📈 OR is like going to they gym, The Decision Intelligence Lab, How to choose exact vs heuristics
Local Optimum: short, imperfect-yet-useful ideas - Edition #8
Welcome to a new edition of Local Optimum: a short, imperfect-yet-useful collection of ideas related to optimization, decision-making, and applied Operations Research.
Let’s dive in! 🪂
1) 🦾 OR is like going to the gym
It's incredibly hard to build muscle, requiring consistent effort, discipline, and time. But stop exercising for just a few weeks, and you'll quickly lose your progress.
Similarly, building an efficient, optimized system in OR takes careful planning, consistency, and sustained effort. Yet neglecting regular maintenance -checking business KPIs, keep users engaged, solve bugs as they happen- can rapidly deteriorate system performance, forcing you into costly emergency interventions.
This is why, just like muscles, optimization demands consistency, not just one-time heroic efforts.
2) 🔊 The Decision Intelligence Lab
Just a couple of days ago, Prof. Vijay Mehrotra shared he’s launching a podcast together with Prof.
.And I’m excited about it as this is the type of content about OR we need.
Each episode features leaders sharing how smarter decisions are reshaping business and technology.
They already featured Irv Lustig, Doug Gray, and Laura Albert!
3) ⚖️ How to choose exact vs heuristics
When solving an optimization problem, you need to choose how you’re going to solve it.
One way is assessing the necessity of proofs for optimality.
But in any case there are more actors involved, like the business and even the software development process.
How do you balance everything in the equation so that you give the most value to the business as quickly as possible?
You can read the full article here:
🚦 Why breaking tests make me happy
Next Monday, I’ll share the why behind Test-Driven Development in Operations Research.
Or what I call Test-Driven Modeling.
I’ll cover:
🔍 Why tests are so important in OR
🧰 The types of tests you can run
🚀 How to leverage TDD on your next project
If you build, maintain, or just love optimization models, this one’s for you. See you Monday! 🙌
And that’s it for today!
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Have a nice day ahead ☀️
Borja.
