to weeks in advance - if you want me to join you for lunch or drinks, I'll probably say no if you don't tell me several days ahead of time.
- I'm very value driven in my actions (or at least attempt to be). Core values for me include authenticity, honesty, independence, compassion, independent thought, understanding, stewardship, follow-through, and security.
- I'm very intentional in my decision making.
- I strive to be slow to judgement. This often manifests as skepticism (usually with an optimistic tint). I'm not a great person to rant or vent to if you desire commiseration, though I'm happy to listen to you and value you and your opinions and feelings.
- I love learning new things, and I learn best by doing. My preferred learning method is self-guided reading, tinkering, and writing. Even if I understand something, I don't feel like I've learned it until I have time to explore it solo.
- I'm very task driven - I always have a to-do list and am always trying to scratch things off of it. If I'm not accomplishing as much as I planned to accomplish or feel like I should be accomplishing, then I can start feeling low. The more stressed I am, the more task oriented I get.
- While I'm doing tasks in the present, I'm always thinking, dreaming, and ideating about the future. This is a blessing and a curse.
- I love sharing knowledge, through documentation, discussions, or q&A.
- I function like a mathematician - high level mathematics is all about discovering or creating abstract objects, studying how they behave in various circumstances, categorizing them appropriately, and proving their nature concretely. This interacts with work in several ways:
- Words and definitions really matter to me. This is especially true when I feel that clarity is on the line. However, when I feel confident that everyone has a purer understanding of whatever abstract concept we are discussing than can be expressed in words, I can become sloppy with my words in an effort to convey ideas quickly.
- I crave comprehensive understanding of how and why.
- I like things that I do to be polished and elegant, not just working.
- People are very different from mathematics; I will quickly be mentally/emotionally drained by office politics, mixed project direction/signals, and un-concrete plans.
- I really enjoy the computer science aspect of DS. (Computer Science is all about abstract objects and their behavior in strange circumstances.)
- I'm open about my mental health. I've been diagnosed and dealing with OCD, anxiety, and depression for over 20 years. If you have mental health issues or are having a hard time feel free to reach out to me! I have been extremely successful despite this (and in some ways because of this), and I want to use my position of success to empower others to care for themselves and focus on their health. I've compiled some more thoughts on this in the appendix.
- I view my role at work as foremost to sustainably help my teammates succeed - I often end up wearing many hats.
- I think of myself as a creator and educator over other terms like data scientist, engineer, modeler, leader, researcher, manager, or analyst. This doesn't mean I don't fill these other roles, but building things and teaching people are what really bring me joy.
- I believe the two most critical (and challenging) parts of data science are people and integrating models with other systems. I am upfront and focused on these two areas throughout the ENTIRE lifetime of a project.
- I'm pragmatic, despite my value-drivenness and love of elegance and documentation. I acknowledge the "right" way to do things with unlimited time and resources, but I will suggest alternative courses of action if it's best for us or the business. I love discussions of tradeoffs and encourage you to have them with me.
- I believe in starting small on projects, and I believe in iteration. A simple dumb model is better than no model. A heuristic is better than nothing. In data science these simple solutions often allow us to "solve" the two critical, challenging parts (people and integrating models). This often allows data to flow into systems and sets up opportunities for iteration. This also drives focus on correct problem definition and effective metrics early in projects - there's less complexity to distract you.
- I have a heavy focus on metrics for analytics and project's success. I believe that most DS/DE/SE projects need several levels of metrics - very close to the technical implementation, close to the project's integration, and KPIs. These metrics need to be well chosen and people need to understand what they do and don't measure.
- I believe machine learning models should be thought of as tools, not solutions.
- I am biased towards action over inaction. Inaction should be intentional if pursued.
- I am biased towards decision over indecision, even if that means a decision may change later.
- In communication, I value substance and content over polish. My slide decks default to spartan decor. I have begun begrudgingly making things prettier as first impressions and polish matters in establishing authority and trust.
- I value people over processes and rhythms.
- This sounds like one of the key tenets of the Agile Manifesto and of Agile Sofware Development. I've called out a few opinions on agile in the appendix.
- Education is the key to win-win scenarios - data science can do cool things, but there's many things it can't do. Educating others leads to better understanding and better identification of win-win solutions to problems.
- I love good documentation of projects and code. A project isn't really done until it is well documented, though I do believe that sometimes documentation is not where time should be invested.
- I tend to work 8-4 or 9-5 central time, with a break for lunch or a run.
- Working more than this causes my productivity to crash.
- I do my very best to not work at all after these hours (and I want to support you doing this too!)
- I work in a very deep flow and I'm terrible at task-switching. I'm intentional to create long blocks of focus time during the week.
- I like to think out loud - I try to clarify when I am brainstorming versus stating facts. Feel free to ask for clarification!
- I am not offended if you tell me to be quiet!
- I have lots of opinions
- I don't have any shame admitting when I'm wrong (and actually pride myself on my drive to do this!) - I'm wrong a lot.
- If I slack you after hours, I really, really, really, really hope you don't respond. This is just a way for me to declutter my mind and not forget things.
- Give me a heads up before you need my help
- Send me a slack message or schedule a meeting on my calendar and tell me in that message/cal invite what you want my help with.
- Don't just ask if I have a second to chat with you.
- Good Example: "Ryan, do you have 5 minutes today for me to ask you a question about the day 0 search algorithm"
- Bad Example: "You have a second to chat?"
- Please don't tap me on the shoulder.
- Know that I'm not going to respond to your slack message or email after hours.
- Ask me for help on projects or ideas!
- I'm happy to share my perspective, experience, and brainstorm with you. Even though I likely won't know the "answer" I believe that I'll learn from brainstorming with you and, hopefully, you can learn from me.
- Always provide context to me when asking a question - even if you asked me a question on the same topic via slack 15 minutes ago.
- If you want advice on a problem just ask, but be prepared! I don't like just "doing" things; I'm much more likely to try to make it so that you can solve a similar problem in the future without me. This means I'll probably ask you lots of questions in helping you. Come prepared with what you've tried and what ideas you have!
- Ask for advice and wisdom on communicating with others!
- After working on a project for a long time it can be hard to distill and synthesize information at the right level for an audience. I'm happy to be a sounding board for other DS/DE/SE in preparation for presentations, papers, blog posts, or important meetings. I'm great at summarizing and synthesizing, though you'll have to handle the polishing yourself.
- Ask for perspective and wisdom with mental health matters.
- If you're feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, or if you would like another perspective on mental health, feel free to chat with me about it!
- I've been living with diagnosed OCD, anxiety, and depression for over 20 years.
- I am not defined by my mental illness (after 20 years it's very well managed - you likely wouldn't notice), but I do want to be open about it. It's not something I'm going to spontaneously bring up, but if conversations shift towards related topics I will weigh in and share my experiences openly. Feel free to ask specific questions or for my perspective - I'm happy to go into details if someone wants to listen.
- Early in my career I kept it well hidden - I didn't want to be treated differently or have it adversely affect me in the workplace.
- However, I realized that I was successful despite my mental health and that I was in a position where, if I was more open about it, I could hopefully help, comfort, and guide others through similar situations.
- I want to be available to converse and offer advice, wisdom, and experience to others on all matters mental health.
- I want to be an advocate for intentionality of self-care in mental health - for myself and others.
- I want to help people understand that mental health takes exercise and discipline - just like physical health. It doesn't just happen.
- I want to help people get connected with others who can help them - a support network of friends, family, doctors, and counselors.
- I want to drive authenticity in relationships, opposed to masking the truth or trying to "man up". I believe this is a huge blocker to mental health acknowledgement and care. I'm happy to start with myself.
- I'm happy to talk through the process of pursuing mental health care for those who are interested, but don't know where to start. I hope this removes some hurdles and anxiety for others.
- I'm happy and willing to work within an agile, scrum, kanban, or other framework.
- However, I will likely never propose these formalized processes for a team I work with.
- Formalized sprints don't map great to exploratory work or research work - lots of DS and DE projects require lots of exploration.
- Defining the problem or the long term vision work don't fit well in sprint cycles.
- Fromalized agile methodologies require EVERYONE (especially leadership) to be on the exact same wavelength. If there's a chance of leadership not embracing these ideals, then formalized methodologies will likely backfire.
- Many companies lose sight of the agile manifesto and the "Responding to change over following a plan" tenet - in my experience the rhythms of the agile process (sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily standups, retros, etc) become the plan itself and it hinders work and masks responsibilities. We should be willing to change rhythms too.
- I think documentation matters more than it's typically seen to matter in agile practices - documentation is essential when people and resources are shuffled/moved and helpful at all other times. I do think quality, working software is more important than documentation which is inline with the manifesto itself.
- Personally, I advocate for "No BS Agile". Embrace the agile manifesto, but do it intentionally. Construct intentional rhythms that work for your team and project. Cancel and change rhythms when they don't work or aren't currently needed. Understand that software and best practices have changed tremendously in nature over the past 20 years. Understand that what works for others won't necessarily work for you. Think intentionally about what success and good working arrangements would look like for your team and pursue that over an out-of-the-box framework. Value simplicity and practicality over formality. Make sure frameworks, rhythms, and methodologies fit in with the larger company organizational structure.
- I understand that many people will disagree with me - and that's ok. I also know I could be wrong - that's ok too! Let's chat and find the common ground - there's probably a lot!
Let's not do boring small talk just because we are supposed to. I love people, and I'm happy to chat with anyone, but I crave conversations with depth - not just "crazy weather we are having". If you want to skip small talk and go straight to business, do it - I'll be on board. However if you want to make small talk and get to know me, below are some things I'll be ecstatic to talk about!
- My wife Kelly is the best. She embodies the idea "if you think it will be fun, it will be" - she manifests joy in the world around her. She's also a NARP (Not A Real Person - wild things always happen to her). In any small talk I'll definitely end up talking about her. Ask me about her latest wild idea for fun things to do or strange thing that happened to her.
- Summer is my black-tri Australian Shepherd. She's commonly mistaken for a Border Collie because she kept her tail! She's the sweetest dog and builds a fan club wherever we go. She also runs and mountain bikes with us in the fall and winter - it's too hot for her in her namesake's season. Ask about the most recent time she got super dirty or went bonkers in the woods.
- Kenji is our cat - or in the words of my wife - Summer's cat. When he's not sleeping, he loves hunting bugs or shrews and grooming Summer. They are best friends. He sometimes follows Summer and I on walks in the neighborhood. Ask about the latest thing he theived (I once found my silicone wedding ring in the bathtub drain) or what he's done lately that's cute.
- I love playing ultimate. This is a real, competitive sport - not just laissez-faire catch played by the stoners at your high school. I'm not very good for a rec-level player; I play ultimate because it's fun. Most major cities have an ultimate organization - through Birmingham's I've gotten the opportunity to play on rec-league teams with AUDL players, college club players, newbies, veterans, and everyone in between! Ask me about how the sport works, how you can learn to play, or what was the coolest (or most idiotic) thing I did the last time I played.
- I love trail running and running. I'm hoping to run a half-marathon distance in 2021 and maybe even find a race to do it in. Ask me about running training or how many miles I've done this week - encourage me to go run more for my own sanity.
- Mountain Biking is a huge release. I love working hard uphill and crushing it downhill. For people in the mountain biking community, I'm not very good, but I love it and go as often as I can. Ask me about hardtails vs full suspension bikes or what type of trails I like to ride!
- Downhill Skiing makes me really feel alive. It feels like mountain biking, except you can go anywhere and falling (usually) doesn't hurt as much. It's extremely freeing, drives me to deep focus and flow. However, I live in Alabama, and I maybe go skiing every other year. Ask me about places I've skied, falls I've taken, and what makes skiing so fun!
- I have been to 47 of the 50 US states. (If you include the Las Vegas airport, I've been to 48 states!) Most of my travels have been outdoor oriented over city and culture oriented. Ask me about where I've been in your home state, wild animal encounters, or off-the-beaten-track gems!
- I LOVE swimming in very cold water. Think glacier fed lakes or mountain streams. There's nothing quite as refreshing as warming in the sun after a cold dip - ask about fun places I've swam!
- I'm a big fan of Discworld, though I can't bring myself to read the last few unread books in the series. I generally enjoy character-driven fantasy books (don't tell me the past 20 owners of some magic sword), especially if they are relatively light or lighthearted. Ask me about my favorite books or make a good fantasy recommendation to me!
- I'm working on writing as a hobby - I have lots of ideas and passion, but not a lot of energy to sit at a computer after I finish work.
- Effectively I make software for a living. I also like making software on the side, at least when I'm motivated to sit at a computer more.
- I do a lot of home improvement projects. This includes spending copious amounts of time on my lawn, building new stairs on my deck, and trying to make our yard lush with native plants. Ask me about my latest home project or what's coming up next! I can also talk about weed control, lawn maintenance, and southeastern US plants for a long time.
- I love food. I like nice food. I really love junk food. I'm happy to provide hot takes on fast food restaurants and debate who has the best fries.
- I play video games very casually - currently playing through Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
- I LOVE puns.
- My type of humor spans between witty, keen, cutting (think Discworld) to absurd and ridiculous (think Hot Rod or Discworld). I don't like cringe-heavy comedy or insult comedy.