Newsletter

I’ve made a $130 contribution to BEAM. If you’re reading this, you likely have the means to make a similar contribution to an organization. I challenge you to do so. Send me an email hp@houstonp.com with a receipt of the organization you contributed to, and I’ll make some sort of contribution as well.

Not sure where to donate? Here’s 115 to choose from.

Have a great week.

Houston

“Hey all you cool cats and kittens…” It’s been a while. A lot of people have been asking about the blog. I’m still at it. Still reading. The last three months have been rough. We can probably all agree on that. My consumption of news and media during this time led to unhealthy thoughts. I took a media detox, connected more with friends and loved ones, and reset my state of mind. I love reading and paying to support quality journalism. The work journalists are doing, especially right now, is valuable, but I’m also aware that constantly reading about the state of the world is exhausting and depressing.

Below you’ll find links I’ve saved throughout this time. I’ve done my best to group them into categories that might interest you.

Have a great week.

Houston

This week features an eclectic mix of reads with something for everyone. Compassion, empathy, and communication are common themes throughout (okay, maybe not the heavy technical articles.). These are qualities we can all continue to develop. A lot in here to keep you busy.

Have a great week.

Houston

I’ll be moving to biweekly for the next couple months until exam season wraps up.

As the critics and social media shape the narrative on the mess that took place at the Iowa caucuses, it’s important to remember Hanlon’s Razor:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Have a great week.

Houston

Professor Christensen will be dearly missed. Disruption theory is a concept I think about constantly in the insurance industry. The regulatory framework shields incumbents from true disruptive innovation, but someone will overcome those hurdles and cause a big shake up. For now though, insurtech companies are complacent and heavily focused on the distribution side of insurance. It’s a sustaining innovation, and that’s being generous. There are much larger and more difficult to reach fruit to be found in the back office of insurance. That is were disruptive innovation will take place. If you haven’t read Professor Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma, you should dedicate some time to read it and contemplate how it applies to your own industry.

Have a great week.

Houston

I’ll likely be toning down the book reading over the next couple weeks as I wrap up actuarial exams, but I still got through three shorter books this week. This week I’ll be focusing on high quality content and wrapping up a couple of posts on the actuarial profession that I’ve been wrestling with. Reflect on the work that’s most important to you. Go for a walk. Clear your head. Try writing.

Have a great week.

Houston

How do we balance the benefits and drawbacks of automation and abstraction? I’ve taken a ‘more is better’ approach in the past, but a few of this week’s articles have made me reconsider. Ironies of automation and the accompanying paper discuss the costs of automation. Goodbye, Clean Code discusses the cost of overzealous refactoring (and the same could be said of rewrites). By trying to achieve a better process, we’ve traded one complexity for another. We need to have a sufficient understanding of how the pieces fit into the whole and be willing to accept the risks and costs that process improvement can bring. Something to reflect on while you go throughout your day.

Have a great week.

Houston

This has been a slow week. The holidays mean spending time with family, and year end means work isn’t as balanced as usual. Nevertheless I did end up getting through one book and some quality podcasts and articles. Take some time to sign up for the Harvard Data Science Review. It’s free, and the articles are quality.

Have a great week.

Houston

Updates

Are there any topics or concepts you’d like me to write more about? Send any suggestions to hp@houstonp.com.

Are you finding value in this blog? Be sure to share it with others who might as well.

Thanks everyone who sent me links and recommendations this week. If you stumble across something interesting, send it my way! You can send any recommendations to links@houstonp.com.

Updates

Be sure to check out my other article on actuarial efficiency from this week where I walk through rewriting the Academy’s Interest Rate Generator in Julia to squeeze out three orders of magnitude in performance increases.

Are you finding value in this blog? Be sure to share it with others who might as well.

Thanks everyone who sent me links and recommendations this week. If you stumble across something interesting, send it my way! You can send any recommendations to links@houstonp.com.