• An evergreen question: what is an MVP?

    An evergreen question: what is an MVP?

    I was asked this the other day. My answer was: it depends on the context; it helps to have an example. And the contextual element is probably why this remains an evergreen question. While I have a fresh example in mind I thought I’d quickly plant a stake in the ground for reference. First, it…

  • Effective topologies for Data and ML teams

    Effective topologies for Data and ML teams

    I presented this talk at the Melbourne Data Engineering meetup, on a wild and wet Friday night. Having your cake and eating it too – Effective topologies for Data and ML teams (slides) In the talk I explore how Team Topologies provides patterns for reconciling fast flow of value with (multiple) specialisations in data and…

  • Ur Uber

    Ur Uber

    The other day a former classmate described a project of mine in 2010 as “the idea for Uber before Uber was even a thing”. Nearly 15 years later, I thought it would be interesting to pen some reflections on how we came by the idea and why we didn’t pursue it. Mowbb Mowbb (I regret…

  • A resilient charging planner

    A resilient charging planner

    Check out the prototype of trippler, an interactive charging planner for resilient EV road trips. Based on my own EV road trip experience, trippler is as much about easily understanding charging options and contingencies, to reduce charger anxiety, as it is about coming up with a single best plan. Features Simply enter the start and…

  • Data complications

    Data complications

    Solving EV charger anxiety used maths for better road trips, but skipped over using real data. Let’s fix that, or at least try to… The easy bits I used Open Route Service to find a base route to a destination and and Open Charge Map to find chargers near the route – thank you to…

  • Solving EV charger anxiety

    Solving EV charger anxiety

    Many EV adventures are accessible using the charging network in Victoria, but faulty chargers still have the potential to induce charger anxiety on road trips. Planning apps–EV drivers’ constant companions–may not fully solve this when the reported status of chargers is unreliable and faults are prevalent. As a driver, I want resilient plans that already…

  • GenAI stone soup

    GenAI stone soup

    GenAI (typically as an LLM) is pretty amazing, and you can use it to help with tasks or rapidly build all kinds of things that previously weren’t feasible. Things that work some of the time. The soup But do you find yourself reworking large chunks of generated content, or face major hurdles in getting a…

  • Hopsworks and multidisciplinary ML

    Hopsworks and multidisciplinary ML

    I recently had a brief but fun chat with Hopsworks about the multidisciplinary nature of building machine learning products, as part of their 5-minute podcast series hosted by Rik Van Bruggen. See the transcript and video at 5-minute-interview-with-david-colls-nextdata. Rik and I talked about how David, Ada and I address this multidisciplinary perspective in our book…

  • EV snow’d tripping

    EV snow’d tripping

    Adventures with EVs often involve big mountain climbs, which consume additional energy, impacting range. I recently had the opportunity to drive climbs from Bright to Omeo and back via Mt Hotham, in Gunaikurnai and Taungurung country, and get a sense for how EVs handle hills. I collected efficiency data for each leg of a road…

  • Effective ML Teams on Thoughtworks Tech Podcast

    Effective ML Teams on Thoughtworks Tech Podcast

    I recently recorded an episode of the Thoughtworks Technology Podcast with my Effective Machine Learning Teams co-authors Ada Leung and David Tan, hosted by Scott Shaw and Ken Mugrage. The episode is number 146 – Building at the intersection of machine learning and software engineering. It was great to chat about the book and share…