shiny-assistant

From paramedic to leading analytics in pharma | Dan Haight | Data Science Hangout

To join future data science hangouts, add it to your calendar here: https://pos.it/dsh - All are welcome! We'd love to see you! We were recently joined by Dan Haight, Director of Continuous Improvement Analytics at Merck, to talk about his unconventional career path, the value of lateral career moves (check out his book recommendation on this!), and the importance of creating "great charters" for successful stakeholder communication in projects. Dan's advice about project management in this episode is so valuable. He recognizes how tempting it is to rush into a project without knowing all the facts beforehand, but then your scope starts to balloon, you see the project getting behind, and there are all these constraints you weren't aware of. So, he says to take time to build a charter, be upfront with stakeholders about realistic timelines, and then use the charter as a contract to negotiate scope changes and resource allocation. He also discusses the challenges of working with incomplete data and the need to triangulate information from multiple sources to ensure accuracy and build confidence in the findings. If you're a job seeker or looking to transition, Dan came with great advice to pursue continuous learning, network, and hone the ability to effectively communicate the value of their work. You'll have to listen to learn more! If you didn't attend live, you missed the party in the zoom chat People were excited about posit::conf 2025 early bird tickets getting released, and there was a SUPER great discussion about how to share your work when it's all under NDA or very private due to security reasons. There was some great suggestions, like: 🥸 Anonymize data if it's possible, or present a similar project abstractly Use public data to demonstrate the methods you used, even if you can't showcase the findings Emphasize lessons learned during a project (ah-hah moments) instead of the business impacts IF the overall project failed or wasn't implemented (as is the fate of many DS projects!) Document projects as you go, in a format that you can safely take with you, so that you can remember all these things even after you leave your role Lean on your friends and colleagues to help you describe the impacts you had on a project, or the importance of what you did (we all need to be hyped up sometimes when it comes to writing resumes!!) Resources mentioned in the video and zoom chat: Up is Not the Only Way Book → https://www.amazon.com/Up-Not-Only-Way-Rethinking/dp/1523083484 Shiny Assistant helps you build shiny apps → https://shiny.posit.co/blog/posts/shiny-assistant/ Brag Documents - Julia Evans → https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/ Lessons From Four Senior Leaders in the Data Space → https://posit.co/blog/lessons-from-four-senior-leaders-in-the-data-space/ ► Subscribe to Our Channel Here: https://bit.ly/2TzgcOu Follow Us Here: Website: https://www.posit.co Hangout: https://pos.it/dsh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/posit-software Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/posit.co Thanks for hanging out with us! Subscribe to posit::conf updates: https://posit.co/about/subscription-management/