Successful Projects through a bit of Rebellion

This talk is for leaders who want new techniques to improve their success rates. In the last 15 months I've built a private data science peer mentorship group where we discuss rebellious ideas that improve our ability to make meaningful change in organisations of all sizes.

As a leader you've no doubt had trouble defining new projects (perhaps you've been asked - "add ChatGPT!"), getting buy-in, building support, defining defensible metrics and milestones, hiring, developing your team, dealing with conflict, avoiding overload and ultimately delivering valuable projects that are adopted by the business. I'll share advice across all of these areas based on 25 years of personal experience and the topics we've discussed in my leadership community.

https://cfp.pydata.org/london2025/talk/XDLFR3/

Transcript

1. Successful Projects through a bit of Rebellion PyDataLondon 2025-06 talk @IanOzsvald – ianozsvald.com
2. Strategist/Trainer/Speaker/Author 25+ years Figuring where LLMs fit into DS Interim Chief Data Scientist By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald Signing 3rd Edition!
3. By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald https://speakerdeck.com/ianozsvald/data-science-projects- patterns-that-work https://speakerdeck.com/ianozsvald/building-successful- data-science-projects
4. “The first 90 days” Growing the team Picking valuable projects Use of GenAI Dealing with overload Overview By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
5. Grab a sticker and meet fellow leaders By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
6. Finding the right people – build relationships Ask ignorant questions (note – do this later too) Setup calls and talk human to human (preferably in person) Your first 90 days By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald Stickers - wear with pride
7. Does your team need to grow? Can you offload low value work? Where’s your (and teams’) north star? Rubric for debiased hiring? Lightweight take home test? On-site collab? Growing the team By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
8. Please define the $value (ins.) Have a route to successful change Have everyone on-board and engaged Sell success before, during and after – market “you” Picking valuable projects By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
9. Beware the variance in those suggestions! You need strong unit tests & end to end tests Use ‘boring old tech’ as much as possible Pretend it is ML, lock down the gold standard, figure out your metrics Productive use of GenAI By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald print(f"Median token usage on a call was {int(sum(all_token_usages) / len(all_token_usages))}")
10. That melt-down/panic/no end in sight feeling! What’s your overload? Is Success defined? Signal value & progress, set expectations Build some 1:1s with non-competitor colleagues Easing overload By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
11. Sleep, eat, be fit Network of diverse (no-work) colleagues Someone here? Build resilience By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
12. Python SWEng with Data Science experience + JS 5 years in industry (Private Equity exp is a bonus) 1 day on site in London I’m hiring! By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald
13. “The first 90 days” Develop the team Pick valuable projects Sane use of GenAI Deal with overload In conclusion By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald Stickers - wear with pride
14. Practical exercise Ask: “What’s your interest in leadership?” Now – meet your neighbour By [ian]@ianozsvald[.com] Ian Ozsvald