On Working on the Wrong Problem. Reflections on past mistakes and small… | by Vincent Vanhoucke | Aug, 2026 | Medium
I remember vividly the day my research career could have ended before it even started. I was sitting on a couch at a conference next to Prof. Mark Gales, from Cambridge University, when he turned to me and asked: ‘so, what are you doing your thesis on?’ Here it was … the only ‘thesis defense’ that really mattered in the speech recognition community. Mark’s research taste was widely acknowledged, and approval from him meant a lot. He was notorious for walking around poster sessions at conferences and tearing apart people’s arguments, in that ever so understated, humorous way that made it sting twice as much. He usually attracted a crowd. I was glad at that moment that my roasting was going to happen in private, and before I had started committing significant time to my research. And a proper roast it was. One that lasted a whole 5 minutes, because Mark immediately got what I was trying to do, and immediately dismantled its very premise. It wasn’t a terrible idea, it would probably work.