Blog Zero
So this past week I progressed towards my goal of “reading more” in 2020… this is not really a SMART goal as it is not super quantifiable, nevertheless I added two more novels to my “read” pile and started a new fun book and business book. The business book is:
“Data Science for Business” – Foster Provost & Tom Fawcett
The book was actually recommended a few years back, but I never got around to reading it. However in the first few pages, it got me really thinking about two things. Much of it around data and how we can use it.
Number 1 applies to my current job as Technical Sales Engineer – is there a better way to use the data we have from job proposals and pricing, as well as job loading to guide price vs gut feeling and intuition. In the stock & commodity market, price is reflected by supply demand – more supply = lower price, more demand = higher price…
Now ideally this should work in company as well – as demand goes up and outpaces supply – price naturally rises, but if you have individual business units that do not talk on a day to day basis… this may be missed initially.
But with all this data we are collecting, does it have to?
I think this should be seen in the data, and can be teased out as another indicator… I liken it to losing weight (or gaining) on a day to day scale, the absolute change in weight may be minimal… but after consecutive minimal changes, the sum of weight loss (or gain) can be consequential. Sometimes an external indicator helps realize this. I will be looking into this and the feasibility in the data we are already collecting!
Number 2 is about COVID and the current state of affairs – can we all take small steps to add to the understanding of COVID and better track the disease?
To me the answer is yes, and I am sure it is being studied. But in such a big and individualistic country where it is seen as imposing on freedoms, it may never take off… but I will share my thoughts anyways so please bear with me.
We know that increase temperature is often an early sign of COVID-19 – and is the least subjective symptom.. and while a fever can be caused by many things – it is pretty telling of an underlying issue that needs attention/could be spread (COVID, Flu, or otherwise)… a cough on the other hand can be from many things – some chronic, some from smoke inhalation, dust, virus, bacterial infection, allergies etc… oh and COVID. So needless to say many symptoms can, and are dismissed, as they are present in other diseases and conditions.
But temperature is pretty synonymous with something being wrong. So what if we all were in the habit of getting a daily temperature reading. Before we go to work, go to school, when we wake up, ask “What is my temperature?” If the reading is 1-2 degrees above normal, wouldn’t that be a great and quantifiable way to say you probably should not be in public? Because lets face it, as much as we want to believe everyone does what’s best for the whole… when it comes time to miss the event, miss a vacation, call in sick, miss work for a sick kid… fevers get ignored and stifled with Tylenol!
Now I know that we all have natural fluctuations in body temperature, and this change is often use for other things like fertility planning and stress levels… so if the data set is big enough, could this also be used as a baseline for health?
Id argue that its not that we do not want our freedoms imposed upon… but rather do not want to deal with the inconveniences of having to isolate/quarantine etc.
If we truly have a grasp on our health with quantifiable data, could we better contain this virus?
If temperature is a objective & quantifiable measurement … thermometers are cheap… and fever manifests is a large % of COVID cases… why are we not taking daily data points? Even if it is just for ourselves, families, and local communities. If we can quickly see that our temperature is out of whack, we could seek treatment, look for help, or isolate to prevent the spread… is this a fail safe method? No of course not, but the alternative is looking back to do contract tracing after a diagnosis has been made. Where a matter of days can make a huge difference… I would say it is a pretty simple easy and cheap test we all could do.
I plan to look a bit more into COVID data set -mainly because its a big set of data, and there are a lot sources. I plan to keep checking my temperature (along with some other daily metrics i like to track) and go from there!