This post and its companion have even more resonance now that I’m deeper into my graduate education and conducting my research more independently.
Here, the key insight is that research is an iterative process of re-scoping the project and execution on the current version of the plan. You are trying to make a product sufficient to move the conversation forward, not (typically) write the final word on the subject.
What you know, what resources you have access to, your awareness of what people care about, and what there’s demand for, depend on your output. That’s all key for the next project. A rule of thumb is that at the beginning, you can think of your definition of done as delivering a set of valuable conclusions such that it would take about 10 hours for any reasonably smart person to find a substantial flaw.
You should keep on rethinking whether the work you’re doing (read: the costs you’re paying) are delivering as much value, given your current state of knowledge. As you work on the project, and have conversations with colleagues, advisors and users, your understanding of where the value’s at and how large the costs of various directions are, will constantly update. So you will need to update your focus along with it. Accept the interruptions as a natural, if uncomfortable, part of the process.
Remember that one way or another, you’re going to get your product to a point where it has real, unique value to other people. You just need to figure out what that is and stay the course.
The advice here also helps me figure out how to interact with my fellow students when they’re proposing excessively costly projects with no clear benefit due to their passion for and interest in the work itself and their love of rigor and design. Instead of quashing their passion or staying silent or being encouraging despite my misgivings, I can say something like “I think this could be valuable in the future once it’s the main bottleneck to value, but I think [some easier, more immediately beneficial task] is the way to go for now. You can always do the thing you’re proposing at a later time.” This helps me be more honest while, I believe, helping them steer their efforts in ways that will bring them greater rewards.
The most actionable advice I got from the companion piece was the idea of making an outline of the types of evidence you’ll use to argue for your claims, and get a sign-off from a colleague or advisor on the adequacy of that evidence before you go about gathering it. Update that outline as you go along. I’ve been struggling with this exact issue and it seems like a great solution to the problem. I’m eager to try it with my PhD advisors.
Edit: as a final note, I think we are very fortunate to have Holden, a co-founder of a major philanthropic organization, describing what his process was like during its formation. Exposition on what he’s tracking in his head is underprovided generally and Holden really went above and beyond on this one.
This post and its companion have even more resonance now that I’m deeper into my graduate education and conducting my research more independently.
Here, the key insight is that research is an iterative process of re-scoping the project and execution on the current version of the plan. You are trying to make a product sufficient to move the conversation forward, not (typically) write the final word on the subject.
What you know, what resources you have access to, your awareness of what people care about, and what there’s demand for, depend on your output. That’s all key for the next project. A rule of thumb is that at the beginning, you can think of your definition of done as delivering a set of valuable conclusions such that it would take about 10 hours for any reasonably smart person to find a substantial flaw.
You should keep on rethinking whether the work you’re doing (read: the costs you’re paying) are delivering as much value, given your current state of knowledge. As you work on the project, and have conversations with colleagues, advisors and users, your understanding of where the value’s at and how large the costs of various directions are, will constantly update. So you will need to update your focus along with it. Accept the interruptions as a natural, if uncomfortable, part of the process.
Remember that one way or another, you’re going to get your product to a point where it has real, unique value to other people. You just need to figure out what that is and stay the course.
The advice here also helps me figure out how to interact with my fellow students when they’re proposing excessively costly projects with no clear benefit due to their passion for and interest in the work itself and their love of rigor and design. Instead of quashing their passion or staying silent or being encouraging despite my misgivings, I can say something like “I think this could be valuable in the future once it’s the main bottleneck to value, but I think [some easier, more immediately beneficial task] is the way to go for now. You can always do the thing you’re proposing at a later time.” This helps me be more honest while, I believe, helping them steer their efforts in ways that will bring them greater rewards.
The most actionable advice I got from the companion piece was the idea of making an outline of the types of evidence you’ll use to argue for your claims, and get a sign-off from a colleague or advisor on the adequacy of that evidence before you go about gathering it. Update that outline as you go along. I’ve been struggling with this exact issue and it seems like a great solution to the problem. I’m eager to try it with my PhD advisors.
Edit: as a final note, I think we are very fortunate to have Holden, a co-founder of a major philanthropic organization, describing what his process was like during its formation. Exposition on what he’s tracking in his head is underprovided generally and Holden really went above and beyond on this one.