Daily Productive Sharing 1208 - Eugene Yan On His Writing Process

Dr Selfie -

One helpful tip per day:)

Eugene Yan is a highly prolific online writer who shared why he writes:

  1. The best data scientists stand out not just for their technical skills, but because they listen carefully, distill business and product challenges, identify where machine learning can help, and translate those into clear data science needs and designs.
  2. Writing helps him solidify what he learns, clarify his thinking, make friends online, and accelerate his career—so he keeps writing publicly.
  3. His writing journey began as a way to learn, especially when he found online resources lacking while researching a topic.
  4. Through the writing process, he’s pushed to fill in knowledge gaps and sharpen his understanding.
  5. All his writing—including social media posts—acts as a “beacon.” It’s his way of saying: “Hey, here’s what I’m thinking and working on! If you’re exploring similar ideas or facing similar challenges, feel free to reach out.”
  6. He primarily writes for himself. Writing reinforces what he learns and helps him organize his thoughts.
  7. He treats an article’s popularity as a sign of its usefulness and continues producing similar content, especially research-heavy pieces.
  8. His workflow starts in Obsidian, where he outlines in bullet points. At the top, he defines the article’s core message, its value, and who it’s for.
  9. He drafts section headings and gradually fills in notes and insights while reading or reflecting.
  10. Once the outline feels complete, he converts the bullets into a full narrative.
  11. He visualizes professional skills as a ladder—wherever you stand, there’s someone above and someone below.
  12. If he were starting again, he’d advise his past self to focus on quantity over quality while building the habit.
  13. When writing deep-dive articles, he spends one to two hours each evening reading papers and technical materials and taking notes.
  14. On weekends, he may spend up to eight hours a day researching and writing.

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Eugene Yan 是一位非常高产的网络写作者，他分享了自己为何写作：

  1. 最优秀的数据科学家之所以脱颖而出，是因为他们能认真倾听，提炼业务与产品面临的挑战，识别机器学习可以发挥作用的地方，并将其转化为数据科学的需求和设计。
  2. 写作帮助我巩固所学、理清思路、在网络上结识朋友，也加快了我的职业成长。因此我坚持在网上持续写作。
  3. 写作帮助他巩固所学、理清思路、在网络上结识朋友，也加快了他的职业成长。因此他坚持在网上持续写作。
  4. 首先，他写作是为了学习。通常是在他研究某个主题时，发现网上资源不足的情况下。
  5. 在写作过程中，他被迫去填补知识空白，并澄清自己的思路。
  6. 最后，他所有的写作（包括社交媒体帖子）都是他的“信号灯”。这是他在说：“嘿，这是我正在思考和做的事情！如果你也在探索类似的想法或面对类似的挑战，欢迎联系我。”
  7. 他主要是为自己写作。写作帮助他强化学习成果并理清思路。
  8. 他会将文章受欢迎程度视为实用性的指标，因此会持续创作类似内容，比如调研类文章。
  9. 他通常会在 Obsidian 中以项目符号方式列出大纲。在顶部写下这篇文章的核心内容、价值所在及其目标读者是谁。
  10. 接着，他会草拟各个部分的标题，并在阅读文献或灵感闪现时逐步添加要点。
  11. 一旦大纲完整，他就会将项目符号转化为连贯的文章。
  12. 他把专业技能想象成一架梯子——无论你处在哪一级，总有人在你上方，也有人在你下方。
  13. 如果他刚开始写作，他建议自己在养成习惯阶段，先注重数量而非质量。
  14. 当他在写一篇深入的文章时，会每天晚上花一两个小时阅读研究论文和技术材料并做笔记。
  15. 周末时，他一天最多会花八小时做研究和写作。

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