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Roger L. Cauvin

@rcauvin.bsky.social
671 followers 947 following 327 posts

♟️ #prodmgmt | Positioning | Strategy 👨‍🔬 Consumer Science | ML | AI 🏢 Downtown Austin dweller 🏘️ Advocate for inclusive neighborhoods

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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Remarkable how simple it is to install and use a local LLM on your computer and invoke shell commands using a chat interface. Prompt: "Am I connected to the Internet? What's my IP address?" The agent invokes local shell commands to answer the prompt. towardsdatascience.com/cli-agents-w...
towardsdatascience.com
How to Build CLI Agents with Python & Ollama | Towards Data Science
Create a local CLI Agent from scratch completely for free
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Yes, and the Terner Center study focused on a voluntary IZ program, i.e. a density bonus program. The notion that density bonus programs don't constrain housing production (relative to granting the bonus entitlements by right) is a fanciful myth.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1940, "goal displacement" describes when an organization's means (maintaining structure, securing funding, self-preservation) become its ends, overshadowing or displacing its original vision or purpose.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
As part of "calibration", city officials set baseline entitlements to maintain the incentive to participate. Witness the recent downzoning of Austin's central business district (CBD). City officials expressly cited density bonus program participation as a reason for imposing the base height limit.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
As @ebwhamilton.bsky.social has written, "optional programs rely on exclusionary zoning to work." If base entitlements aren't set below market demand, there is no incentive to participate in density bonus programs.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
No. It is from a study of LA's Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) density bonus program. "TOC is an incentive-based, voluntary program..." drive.google.com/file/d/1upYa...
drive.google.com
Modeling Inclusionary Zoning's Impact on Housing Production in Los Angeles - Shane Phillips.pdf
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
They constrain housing production relative to granting the bonus entitlements by right. They set base entitlements to a level lower than the market demands and "tax" the bonus entitlements.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Austin city council when confronted with studies showing density bonus programs constrain housing production. #atxcouncil
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
“I find the typical inclusionary zoning ordinance reduces annual new residential construction by nearly a third (31.8%).” drive.google.com/file/d/1tUuL...
drive.google.com
Inclusionary Zoning and Housing Supply Evidence from California's Palmer Fix - Noah Kouchekinia.pdf
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
We seem to be experiencing a Google Fiber outage in downtown Austin.
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association @downtownaustin.org · 17/05/2026
DANA recently provided feedback on the city's proposed updates to the Downtown Density Bonus Program (DDBP). We urge city officials to consider our recommendations, and we reiterate our call for restructuring the program to address its fundamental flaws. www.downtownaustin.org/dana-letter-...
downtownaustin.org
DANA Letter – C20-2024-018 DDBP Updates (2026-05-14)
May 14, 2026 Honorable City Council, Commissioners, and Staff: The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) recommends several improvements to the C20-2024-018 phase 1 Downtown Density Bonus…
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
"When a team says a problem is urgent, ask what work customers are abandoning today because of it. Real urgency shows up in behavior, not adjectives." - @trikro.bsky.social #prodmgmt
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Which kind of advocate do you wish to be? The person who, in the segregation era, advocated for incremental tweaks while staying silent on full integration? Or the person who also said, out loud, that you were for total dismantling of segregation, everywhere and for everyone?
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
A simple framework for advocacy: 1. Say what you ideally believe and want. 2. Suggest improvements over the status quo given current political realities. 3. Define the conditions under which what you ideally believe and want would be politically realistic. 4. Make those conditions a reality.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
I signed up against item 39 on the agenda for the upcoming #atxcouncil meeting. Soft parking caps applied selectively near transit might result in greater sprawl development and work against the very goals (transit-supportive density) they are intended to achieve.
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association @downtownaustin.org · 16/02/2026
Join us at our 2026 Annual Meeting at the Hanover Brazos rooftop on Sun, 3/1 from 6-7:30p! Enjoy BBQ and sunset views while discussing the future of downtown with special guest @zoforaustin.bsky.social and local advocates. Free for members/their guests & $10 for others. RSVP: luma.com/pxra3qio
luma.com
DANA 2026 Annual Meeting · Luma
Elevate Your Perspective at DANA's 2026 Annual Meeting On Sunday, March 1st, the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) invites you to a bird's-eye…
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Successful startups often don't play in the same field as the competition. They reframe the landscape as something different. open.substack.com/pub/patternb... by @m2jr.bsky.social #prodmgmt #startups
open.substack.com
The Reframe is the Startup
Startups are supposed to be about building. But the ones that break through don't just build. They shift how we see.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Beyond surveys and role-based personas: A single true story about a real user's or prospect's experience is arguably worth more than a dozen survey responses. articles.centercentre.com/its-time-we-... by @jmspool.bsky.social
articles.centercentre.com
It’s Time We Seriously Talk About Users and Experiences - UX Articles by Center Centre
For some reason, UX people never speak about users or experiences. And that hurts our work. “But I talk about my users all the time.” Sure, we often say things like “Our users deserve the best user ex...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
clearsky.app/saeedwkhan/b...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Data scientists and engineers sometimes just want to view Jupyter notebooks without editing or executing them. Check out this simple but handy ipynb viewer by Jakub Jirutka. ipynb.js.org #AI #ML
ipynb.js.org
.ipynb viewer
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Reminds me of why spreadsheets are often better solutions than specialized apps. medium.com/design-bootc... by Joe McLean #prodmgmt
medium.com
Overfitting and the problem with use cases
As a Miro PM with lots of collaborators, I sit in a lot of early-stage product and design reviews (including my own). I hear a question…
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
The root cause of the lack of housing supply and affordability is exclusionary zoning. Corporate ownership of homes is a side show. open.substack.com/pub/cityofye...
open.substack.com
Who Really Owns America?
And Does It Matter?
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
"[T]he teams that thrive are the ones who use disruption as an opportunity to build the solutions they’ve been thinking about anyway." www.mindtheproduct.com/our-biggest-... by Asher Atlas #prodmgmt
mindtheproduct.com
Our biggest crisis was a product strategy blessing in disguise
How a staffing crisis paved the path to a better business model
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
"Validation" continues to lead #prodmgmt astray. Good piece from Todd Gagne despite his use of the term. open.substack.com/pub/wildfire...
open.substack.com
Why Pain Points Fail: The "Cannot Not Use" Framework for Startup Validation
From "Interesting" to "Essential": Transforming Your Product Into a Necessity
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
"If cities deregulate off-street parking and charge the right price for curb parking, market forces will improve transportation, land use, the environment, and urban life." - Donald Shoup, quoting himself in reply to an accusation that he favored parking maximums.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
"Despite their ambivalence on whether to require or restrict parking, planners always regulate it. This behavior recalls a Soviet maxim: 'What is not required must be prohibited.'" - Donald Shoup
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Strategy is a set of hypotheses. Build adaptive strategy into your process. kromatic.com/blog/adaptiv... by @trikro.bsky.social and Susie Braam #prodmgmt
kromatic.com
Adaptive Strategy – Kromatic Blog
Even the best-laid plans need to adapt and evolve to developing circumstances, by building agility into how we conceive and implement adaptive strategy in the first place.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Seems like contradictory advice. #prodmgmt
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
"The solution is simple: breathe life into the vision. Take it off the slides and embed it into everyday product work." www.mindtheproduct.com/vision-isnt-... by @martarolak.bsky.social #prodmgmt
mindtheproduct.com
Vision isn't a statement. It's a guide.
Discover why a great product vision means nothing if it stays on a slide. This article unpacks how Microsoft Teams lost sight of its vision—and how your product team can avoid the same trap by turning...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
In many AI scenarios, traditional and deep learning are still the best methods for the job. towardsdatascience.com/the-three-ag...
towardsdatascience.com
The Three Ages of Data Science: When to Use Traditional Machine Learning, Deep Learning, or an LLM (Explained with One Example) | Towards Data Science
A practical use case to describe how the data scientist job changed across three generations of machine learning
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Business goals are inward focused, and defining them has limited value. The real magic is in defining and measuring customer outcomes, and then showing how improving customer outcomes will lead to better business outcomes. articles.centercentre.com/why-ux-outco...
articles.centercentre.com
Why UX Outcomes Make Better Goals Than Business Outcomes - UX Articles by Center Centre
Increase subscription retention by 15% this quarter. Increase new policy subscriptions by 20% this year. These are common business outcomes, results the organization’s leadership wants to attain to ke...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
When someone asks for a report, don't ask, "What do you want in the report?" Instead, ask what decisions it will help them make. "Nobody wakes up in the morning and says today's going to be a great day, I'm going to produce 15 reports." - @jmspool.bsky.social
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Today's #AI and #ML models rely on memorization and "local generalization". Massive scaling has led to smarter models. But getting models to adapt to novel situations, where there is little or no data, will require more than just memorizing more data. deeplearningwithpython.io/chapters/cha...
deeplearningwithpython.io
Deep Learning with Python, Third Edition
Deep Learning with Python is written for anyone who wishes to explore deep learning from scratch. This new edition adds comprehensive coverage of generative AI and modern deep learning frameworks. It ...
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association @downtownaustin.org · 03/10/2025
To honorable City Council, Commissioners, & Staff: DANA opposes height limits and other exclusionary zoning downtown, and we specifically oppose the base height limit proposed in the C20-2025-010 Central Business District (CBD) amendments. 🧵
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Sometimes we need to fundamentally rethink the existing journey instead of selectively fixing points of frustration within it. Either way, breaking down the larger aspirational vision into visionettes makes a lot of sense.
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Jared Spool @jmspool.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
The task of coming up with a long-term vision can feel daunting. However, if you break it into bite-sized pieces or visionettes, it makes it doable. Here’s how you do it: articles.centercentre.com/building-…
articles.centercentre.com
Building an Experience Vision From a Journey Map - UX Articles by Center Centre
The task of coming up with a long-term vision of your design can be a daunting one. It’s a lot of responsibility to imagine what an ideal experience can be, then render a possible design to achieve that experience. However, there’s a way to...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Me: "I start walking north at constant forward pace of 2 mph. I continue walking at the same pace, but each minute, I turn 1 degree clockwise. After 360 minutes, where do I end up relative to my starting point?" Gemini: "After 360 minutes, you will end up at your starting point."
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
Wilson scoring is a simple way to score the popularity of items (such as comments on a Reddit post) based on up-votes and down-votes. As far back as 2009, Evan Miller pointed out the flaws in other methods (e.g. average rating). www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-s... H/T @kennyd.bsky.social
evanmiller.org
How Not To Sort By Average Rating
Users are rating items on your website. How do you know what the highest-rated items are?
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association @downtownaustin.org · 07/09/2025
Join in for September's volunteer Shoal Creek clean-up session! WHEN: Saturday, Sep 13 (8:45-9a) WHERE: outside The Independent (301 West Ave) The monthly collaboration continues with APD, DAA, & the Downtown Austin Community Court. www.downtownaustin.org/september-20...
downtownaustin.org
September Shoal Creek Clean-Up
WHAT: September Shoal Creek Clean-Up WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 13, 8:45 am WHERE: The Independent @ 301 West Ave. Volunteers will meet Saturday, September 13, 2025 outside The Independen…
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
"But strategy suffocates when everything gets reduced to a list. Lists coordinate. Loops adapt. You need both." - @paulisthrivving.xyz medium.com/thrivve-part... #prodmgmt
medium.com
Loop vs List: Why Most Strategies Die in Delivery
Why most strategies suffocate in delivery, and how to keep them alive
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Words-based methods can sometimes find relevance where semantic-based retrieval and modeling fails. I've developed ensemble models to address these limitations. www.alphaxiv.org/pdf/2508.21038 #ML #MLSky #AI
alphaxiv.org
On the Theoretical Limitations of Embedding-Based Retrieval | alphaXiv
View recent discussion. Abstract: Vector embeddings have been tasked with an ever-increasing set of retrieval tasks over the years, with a nascent rise in using them for reasoning, instruction-followi...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Concerns about "timing" are also frustrating. I remember a time when, in a meeting, everyone supported a position, but a few people said it was "too early" to publicly express our support. Then, at the next meeting, the same people said it was "too late" to express our support.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
One of the most frustrating situations in civic advocacy is when potential allies think the cause has merit but is not "politically viable". Yet the reason it's not viable is that they, themselves, haven't publicly voiced their support.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Also, strategy is largely about aligning current and future decisions with deliberate choices you've already made. #prodmgmt
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I hope pro-housing advocates will embrace and apply this mindset to density bonus programs. Inclusionary zoning and density bonus programs are part of a scarcity mindset, not an abundance agenda. We should advocate for better alternatives.
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Reposted by Roger L. Cauvin
Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association @downtownaustin.org · 18/08/2025
Come out to DANA's End of Summer Urban Core Happy Hour this Sun, Aug 24 at The Stay Put (73 Rainey St.) from 4-7pm! Our guest speaker will be Davon Barbour, CEO of @DowntownATXInfo! Entry comes with 2 free drink tickets & appetizers. More info and RSVP here: www.eventbrite.com/e/dana-end-o...
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
"It combines the deep language understanding capabilities of a large language model with the speed and reliability of a dedicated classification head. This leads to a more accurate, consistent, and cost-effective solution."
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
I asked Gemini (in the context of classification problems), and it agrees: "For most practical classification problems, the embedding-based approach is unequivocally better."
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
An approach that leverages the LLM's first three layers to extract the meaning of the input, bypasses the final output layer, and instead applies task-specific machine learning layers to make the final predictions, is likely to perform better.
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Roger L. Cauvin @rcauvin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
The fourth "layer" merely outputs ("predicts") a likely "next token". It doesn't directly predict an outcome. You can certainly ask the LLM to output "next tokens" that effectively predict or classify, but it's not what the output layer is designed to do.
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