Time Management, Family, and Quality of Life Issues Kathleen Fisher AT&T Labs Research

Guiding Principles Have good relationships with my daughter, husband, extended family, and friends. Work on interesting programming language research problems with smart people. Be successful at AT&T and hirable at academic institutions. Make programming languages research more relevant. Contribute to the health of the communities I belong to.

A brief history… 1990Married Steve (while a junior at Stanford) 1991Received BS; started PhD at Stanford 1992Daughter Elaine was born 1996Received PhD in theoretical programming languages 1996Started as researcher at AT&T Labs 2000Divorced Steve: joint custody of Elaine 2002Married Bob, a colleague at AT&T Labs 2003Promoted at AT&T 2004Bob took position at Google 2005Moving to California for Bob and Steve’s jobs Au pairs for child care until Steve remarried; now his wife Sue does after school care.

Typical work day 6.30Alarm goes off 7.45Drop Elaine at school 8.10Arrive in office; plan day 8.15Process 9.30Do hard-thinking work 12.00Lunch with co-workers 1.00Do administrative tasks; some meetings 2.00Pick up Elaine and Elizabeth from school 3.00Work at home until dinner time 6.30Make and eat dinner together 8.30Exercise for 45 minutes, watching tv with Elaine and Bob 9.45Read to Elaine (Agatha Christie at the moment) 10.30Work some more (2-3 nights/week) 12.00Bedtime

Other activities 2-3 days/week Elaine, Bob, and I take ballroom dancing lessons. I also enjoy cooking, reading, studying Italian, traveling, and golfing. I travel about 5 days/month. I spend 1 day/week visiting Princeton working with collaborators there.

Where does the work time go? 50%Work on PADS: AT&T friendly programming language research project. 20%Work on long-term programming languages research. 30%Community service activities: SIGPLAN vice chair, CRA-W activities, program chair, program committee member, etc.

Work and Time Management Understand & develop goals –Personal, professional, and organization's –Guide to decision making. Avoid churn – Notebook of "what I have to do today" – Handle efficiently: touch once (or twice) – Schedule blocks of "thinking time” – Know when you work efficiently: don't squander that time Use other people's time efficiently

Life in general Look up every once in a while to take stock. Get good child care (peace of mind, guilt reduction) Pay for mundane things you don't enjoy: house cleaning, gardening, etc. Help and receive help from others. Have a life as well as work (don't put other interests on hold indefinitely). Exercise! (it gives energy back...)

Time Management, Family, and Quality of Life Issues Anne Condon U. British Columbia

Guiding principles Life –Make the most of it - it's wonderful! –Enjoy my family and be good to them –Respect friends and colleagues –Be gentle to the environment Work –Make the most of it - it's wonderful! –Work on theory problems (hopefully solve some) –Figure out how to predict RNA structure –Be a good teacher, advisor, citizen

Current passions Solving a cool theory problem with Lisa Hellerstein Figuring out how to predict RNA secondary structure Developing ideas for an intro to CS textbook Gardening... it's spring! Planning a family escape to Nelson, B.C. in July

Current Chores Writing/grading my final exam Finishing up an external review report Revising two submitted papers Reading a Master’s thesis Catching up on paper reviews Working on my son’s manners

A brief history… 1979Started university in Cork, Ireland 1982Started graduate school at U. Washington 1984Met Scott 1987Started as assistant professor at U. Wisconsin Married Scott 1988Married Scott (again) 1990Fiona is born 1994Tenure and promotion to associate professor Emil is born 1996Sabbatical in Seattle 1999Promotion to full professor Move to U. British Columbia 2005Sabbatical coming up!

6.00Wake up, time for coffee, “busy” work 7.15Get the kids going 8.45Cup of tea, get “task” done 10.40Bike in to work 11.00Meetings 12.00Prepare for, conduct, class 2.00More meetings 4.00Bike home, pick up food etc. 4.30More cups of tea, combine “busy” work, kid duty 6:00Cook, eat, drink, talk (nag if needed) 7:30Do what I feel like (I’m fried!) (relax with family, read, do theory...) 10.30Bedtime ** Mon/Wed are teaching days Tues/Thurs mornings are research time Fridays are meetingless days :) Typical teaching day**

Using time effectively Schedule "synergistic" tasks together Build a research group in which people help each other (setting good example yourself); extend to your academic community When "on a roll" with something, keep with the momentum even at the expense of other things Conversely, when a task seems like a grind, push a little, but then switch to something more productive

Handling the “chores” A strategy for saying "no" is to first say "let me think about it”; then assess and consult When you do say "yes", be clear up front about the scope of the job and the level of commitment you can bring Use the opportunity to take on something new as a chance to let go of something else Work with people who seem to be good at getting things done; it does rub off

On family find the things that you enjoy and can share with your family find the things you can do in parallel (oversee kid homework crises while cooking) foster kids' independence in daily tasks share responsibility around the house figure out which things can "give" - no need for perfection! remember your time becomes yours again as your kids get older - balance is regained!