So, what I have noticed is that professors primarily work as salespeople (writing grant proposals), managers (as principal investigators), and educators (teaching classes), but they typically have formal training for zero of those three tasks. A number of professors I know have commented that they were happier as postdocs (read: spending lots of time in the lab) than they are now as professors, and I can’t help but think that there are gains from specialization to had here. There’s some overlap with the problems you describe, but those are the things I would emphasize to get support from scientists in the system when pushing institutional change.
So, what I have noticed is that professors primarily work as salespeople (writing grant proposals), managers (as principal investigators), and educators (teaching classes), but they typically have formal training for zero of those three tasks. A number of professors I know have commented that they were happier as postdocs (read: spending lots of time in the lab) than they are now as professors, and I can’t help but think that there are gains from specialization to had here. There’s some overlap with the problems you describe, but those are the things I would emphasize to get support from scientists in the system when pushing institutional change.