A User Guide Working with Me

THANK YOU for taking the time to get to know me a bit more in depth, beyond where I worked and what I worked on :)

This article is updated on July 2021 and any feedback is appreciated.

My Background

Professional?

• Most of my professional life lies in analytics experience supporting a mix of business functions including sales, digital marketing, digital product, business planning, strategy and operation
• Out of all of them, I enjoyed supporting digital products the most as I can see concrete product changes that impact people's lives
• Before analytics, I also tried investment banking, which turned out to not be my cup of tea, because I had difficulties seeing how my work solves people's problems in real life

Personal?

• I was born and grew up in China
• In my school time, my favorite subject was Philosophy
• Moved to US at the age of 21 and lived in Texas ever since (as of July 2021)
• A mom of 3 and a half years old (I enjoy reading parenting related books and passionate about building a better world for our next generation, especially girls)
• In my spare time, I love reading books, working out and writing
• Principles by Ray Dalio is a life changer for me, and I try to live by it, in every second of my life, even though I can not claim I am very successful
• I committed to myself that I should work out 5 days a week (which I started since COVID hit)?
• I committed to myself that I should write an article every other week (which I just started and not doing perfectly)?

How I view success

In my view:?

• Best business decisions solve BOTH people and business problems (this is what I think what success truly is, and an example is “people you may know” function)?
• Mediocre business decisions only solve people problem, but having challenges tie to a working business model??
• Worst business decisions only help moving business metrics and do no good to its users (this is a waste of time, and I view this as cheating)?

I work best when

• Usually I am a early bird and I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every day?
• Most of the time, I thrive when given space to think ahead of time vs. under pressure?

My communication preferences

• If applicable, I try to follow the framework of context/intention --> rationale-->decision, so I appreciate it if you follow the same framework.?
• If I didn’t find these 3 things, then I might ask about them?
• I?prefer if you talk about the big picture first and details second?
• I prefer if you specify what you need/your expectation from me??
• I prefer if you mention why this information/conversation matters to me (the so what, sometimes it can be less obvious), so I know how to use this information.?
• I prefer you over-communicate vs. under-communicate. I try to do this too, but maybe I could have done more. If you are hesitant if you should reach out to me or not, just reach out.
• English is not my first language, so feel free to point out if I said something hard to follow or cause confusion, and I will be more than happy to clarify and I have no hard feelings about it.?
• I try my best to be concise, but sometimes I can think out loud and my words are not organized (actually it could due to my thoughts not being organized, which is something I am working on)?
• I prefer reading bullets vs. long paragraphs?
• I usually do not say no, so when I say “No”, I really mean no

What I need to see/hear/experience to feel included

• I encourage you to encourage me to ask questions, be open, etc. Being an introvert, speaking out is not my first reaction, which is something I am working on.??
• I would also constantly ask “how do you think about it?” to check your feeling, perspective, and opinion.?With that being said, I am trying to share my thoughts freely to you as well.
• It’s totally OK to share non data backed opinions with me. Even though I am a data scientist, I strongly believe data doesn’t solve all the problems and sometimes common sense could be a better solution.?
• I am happy to be a sounding board, whenever you need.?

I feel recognized when

• Recognition is better to be specific, in-time and public

I learn best when

• I love all kinds of learning methods: reading books, discussion, e-learning class, coaching, learn by doing, learn by teaching, shadowing, etc.
• I love you sharing what you learnt with me, at any given point of time!??

How I best receive feedback

• I appreciate everyone can follow context, observation, impact and next step framework
• Personally I think the next step is most important out of four because it focus on solution

What gains and loses my trust

• By default, I trust everyone, and assume everyone has good intentions
• However, when I observe certain behaviors, my trust erodes and it’s usually hard for me to rebuild it
• Give me wrong information vs. just recognizing you don’t know.?(It's OK to share hypothesis, just note that is fine)
• When bad outcomes occur, instead of finding what to do next to fix and prevent it from happening again, pointing fingers to others, finding excuses, or claiming “I told you already”.?
• Give up easily when things fail vs. being persistent
• Refuse to be open-minded and room for discussion

What I need/expect from my colleagues

• Share solution-oriented feedback with me, as much as you want. I have no hard feelings about it, honestly.?
• I want my colleagues to be respectful of my time, as my time is not my time, it is company's asset. I have no choice but to use it on the projects that have the biggest impact. When I say no to something, I am not rejecting you as a person, but I am rejecting that project/idea. Thus, please don’t take it personally.?
• I will respect your time in return.?

My Things I do that may annoy you

• I might reach out to you A LOT, seeking out your time for opinions, questions, etc. If you ever find?I take too much time from you, feel free to share it directly with me.?
• Being an introvert, I am not good at expressing my feelings! However,?I do care about my colleagues and the people around me, but I usually do not show them by words, instead, I may respond with silent actions. Just remember I care about the things you care about, probably as much as you do.?
• I lack the motivation to work on the things I am not convinced about. It helps convince me if we have answers to these questions:
• How explicitly this project helps company's mission??
• What people problems are we solving??
• Is this just for curiosity or action oriented??
• What disaster would happen if we don’t do this?
• Why does it have to be NOW?

Strengths

• Dedication: I am usually on top of everything, follow through everything and go above and beyond with everything as I am very committed to deliver high quality work?
• Loyalty: It’s very natural for me to put team’s interests on top of my own and advocate for others?
• Long term thinking: I have a clear vision of where I want to go. If not, I will find one soon
• Self-awareness: I constantly asking for feedback to improve myself??
• Open minded: I am open to all kinds of opinions, especially I am hungry to seek different perspectives?
• Create order out of chaos: I am very good at brining unstructured things into structure and reduce noise?

The areas that I am working on

• Creativity: sometimes I lack of ideas,?as my way of thinking is usually linear/MECE?
• Domain knowledge: being a data scientist and coming from a not-so-technical background, I still have a lot of things to learn, statistics, data pipelines, etc.?
• Directness in communication: I have to admit I often feel shy about claiming what I want or NOT want?
• Sometimes I say yes to something just because I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, but I realize this is impairing my performance
• Concise in communication: there is a saying I have to spend more time to write you a shorter letter, I feel I still not find a way to write a short letter quickly?
• Take too much on my own: Sometimes I can mute myself to help until the last minute?

What else I want you to know about me

• I am a believer of “less is more”, so I emphasize prioritization a lot
• My myers briggs type is ISTJ (I took the test about 5 years ago, so it might not be most up to date, but I think it describes me well enough on a high level)

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