index.md (2904B)
1 --- 2 title: "Weeknote for 2025-W05" 3 description: "Getting more from uBlock, saving less data, and managing 4 products better" 5 date: 2025-01-27T04:59:00-08:00 6 draft: false 7 categories: 8 - Weeknotes 9 --- 10 11 ## uBlock Origin is more than an ad-blocker 12 13 This post from my friend 14 [@slgr@scholar.social](https://scholar.social/@slgr) does a great job 15 explaining how useful uBlock Origin is for more than just blocking ads. In 16 some cases, it makes the web usable on older hardware that couldn’t 17 otherwise keep up with modern front-end web stacks. 18 19 [using old devices as a means to not doomscroll (and using ublock origin to 20 help give life to those 21 devices)](https://www.slgr.info/posts/using-older-devices-and-ublock-origin-to-help-focus/) 22 23 ## You probably don’t need to save that data 24 25 At my day job I work with **big** data, and the tools for doing so have 26 continued to improve as the cost of storing those data has decreased. This 27 trend has convinced some engineers to slip into a habit of saving “all the 28 data”, and earlier in my career I was sympathetic to this line of thought. 29 Since then, we’ve seen the real-world impact of massive data leaks and the 30 shady behavior of data brokers, it’s become clear to me that [data is toxic 31 waste](https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/secure-futures-magazine/data-new-toxic-waste/34184/) 32 33 Randy Au breaks this notion into actionable advice. Data scientists have 34 a responsibility to work with stakeholders to figure out what metrics 35 actually matter, and then make sure that the correct data---and only those 36 data---are captured. As he puts it: 37 38 > Data isn't a collector's item, it's a cost, a burden, a potential legal 39 > risk, a target for hackers, and general nuisance. 40 41 [Storage is cheap, but not thinking about logging is 42 expensive](https://www.counting-stuff.com/storage-is-cheap-storing-isnt-2/) 43 44 ## Speaking of the day job 45 46 I should resist any temptation to write about life as a fully remote federal 47 employee these last few days. 48 49 Instead, I’ll share that lately I’ve taken on a “product owner” type of role 50 that’s challenging me (in a satisfying way). I’ve been programming in R for 51 a long time, and Python even longer, but coordinating _other people’s work_ 52 is a whole new thing for me. I’m proud of what we’re doing here and look 53 forward to seeing it through. 54 55 I asked some PM friends and colleagues where I should go to learn more about 56 roles like this, and several suggested _Cracking the PM Interview_. “Oh no, 57 I don’t want to get a job as a PM, I just want to pick up some PM skills to 58 use with my current role.” Never mind that, they assured me, this book is 59 the place to learn that too. I grabbed a copy from my library and read a few 60 relevant chapters (skipping the ones that really are dedicated to getting 61 a job), and I think I’m better off for doing it. 62 63 [Cracking the PM Interview](https://www.crackingthepminterview.com/)