Time Management / Success Strategies Marie desJardins (mariedj@cs.umbc.edu) CMSC 691B March 30, 2004 Revised a little by Charles Nicholas March 28, 2005

Sources 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. Richard M. Reis, Tomorrow’s Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering, IEEE Press. Janice Cuny, “Time management and family issues,” CRA-W Workshops. H. T. Kung, “Useful things to know about Ph.D. thesis research,” prepared for CMU’s Immigration Course, 1987. 3/30/04

Outline Early Late General 3/30/04

The First Two Years (or So)

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

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

Balancing Classes and Research Probably the biggest challenge of the first one to two years 3/30/04

The Third (or So) Year and Beyond

What Matters? Finishing the dissertation. Not quite That’s it!? Finish the dissertation Establish a pattern of research productivity Take your place in a scholarly community Figure out what you want to do next, and prepare 3/30/04

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

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

Making Steady Progress Probably the biggest challenge of the third year and beyond 3/30/04

General Tips

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

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

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

Filing Papers you read Papers you write Research ideas organized by topic or author’s last name cross-indexed in a BibTeX or other database Papers you write organized by topic or venue Research ideas 3/30/04