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Laying the Foundation for Successful Model Deployment

Hiranmayi Duvvuri | 03.04.2020

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Hiranmayi Duvvuri

Transitioned from using python in an academic research setting to industry.

Started as an analyst then about a year went into data science. Been in DS for about 1.5 years.

I enjoy crafting and hanging with my dog Pepper in my free time :)

Data Scientist @ Vacasa

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Content Sections

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why Plan?

Lessons Learned - What to Look Out For

Compromise / Collaboration - Building Trust

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Why Plan?

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A goal without a plan is just a wish

—Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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What We Want to Avoid

Starting Out

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A Learning Experience

Starting Out

Only worked independently previously

My first big project

First time working together, not sure how to integrate

Brand new team!

Learning to communicate how model worked. Touched folks with different backgrounds.

Communication

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Decrease risk of misunderstanding

Know software requirements up front

Confirm business case being solved

Confirm required resources available

Have a backup plan!

So, Why Plan?

Starting Out

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Lessons Learned

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Time Spent as a Data Scientist

Breakdown

EDA

Data Cleaning

Modeling

Production

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Time Spent as a Data Scientist

Breakdown

Stakeholder communication

EDA

Data Cleaning

Modeling

Production

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Foundation

Business impact +

actionable results

Awareness of limitations

Model interaction +

data ingestion

Consistent communication

+

building trust

Getting on the Same Page

Data Contract

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Getting on the Same Page - Product

Data Contract

What’s the cost of over / under predicting

Acceptable Errors

Edge cases vs Big picture

Granularity

Who owns what after production?

Post-production

Stakeholders don’t always know the risks / trade offs involved with a data science model.

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Getting on the Same Page - Product

Data Contract

What are the actionable results?�Who’s the audience?

Business Impact

What’s being predicted / does everyone agree

y-value

Using consistent communication during modeling / EDA process

Building Trust

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Getting on the Same Page - Engineering

Data Contract

What can they expect�What data do they need

Inputs / Outputs

What kind of tool, model delivery

Interaction

What will they need to run your model

Software requirements

Engineering teams don’t always know how to work with a data science model and vice versa

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Getting on the Same Page - Engineering

Data Contract

Latency / runtime / size

Model limitations

Could be limited by team size / resources

Outlier / Error monitoring

Is this needed, will there be a UI?

Manual intervention

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Compromise / Collaboration

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Push and Pull

Compromise

Keep it Simple and Straightforward

KISS

What can be done now to inform long term plan?

Long term vs Short term

What are the timelines here?

Rollout and Testing

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Teaching Moments

Compromise

What can we do with data we have now

What’s Possible

What are the benefits to collecting better / more data

What Could be Possible

Maybe for now, something simple works the best

Buzzwords aren’t Always the Answer

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Cool Things Can Happen!

Collaboration

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Working with Domain Experts

Collaboration

Listen to their feedback, ideally they know the audience

Be Open

Each are experts in your own space, work with that in mind

Building Mutual Respect

Help keep bounds on project and getting too granular

Keep Big Picture

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Data Science at Vacasa

Resources

Worked on a lot of trust building as data science grows

Diverse Stakeholders

Each project has come with own challenges, trust helps with iteration

Diverse Projects

Trust has helped with product wanting to keep exploring new projects

Success with Production!

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HIRANMAYI DUVVURI | HIRANMAYI.DUVVURI@GMAIL.COM

Thank You

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Questions?