Eugene Kovnatsky

A successful systems design and delivery strategy begins by assuming that change is likely the only constant. Be adaptable, or fail.

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"A quarter-century into its existence, a company that once proudly served as an entry point to a web that it nourished with traffic and advertising revenue has begun to abstract that all away into an input for its large language models." This has the potential to be a disaster for the web and everyone who depends on it: for journalism, for bloggers, for communities, for every voice that couldn't be heard without an open, egalitarian platform. The answer for all of those stakeholders has to be depending on forging real, direct relationships with real people. It doesn't scale; it doesn't fit well with a unidirectional broadcast model for publishing; it's now how most people who make content think about what they do. But it's how all of them are going to survive and continue to find each other. I've been urging publishers to stop using the word "audience" and to replace it with "community", and to think about what verb might replace "publish" in a multi-directional web that is more about relationships than it is reaching mass eyeballs. Of course, it might go in a direction we haven't predicted. We'll find out very soon; the only real certainty is that things are changing, and the bedrock that many people have depended on for two decades is shifting.

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At the core of effective engineering leadership is the ability to stay connected with your team. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect because retaining the respect of your people is difficult unless you remain technically involved yourself. In my journey as an engineering leader, staying true to the individual contributor role that originally earned their respect has kept me close. This approach extends beyond technical expertise; it's about maintaining a deep connection with the core activities that propel product development forward at Gearflow. One of my biggest professional fears is becoming irrelevant or disconnected from my team and our work. This fear motivates me to continually reinvent and retool in response to market demands. Next month, I'll be sharing about my adventures generating synthetic data recently. And while I'm no expert when I start preparing for these talks, the process is incredibly valuable. It's less about delivering a perfect talk and more about how the preparation expands my thinking and exposes me to new capabilities. This helps me connect the dots to opportunities at Gearflow that bring real innovation to our customers. Speaking regularly holds me accountable and pushes me to learn ahead of the curve, ensuring I remain relevant and impactful day-to-day. Every talk is a journey of discovery, helping me to lead with humility, communicate clearly, and inspire a culture of innovation through a deep, technical understanding of our work.

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For the last several months... lord, it's been almost a year, I've been working on a task force with the IAB Tech Lab to evaluate elements of the Google Chrome Privacy Sandbox, which is a set of tools designed to help marketers reach their audience after 3rd party cookies are deprecated. It has been a slog. Over the course of time the document grew from 30 pages to now, I think, over 100 pages. It covers over 40 important use cases for advertisers, publishers and ad-tech vendors in-between. The question to answer: How well do the Sandbox tools support the use cases? My key takeaways: - Nothing is as useful or easy as the simple cookie - Implementation of Sandbox features is a heavy lift for most ad-tech companies - Publisher revenue will fall when cookies go away as these replacements are not as effective That being said, we're still marching toward a more privacy focused future in the online advertising ecosystem. Whether or not the Sandbox proves to be very useful, cookies will either go away, or regulation will step in and leverage the law to enforce privacy compliance. Change is coming.

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On April 18th, just last week, Meta unveiled Llama 3, lauded as "the most capable openly available LLM to date". This remarkable achievement by the Meta team comes hot on the heels of Llama 2's release last July. Notably, the new models surpass their predecessors and competing offerings from other providers in terms of performance. Meta's commitment to open sourcing these powerful models while prioritizing model safety and responsible usage is commendable. (https://lnkd.in/ghv3RJRz) Yesterday, Microsoft introduced Phi-3 Mini, a member of the Phi-3 family of models, promoted as "the most capable and cost-effective small language models available". According to Microsoft, the key to achieve high performance in such a small package lies in the quality of the training data. The model has been open sourced and is now available on Ollama and Hugging Face. (https://lnkd.in/gKgSmrBn)   These compact yet powerful models serve as invaluable tools for creators eager to bring their visions to life or simply experiment with cutting-edge technology, particularly for those with limited access to resources.   Shortly after the release of Llama 3, reports began surfacing of enthusiasts running the 8B model on a Raspberry Pi 5 equipped with just 8GB of RAM—a modest $80 single-board computer. (https://lnkd.in/gbeQPhQ2) While the performance understandably reflects the limitations of such a platform, the fact that the model runs and generates an output is nothing short of magical. Similarly, the Phi-3 Mini model can run on ubiquitous devices such as smartphones.   Reflecting on my own journey, I recall the pivotal role that early access to a low-cost computer played in shaping my passion for coding. The gift of an 8-bit Commodore 64 home computer ignited my curiosity at a young age. Later, with the guidance of an outstanding Computer Science teaching staff at my high school IISS Marconi-Hack Bari, I embarked on ambitious projects like a networked multiplayer version of Battleship written in Turbo Pascal and 8086 Assembly, complete with custom sprites and lo-res graphics. These formative experiences paved the way for my career, eventually leading me to various engineering and leadership roles.   It all began with a simple, low-cost, modestly capable computer used for experimentation—a gateway to discovering my life's passion.   I encourage educators and parents alike to consider setting up similar low-cost experimentation environments. By introducing younger generations to open-source AI technologies, we can nurture their creativity and help them uncover their true passions. It's not just a weekend project—it's an investment in their future and the future of innovation and discovery. #education #youth #AI #LLM #future #innovation

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"Last year, more than 50% of all global venture funding for AI-related startups went to companies headquartered in the Bay Area, Crunchbase data shows, as a cluster of talent congregates in the region." In other news, water is wet. There was a moment during the pandemic when it looked like everyone was going to work remotely and there was an opportunity for startups to be founded anywhere. I think that time has gone: the San Francisco Bay Area is once again the place to found any kind of technology startup. Yes, there are always exceptions, but the confluence of community density, living conditions, universities, and mindset make for a perfect storm. NYC and London - and maybe Boston / Cambridge - are pretty good too, for what it's worth, but the sheer volume of startup activity in the area gives San Francisco the edge. This is something I fought earlier in my career: my first startup was proudly founded in Scotland and largely run from England. I wish we'd just moved to San Francisco. This isn't to completely sing the praises of the city: the cost of living is now astronomical, and there's a contingent of right-wing activists that seem to want to paint it as some doom spiraling hellhole, as if its progressive past isn't something to be proud of. But there is still beauty, there is still that can-do sense of adventure, and if I was founding something new, that's probably where I'd be.

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"To help preserve a safe Internet for content creators, we’ve just launched a brand new “easy button” to block all AI bots. It’s available for all customers, including those on our free tier." This is really neat! Whatever you land on AI scraping, giving site owners the one-click ability to make a choice is great. Some will choose not to use this; others will hit the button. Making it this easy means it's a choice about the principles, not any kind of technical considerations. Which is what it should be. Not every site is on Cloudflare (and some also choose not to use it because of how it's historically dealt with white supremacist / Nazi content). But many are, and this makes it easy for them. Other, similar providers will likely follow quickly.

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Envy is a dangerous emotion. In many ways, worse than greed or malice. Rebecca Konynoyk Deyoung, in her book - ‘Glittering Vices’, puts it best when she describes it as, “Feeling bitter when others have it better.” Not to be confused with its twin, Jealousy, who feels ill will when it has to compete for what it already possesses fearing its loss. Jealousy vies to be the sole possessor of what it owns. Envy on the other hand is not rooted in what it possesses but rather what it doesn't. It desires what belongs to another. One grave danger of Envy, is that it fears not to suffer loss as long as its object doesn't gain. Willing to endure harm if it means the other suffers also. A poem by Victor Hugo (’Envy and Avarice’) illustrates this, such that when Envy and Avarice were given the opportunity to receive whatever they wished on the condition that the other receive double. Envy responded, “I wish to be blind in one eye” (paraphrase). When we forget to run our own race in our own lane, we make it our steady companion. Seeking satisfaction in another losing what they possess even if it means we also don't possess it. One remedy I've found is to turn that gaze towards the one we envy from ill to curiosity. Curiosity on what we can learn from this person. Curiosity on what we can do differently to also improve. Indeed it might be chance or skill that benefits them. Ultimately, we need to walk away from the comparison game. It is one you and I will never win. When we cease to compare, we do away with Envy’s vice grip. One good thing that dwelling on our Envy does is that it shines a light on what defines our identity. You want what the one you envy has because somehow it is important to your sense of self. To really rid ourselves of Envy, then, we must then examine what defines us and make sure the foundation is sure.

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In the early days of the internet, the W3C and few other organizations helped build the first Internet Standards so that the Web could foster it's own innovation & growth. Fast forward 30 years, I cannot believe we needed a law to get browsers and websites to agree on protecting your privacy by default... The internet should really be decentralized, and customer centrist by design. How did we ended up here?

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"Your main job is to make your product win." I think this should apply to any product that your company makes. I also like what he says following this statement about what is NOT your main job. I will summarize here: "Your main job is not to make your manager happy, it is not to make execs happy." Also, note, this main job doesn't only apply to PMs, but also to senior Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and Designers. #makeyourproductwin #leadership

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As the number of voices opining about AI grows, knowing which are worth listening to is important. Here are 12 AI influencers you should know right now.

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This is the age when nobody knows what the next product will look like—even Google and Apple. ===================== Google refines AI Overviews feature to address bizarre and inaccurate responses. Flawed training data and algorithmic errors led to 'AI hallucinations.' Google acknowledges the challenges and commits to improving accuracy and reliability. Restrictions imposed on AI Overviews to limit misinformation and harmful content. Concerns raised about user safety, bias, and transparency. Users have the option to disable the feature and prioritize traditional web search. Gemini AI integration in Gmail needs accuracy improvements for user trust. Google's AI language model, Gemini, generated inaccurate and unhelpful search results, including false claims about Nintendo characters. Google vows to ensure accuracy in the future. #AI #Google #Accuracy #Transparency #UserSafety #Gemini  https://lnkd.in/geazMBJR

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This new piece out of VS firm NFX predicts: "Labor plus software will eventually become one market." In other words . . . Get used to AI colleagues. A lot of them. And software businesses - get used to having to compete with both labor markets and automated software on your product roadmap, professional service offerings, and more. How is your business readying itself for this new era? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #MachineLearning #SaaS #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork

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An executive criticized my management work by claiming I was "too nice" to my team and unwilling to make hard calls and reprimand employees. I acknowledged I wasn't sure, but declined to change my practice. It took years to realize the disconnect: I was aiming for a wildly more challenging standard that I didn't have the words to explain. I do now. Psychological safety is the most powerful productivity multiplier. Without it, no one can take ownership of their piece of the company and make it better. You won't get the honest feedback you need to succeed. You easily get trapped in feedback loops of management panic & overreaction reducing safety, which creates worse outcomes, which creates more panic. On a scale of 1-10 (where 10 is perfect psychological safety), this is what I see: - Most companies are at 1 across the board. - "Top Workplaces" are in the 3-4 range. - I'm aiming for an 8 on my teams, maybe achieving 5 or 6 on my best days. If you're working for a company with a '2' for psychological safety and you see someone run their team with a goal of '8', I understand the criticism. The bar is at your feet and you see someone trying to pole vault over it, which looks like a waste of energy and a misalignment of goals. From the ground, it looks stupid and counterproductive. Practice pole vaulting for a while. It's incredibly challenging, but you'll see stuff you can't from the ground. Your internal standards will grow. Eventually, you'll ignore the bar too. #psychologicalsafety #management #leadership #productivity

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This news on OpenAI partnering with Stackoveflow is timely based on a discussion I had with R. Muzaffer Musal this weekend. Having a basis in licensed content to train models is a good way forward. Moreover, at this point we still need people to continue to provide the next knowledge set for emerging areas for the copilots we use. These types of partnerships that value the act of data and information creation hopefully enable us to experiment with and explore new economic models for businesses and also provide a means for governments to learn as well. https://lnkd.in/gVCurxtQ

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Have you experimented with AI and #cloudtech integration? Is it a match made in heaven or rife with unforeseen hurdles? We'd love to hear your story!

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