Time Management Success Strategies Marie des Jardins

Time Management / Success Strategies Marie des. Jardins (mariedj@cs. umbc. edu) CMSC 691 B March 30, 2004 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999

Sources u Robert L. Peters, Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning a Master’s or Ph. D. (Revised Edition). NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. u Richard M. Reis, Tomorrow’s Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering, IEEE Press. u Janice Cuny, “Time management and family issues, ” CRA-W Workshops. u H. T. Kung, “Useful things to know about Ph. D. thesis research, ” prepared for CMU’s Immigration Course, 1987. 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 2

Outline u Early u Late u General 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 3

The First Two Years (or So) 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999

What Matters? u Taking comp classes is important. . . 4. . . but not as important as finding an advisor. . . n. . . and a topic. . . t. . . which means that classes in your area matter most u Grades are important. . . 4. . . but not as important as research 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 5

Peters: Things to Do Right Away u Buy a good computer u Set up a calendar system u Set up a filing system u Keep a log of daily progress u Apply for fellowships u Set up regular meetings with your advisor u Create or join a grad student support group u Start looking for a thesis topic 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 6

Balancing Classes and Research u Probably the biggest challenge of the first one to two years 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 7

The Third (or So) Year and Beyond 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999

What Matters? u Finishing the dissertation. 4 That’s it! 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 9

Graduate School Characteristics u Unstructured environment u Few landmarks or milestones u Have to balance: 4 Reading 4 Thinking 4 Sketching out ideas 4 Talking to colleagues, advisor 4 Implementing/building systems 4 Empirical evaluation 4 Theoretical analysis 4 Writing 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 10

Time Management u Divide and conquer 4 Make a list of tasks and refine them until they’re doable u Do something every day 4 Have easy tasks and hard tasks on your To-Do list u Set weekly goals 4 Review these with your advisor and/or “research buddy” u Set deadlines 4 Even if artificial, they help to create structure u Make time for other important activities 4 Professional service, extracurricular activities, exercise, socializing u Keep a journal 4 Jot down stray thoughts; review to assess your progress 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 11

Making Steady Progress u Probably the biggest challenge of the third year and beyond 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 12

General Tips 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999

Prioritize u What is most important? u What is most urgent? u Long-term vs. short-term priorities 4 Use your long-term goals to prioritize short-term tasks 4 Plan for the year/month/week, not for the day u Avoid extreme reactivity 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 14

Organization Systems u Timeline for graduate school 4 Classes, comps, prelims, deadlines u Monthly calendar u Weekly schedule u Daily log u Prioritized and organized task list 4 Bring this up to date periodically u Peters suggests monthly progress reports 4 Weekly progress reports, e-mailed to your advisor, can be very helpful for both of you 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 15

Things to Track u Deadlines for filing paperwork, forms, etc. u Conference deadlines 4 Know what the important conferences are, when they are held, and when the paper deadlines are u Course assignments and exams u Meetings 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 16

Filing u Papers you read 4 organized by topic or author’s last name 4 cross-indexed in a Bib. Te. X or other database u Papers you write 4 organized by topic or venue u Research ideas 3/30/04 September 1999 October 1999 17