2019 >> 2020: Reorienting to focus

I really didn't have a theme but 2019 ended up being a year of closures for me. I not only wrapped up my 5 year-long volunteer engagements with the wonderful executive teams of Code for Pakistan and OPEN Islamabad, but I also exited steering committees for National Incubation Center Karachi and Peshawar. I then killed many meetings at work besides delegating any work stuff that I could. Thus, freeing up time and mental space for a thing or two I intend to explore deeper in 2020. So I am hoping that this will be a year of reorientation for me i.e. to plan the next 3-4 years.

In 2019 I finished a few books: Measure What Matters; The McKinsey Way; Engineering Leadership Interviews; and Managing for Success. I also read a couple of short (and free) books: What Is Data Science by Mike Loukides, and Building Data Science Teams by D.J. Patil. In 2020, I am hoping I will not just be able to match 2019 book reading count (already have started reading The Industries of the Future) but also will be able to complete a few MOOCs inline with possible reorientation options.

So what are a few possible directions I am thinking of?

One is to go deep into a tech stack. Being a VP of Engineering of a mid size company consumes a lot of time on general management stuff and then, of course, considering the challenges in the E&P industry, a significant portion simply goes into fire fighting. But I am hoping with the reclaimed time, I shall be able to take a deeper look at technology and go lower than 30,000 ft. I think Udemy is a godsend in this regard but still, the challenge is to pick the right stack: from dev to deployment... I am leaning towards React and AWS.

Another is to explore ML and solve a real-world problem with it. My masters from KTH was almost half in AI but the field has changed a lot since 2005. So I do need a major refresher. The good thing is at this point I have a few use cases in mind that may help me acquire, let's say, ML skills by taking a problem-to-solution approach rather than vice versa. a lot of exciting problems out there from identifying frauds in social welfare to classifying subsurface structures.

With recently joining OPEN Islamabad board, and an intent to dive deeper technically, I am optimistic 2020 will help me become a better tech executive with an entrepreneurial mindset. Here is to optimism that roots from "Hello World!!".

Side note: my find of the year 2019 was Grammarly and I finally purchased subscription of Medium (Thanks god for that).