Things are heating up in Boston, and while trying to avoid the rapidly melting snow I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an insightful panel on analytics in hockey at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC) with Meghan Chayka, John Wroblewski, and Angela Ruggiero https://www.youtube.com/live/K1Km08M_5yo?si=sB-sndBzlfZoL929&t=931

Next was a fantastic panel on how organizations compete as they increasingly converge on similar outcomes due to analytical methods at the SSAC with Seth Walder, Dean Oliver, Brian Burke, Phil Orlins, and John Park. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/live/SSBw-lYhjms?si=39IlxROXO4CUn0qA&t=4068

Next was an engaging discussion between Matt Benham and Roger Bennett on approaches for effectively bringing football (soccer) analytics into club management at the SSAC https://www.youtube.com/live/SSBw-lYhjms?si=a7yTm1L6MfYmHMWF&t=7710

Next was an amazing panel on the future of basketball decision-making at the SSAC with Monte McNair, Ariana Andonian, Steven Adams, Sonia Raman, and Shane Battier. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/live/SSBw-lYhjms?si=wDmRxGwpfGSCfp8s&t=10880

Next was "Job Architecture" by Ben Zweig. If you've been around economics in the last few years you've heard of Revelio Labs - they provide accurate and timely insight into how the employee base of companies is changing over time by crawling and analyzing different online data sources. This book takes you through the Revelio Labs approach from its theoretical underpinnings, to the importance of defining jobs appropriately in a changing world, all the way to the high level technical implementation of workforce taxonomies. On the technical side this is one of the few legitimate uses of LLMs out there (data labeling), and I wanted to dig more into the different analytical techniques presented here. This kind of external and internal dynamic categorization will become central to management, work, and corporate valuation. Especially if you're a practitioner, this book will serve as a good introduction to the area https://www.wiley.com/en-sg/Job+Architecture%3A+Building+a+Language+for+Workforce+Intelligence-p-9781394369065

Last was "England's Great Transformation" by Marc Steinberg. This is a can't miss analysis of how law was proactively utilized by companies to shape labor rights and economic development more broadly in England during the Industrial Revolution. While the first part of this book is a fairly standard review and analysis of classical and Marxist labor theory, the second portion of industry case studies, and the final section wrapping everything up, are excellent. And those case studies! Chapters on the pottery industry, fishing trade, and needle manufacturing are incredible dives into how those industries functioned, the experience of workers, and the dynamic utilization of the English legal system to disempower workers. By bringing in economic data, first-person accounts, and legal records, Steinberg has penned an essential book for those who want to understand work. Highly recommend https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo22541223.html