Hey friends,

Hope you're having a great week. After much preparation, we finally launched Staq in Entrepreneur First Global Reveal last week. Spot us (Staq) HERE to watch our 2-min pitch with my cofounder! 😂

It was also my first time meeting many top VCs and investors at an exclusive meetup organised by EF. It was an epic night when we shared what we've been building at Staq. Excited, we even took a picture together!

As promised, I'll document my fundraising journey to share more behind-the-scenes with you. Stay tuned! 🚀

What's in the hub today?

Tip: Why documentation is important as a data scientist
Mistake: Being too humble is a bad thing
Learning: Be more assertive to speak up
Book: Atomic Habits
Quote: Focus on what you want to become

1 Tip:

⭐️ Why Documentation is Important as a Data Scientist

Documentation sounds boring (I get it), yet it plays an important role in making data science projects successful.

A GitHub Open Source Survey showed that “Incomplete or Confusing Documentation” was the top complaint about open source software.

Documentation is highly valued, but often overlooked.

Here's why documentation is important and why you should document your work as a data scientist.

1. Reproducibility

Without good and organized documentation, people will not use the code that you’ve worked day and night for, let alone reproduce your results.

Why?

Say you wrote some code for a data science project. One fine day one of your colleagues wants to make improvements on top of your existing codes.

So your colleague wants to reproduce your results but he/she has no ideas on how to do it due to the poor documentation. Heck, your colleague might not even understand your codes.

Reading someone else’s codes is always torture without good documentation and comments.

2. Ensure Successful Project Completion

No employees will be in a company forever.

If they are no longer in the company and they pass down their half-finished projects without any documentation to others, there are only two outcomes:

The projects will be left hanging in the air.
The projects will require much more time to complete.

We can’t assume others would understand what our projects are all about without showing them what our projects are and how they can build on top of your legacy when you’re no longer there.

Having good documentation will make sure your projects will still continue to operate and be in good hands.

Be responsible and show empathy to others.

TL;DR

Reproducibility
Ensure Successful Project Completion

🎁 BONUS: How to write a good documentation

Structure the flow and write documentation like telling a story.
Write documentation in simple words (no buzzwords).
Document your workflow consistently when you’re doing your projects (not after your projects).
Document for the sake of helping others to understand your workflow and code in order for them to reproduce your results in future.
Find someone to take a look at your documentation to make sure that others are able to follow your explanation.

1 Mistake:

When I started looking for my first internship in college, I was invited to attend an Assessment Day with other candidates in a big company, which was basically the last round of interviews.

It was my first time attending an Assessment Day. I was nervous. 🤯

In one session, we were given a case study to discuss with other candidates as a team for 30 minutes while interviewers would sit around to observe our discussion.

When the session started, I was scared to share my thoughts because I didn't think my thoughts were good enough. Instead, I listened to others, nodded my head, and wrote down notes.

The session ended after 30 minutes, and we were asked to wait outside for the results.

I was asked to enter another room to talk to HR. She told me that they couldn't proceed to the next stage with me. I accepted politely and asked for feedback. She said,

"Admond, because you were not assertive enough in the case study's discussion. You didn't speak up often which made you seem to lack of confidence. You were too humble."

It was a tough pill to swallow, but her feedback made me realise my mistake for me to fix it early on.

1 Learning:

I was too humble.

I should have been more assertive and spoken up.

However, there is a thin line between being humble and being too humble.

Being humble can take you to greater heights, meanwhile being too humble can prevent others from knowing about you.

If I was more assertive to speak up during Assessment Day, I could have secured the internship.

I learned that it's important to showcase yourself in the work environment not because you want to show off, but because you want to show people what you can do or what you have accomplished - that way, you are not overlooked when it comes to new opportunities.

1 Book:

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

I read this book some time ago and it was a game changer for me.

We all have good and bad habits. For me, I often struggled to build good habits and break bad ones. I only knew its importance, but I didn't know the "how-to".

Here are how to build better habits in 4 simple steps after reading the book:

Make it obvious
- Design your environment to cultivate habits for success.
- Put triggers to attract you to perform a desired good habit.
- Don't rely on self-control. Instead, optimise your environment to discard bad habits or cultivate good habits.
Make it attractive
- Make your habits attractive because it gets you to expect the rewarding experience and motivate you to take action.
- Reprogram your mind to make the habits more attractive by highlighting their benefits rather than drawbacks.
Make it easy
- Make your habits so easy that you'll do that even when you don't feel like it.
- For example, use the 2 Minute Rule to stop procrastination by showing up and taking repetitive actions. Day in, day out.
  - Why? Because motivation comes after starting, not before.
Make it satisfying
- You're more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying. What's immediately rewarded is repeated.
- Turn instant gratification to your advantage by making yourself feel successful after doing a habit.

I've used the same 4 steps to build my morning routine and other habits, including taking a cold shower and meditating every morning, writing LinkedIn posts daily, and writing a newsletter (like this one!) every week.

I hope these 4 steps could help you cultivate the good habits that you've always wanted but struggled to build.

Have you read this book? What's your thought on it?

1 Quote:

Don't focus on what you want to achieve,

focus on what you want to become.

From Atomic Habits by James Clear.

We tend to fail to build the habits we want not because we don't know the "how-to", but because we are stuck in our old identity.

For example, say we want to wake up early every morning. We all know the "how-to", which is to sleep early in order to wake up early - yet we still fail to build the habit.

Why?

Because we are still stuck in our old identity, "I'm a night owl. Instead, reframe our identity to a new one, "I'm an early riser."

Focus on what you want to become, and you'll achieve what you want to achieve.

P.S. I'm still trying to build the habit of waking up early every morning ☀️😂

That's all for today

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed today's issue. More than that, I hope it has helped you in some ways and brought you some peace of mind.

You can always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter and we can chat.

See you again next week.

- Admond

*Follow my content on my social media handles below*

Admond Lee

💼 Why Documentation is Important as a Data Scientist, Don't be too Humble, & More