Work-Life Balance

One of the things I like in the high-tech is that there are no strict start and end hours in the work day. I usually prefer working in the early morning hours so that I can be available for family time in the late after-noon. Although the convention is long days, generally there is the flexibility to combine very-long-days & short-days. I use this option in case there are special needs at work or at home. To handle urgent matters at work, I may dedicate evenings or nights working from home. I've noticed that this is probably a typical parent's timing profile. Those without children at home usually prefer to start late and to stay at work until the evening (or until night in urgent cases), not taking work with them to their home.

Once in a while I start late or finish earlier than usual in order to join one of my kids in kindergarten or at school. I sit with all the other children around the table and draw with them or tell them a story. This is really fun for me, and my kids LOVE it. All the other children and the teacher also enjoy the unexpected change in their routine. In those moments I'm the coolest mother.

Me as 'Rabbi Kalman' from the Hanna Zelda story for Hanukkah last week.

Happy holidays!

Eyes of Watson

I have been really busy. For the last months, I was drawn into a great project at work that will potentially change the world. It will change the way computers "see". It will change the way we will get medical treatment.

Last week we made history by achieving our first big milestone - presenting Eyes of Watson at the RSNA conference.

In short, this system is a long term project to build the next generation cognitive assistant with advanced analytics and reasoning capabilities for clinical diagnostics.

Below we can see some snippets with explanations:

A case contains a clinical description of a patient, the patient's mammogram images, and a textual question for the system to answer.

The clinical description is analyzed.

The images are analyzed.

The inference on the analyses, based on reasoning algorithms.

The system's findings to answer the question.

You can find more details in the press:

http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_group.php?id=4384

http://www.businessinsider.com/watson-radiology-diagnosis-demonstration-2016-11

https://twitter.com/hashtag/eyesofwatson

Milestones

A milestone is something that you can achieve, that you can describe and you can quantify. It's like an anchor,  like a point that you can say you got to.
I got this simple explanation from the CTO (Chief Technology Officer - the most important technical person in the company). He then asked me (I was the project manager), to set milestones and supply a timetable.
I was a rookie in the industry straight out of the university. I had the privilege of managing a project because I was part of a startup. At startups there are a lot of opportunities because startups must manage with what they have.

Anyway, milestones are applicable in various domains that have long continuous processes. Milestones help us track progress. For example when a baby grows and develops, in order to quantify his development we have milestones such as "the first time the baby turns over" or "the first steps".
At these points we can say "oh.. he's developing!" and we note them.

Professional development has its own milestones. Some of them are obvious like finishing the first year at university, getting the bachelors degree, masters, PhD, the first day at work, etc. Some milestones are hidden, like the first time selling a big idea to a colleague/manager or the first time looking for a new job in stealth.

Several weeks ago I celebrated some of my own milestones.
I had my first business trip where I presented (in front of an international audience) a paper of which I was the main author. I conducted conversations with other researchers, fluently, with confidence as an expert in my field.
That was a really exciting experience.

(below - me presenting, the place and the audience)

The difference between men and women

The previous post raised several interesting comments and I wanted to share two links :

Google Expects Different Answers From Men and Women on a Question Used to Predict Job Success

•  Men tend to overestimate their capabilities and to be less self-aware, as compared to women. In an interview, a man is preferred if he shows that he has something to learn. The hypothesis is that a man's success and his tendency to be more self-aware are positively correlated.

• For Women however, the hypothesis is that there is much societal pressure to be self-effacing and humble and to hang back, be modest and wait until they are certain rather than raise their hand at the first opportunity like men tend to do. Therefore if a woman says she’s great, first of all she’s probably going to have a higher EQ and better social perceptiveness. And second — she’s gonna be amazing! And, indeed, that’s what google see.

Sheryl Sandberg - Why we have too few women leaders , Sheryl advises women:

• Sit at the table - Do not underestimate yourself, negotiate, understand and believe in your own success, and believe that you deserve it!  (And literally, don't sit in the corner of the room.)

• Make your partner a real partner - Call for equal responsibility at home.

• Don't leave before you leave - If you are thinking of having a child - do not lean back yet. Once you start to lean back, your job becomes less challenging and you are going to be bored and will have less of an urge to return after your leave. Don't make decisions too early.

What is your secret?

...
"Do you have any more questions?" she asked.
"Yes", I answered, "but it's not exactly related to the position you have just described to me."
I was a bit embarrassed to ask but the question bothered me for a long time.
"I saw you on the internal-TV when I just joined the company two years ago. At the time you were a senior manager and you received an honorable title." I remembered it because it was so inspiring to me -- seeing that there are young powerful woman around me. "And since then you have already become a Director! ... How did you do it? What is your secret?"
She wasn't expecting that kind of question... I saw it on her face, but she gave me her response. A sincere, finely put answer that I greatly admired.

"Sometimes it is just a matter of good luck, being in the right place at the right time," she started humbly.
I wasn't satisfied.
She continued with stories from her career. One was about the time she was working simultaneously on two different projects, One project was highly valued and the other had low priority. She worked at nights on the low-priority-project because she was so passionate about it. Her manager wondered why she spends her nights working on the not-so-important-project. It turns out that this little project became big and meaningful and she became the most fit manager for the group. She took that challenge.
She summarized her success:
1. "I always follow my heart and invest time in what I am passionate about."
2. "When there is an opportunity, I always take it (if it doesn't reveal too many weaknesses)."

I'm grateful I had the chance to meet with her that day. The meeting opened my mind and gave me courage and inspiration.
Now I am part of the department she is leading.