5 ms·

If you could solve the problem better, at scale, I’m sure they would pay you a lot of money to come solve it. Along with Netflix, Google, and all the other plac

If you could solve the problem better, at scale, I’m sure they would pay you a lot of money to come solve it. Along with Netflix, Google, and all the other places that use standard algorithms designed to solve these sorts of problems.

FakeComments 8y ago
This assumes internal politics are a meritocracy with appropriate levels of prototype funding. I’m not sure that’s accurate — and there’s plenty of ways for organizational structure to strangle good ideas.
java-man 8y ago
introduce temporal component into your prediction model, similar to this: [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_temporal_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_temporal_memory
eitland 8y ago
I probably wouldn't pass the interviews at most of these places :-P But if they pay me (well the consulting company I work for) enough I might fly in to hold some session along the lines of - don't annoy power users for no good reason (a certain ad delivery company with an attached search engine might be interested in this) - how to please all your customers at once - the forgotten art of making your software configurable. Bonus session: sensible defaults (audience: every modern software company) - your customers might not be as smart as you but most of them aren't braindead - and other notes from the field (same audience) - continue to be the best - by not nerfing your almost-perfect product (same audience) - not storing data you don't need to serve your users [0] - a practical guide to not getting fined by EU while also getting rid of dumb disclaimers that won't help you anyway when regulators get fed up (audience: everyone who has a GDPR popup with default opt in to one or more likely more than 100 different trackers) - why customers who have already bought a dishwasher won't buy a new one however much you advertise for them the rest of the month (and other great secrets from marketing 101). (Audience: most adtech companies and ad buyers) - the long-term benefits of serving ads that actually provides value - or why you'd want to sell some ads to other companies than scammy dating sites even if they are currently the easiest ones to fleece by showing expensive ads to customers who aren't interested at all. (Ad-tech companies, and that big one with the attached search engine in particular.) Master class: - 1/3 Living in a global world: Europeans are also on the Internet and knows when movie and series releases are + other shocking truths. - 2/3 increasing digital sales by putting the content up for sale - how to increase sales and customer happines all while reducing piracy just buy removing stupid geo limiting - 3/3 the synergistic effects of making your content available to customers who wants to pay for it while it is still hot [0]: Deliberately talking about users, not customers here to avoid the ever-helpful response of "if you are not paying you are not the customer, you are the product". And BTW, I agree, it just isn't always helpful.
- hopler 8y ago
  I'm fairly sure that ignorance isn't the reason these companies aren't implementing your suggestions.
  - eitland 8y ago
    Well, I don't expect a sales boom but I struggle to come up with a better explanation for a couple of those.
- grogenaut 8y ago
  Your issues with geo limiting around content are almost entirely an artifact of the publishing systems. Having had to work on those things, amazon does not actually want to waste time implementing them except that it's a requirement to get the content people want to buy. Put the blame where it belongs.
  - eitland 8y ago
    That part was about certain media/entertainment companies :-)
    - grogenaut 8y ago
      Then what does it have to do with recommendations?
      - eitland 8y ago
        It doesn't have to do just with recommandations but more generally all the big issues that the biggest companies have to deal with ;-)
nradov 8y ago
Netflix actually did pay contest participants a lot of money ($1MM) to solve the problem better, at scale. But they didn't end up using the resulting algorithms. https://www.wired.com/2012/04/netflix-prize-costs/ https://www.wired.com/2012/04/netflix-prize-costs/
shadowtree 8y ago
It seems odd though to suggest the same item I just bought over and over again. Same as YouTube's algo now recommending already watched videos, over and over. This is either being gamed by bots or someone at those cos is not dogfooding. And if all else fails, for the love of god, give me an option to train your dumb algo manually by blocking shit I don't want to see ever again.
- eitland 8y ago
  > give me an option to train your dumb algo manually by blocking shit I don't want to see ever again. Feel free to recommend my course posted below :-P "how to please all your customers at once - the forgotten art of making your software configurable"
- timdavila 8y ago
  Sometimes it makes sense, for consumable goods or even non consumable things like storage containers, where you might buy more of the same item at different times. Other things like books I agree don't make sense.
- droidist2 8y ago
  Yeah YouTube's algo has become even more terrible, which I didn't think was possible.
jmcqk6 8y ago
Or another way to look at this is that if the problem can't be solved well - in a way that actually adds value - then maybe don't offer it at all. I don't believe amazon's recommendation engine has ever delivered any value to me, and it would be really nice to just have all that crap removed.

FakeComments 8y ago

This assumes internal politics are a meritocracy with appropriate levels of prototype funding. I’m not sure that’s accurate — and there’s plenty of ways for organizational structure to strangle good ideas.

java-man 8y ago

introduce temporal component into your prediction model, similar to this: [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_temporal_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_temporal_memory

eitland 8y ago

I probably wouldn't pass the interviews at most of these places :-P But if they pay me (well the consulting company I work for) enough I might fly in to hold some session along the lines of - don't annoy power users for no good reason (a certain ad delivery company with an attached search engine might be interested in this) - how to please all your customers at once - the forgotten art of making your software configurable. Bonus session: sensible defaults (audience: every modern software company) - your customers might not be as smart as you but most of them aren't braindead - and other notes from the field (same audience) - continue to be the best - by not nerfing your almost-perfect product (same audience) - not storing data you don't need to serve your users [0] - a practical guide to not getting fined by EU while also getting rid of dumb disclaimers that won't help you anyway when regulators get fed up (audience: everyone who has a GDPR popup with default opt in to one or more likely more than 100 different trackers) - why customers who have already bought a dishwasher won't buy a new one however much you advertise for them the rest of the month (and other great secrets from marketing 101). (Audience: most adtech companies and ad buyers) - the long-term benefits of serving ads that actually provides value - or why you'd want to sell some ads to other companies than scammy dating sites even if they are currently the easiest ones to fleece by showing expensive ads to customers who aren't interested at all. (Ad-tech companies, and that big one with the attached search engine in particular.) Master class: - 1/3 Living in a global world: Europeans are also on the Internet and knows when movie and series releases are + other shocking truths. - 2/3 increasing digital sales by putting the content up for sale - how to increase sales and customer happines all while reducing piracy just buy removing stupid geo limiting - 3/3 the synergistic effects of making your content available to customers who wants to pay for it while it is still hot [0]: Deliberately talking about users, not customers here to avoid the ever-helpful response of "if you are not paying you are not the customer, you are the product". And BTW, I agree, it just isn't always helpful.

hopler 8y ago
I'm fairly sure that ignorance isn't the reason these companies aren't implementing your suggestions.
- eitland 8y ago
  Well, I don't expect a sales boom but I struggle to come up with a better explanation for a couple of those.
grogenaut 8y ago
Your issues with geo limiting around content are almost entirely an artifact of the publishing systems. Having had to work on those things, amazon does not actually want to waste time implementing them except that it's a requirement to get the content people want to buy. Put the blame where it belongs.
- eitland 8y ago
  That part was about certain media/entertainment companies :-)
  - grogenaut 8y ago
    Then what does it have to do with recommendations?
    - eitland 8y ago
      It doesn't have to do just with recommandations but more generally all the big issues that the biggest companies have to deal with ;-)

nradov 8y ago

Netflix actually did pay contest participants a lot of money ($1MM) to solve the problem better, at scale. But they didn't end up using the resulting algorithms. https://www.wired.com/2012/04/netflix-prize-costs/ https://www.wired.com/2012/04/netflix-prize-costs/

shadowtree 8y ago

It seems odd though to suggest the same item I just bought over and over again. Same as YouTube's algo now recommending already watched videos, over and over. This is either being gamed by bots or someone at those cos is not dogfooding. And if all else fails, for the love of god, give me an option to train your dumb algo manually by blocking shit I don't want to see ever again.

eitland 8y ago
> give me an option to train your dumb algo manually by blocking shit I don't want to see ever again. Feel free to recommend my course posted below :-P "how to please all your customers at once - the forgotten art of making your software configurable"
timdavila 8y ago
Sometimes it makes sense, for consumable goods or even non consumable things like storage containers, where you might buy more of the same item at different times. Other things like books I agree don't make sense.
droidist2 8y ago
Yeah YouTube's algo has become even more terrible, which I didn't think was possible.

jmcqk6 8y ago

Or another way to look at this is that if the problem can't be solved well - in a way that actually adds value - then maybe don't offer it at all. I don't believe amazon's recommendation engine has ever delivered any value to me, and it would be really nice to just have all that crap removed.