This past weekend, Erica Bailey (@ericarbailey) posted a Twitter thread listing ways PhD programs could improve in serving their students (by looking at examples from industry). I related to many of her posts, based on my own quite traumatic doctoral experience.

I copy them here...
having worked in ~industry~ I am not under any illusion that it's that much better than working in academia. BUT there are few things I really really miss that could be easily applied in Ph.D. programs and labs /oh no, a thread
VACATION DAYS: companies have a set-in-stone number of vacation days. this means there is no consternation about taking that time off, it was weird not to. without any idea how many days to take off, Ph.D. students feel guilty about even one vacation day (hey it's me!) 1/
ROLE DEFINITIONS: these were set from the very beginning of every project I worked on. I bet if you asked 10 Ph.D. students what the responsibilities of a "first author" include, you'd get 10 answers. I still don't know. 2/
KPIs: We NEED to know how we are doing by metrics other than "as many publications as you possibly can get as quickly as you can get it". these can be realistic (write x pages a week) and set in coordination with advisors. 3/
MY MANAGER IS NOT MY FRIEND: friendships in orgs with coworkers happen all the time, but rarely vertically. this is HELPFUL esp with honesty, transparency, feedback, and no hard feelings when transitions happen. IMO you can rarely have friendships with asymmetric power. 4/
MEETING NOTES/AGENDA: this is an easy one. if you're a Ph.D. student, start doing it now. send a few bullets of what you want to talk about in advance of the meeting, and recap your understanding of the meeting/next steps afterward. we're all busy and forgetful! 5/
PMO SKILLS: I would lobby for this to be a mandatory class for Ph.D. students. Nina Jacobson said that every project has two impulses: to fall apart and be bad. academia teaches you how to not make it bad. PMO teaches you how to not let it fall apart. 6a/
PMO SKILLS Pt 2: there are so many tools and methodologies out there to keep track of your projects, keep on top of what everyone is working on, and a realistic timeline. email is not the answer. related to this... 6b/
TIME TRACKING: if you are going to effectively manage your time and definitely someone else's time, you have to know about how long each task takes. this will help set expectations of yourself (and others) with what can realistically get done in a workweek. 7/
JOB DEMANDS EBB AND FLOW: Alexi Pappas talked about how the best coaches know to keep their athletes like "dull pencils" sharpened only at optimal times. This is not the instinct of any high-achiever. But we can't go 100 mph at all times, and need to go 100 mph only some times 8/
WEEKENDS: what a concept. /fin

M


Milena Radzikowska, MDes, PhD
Professor of Information Design
Faculty of Business and Communication Studies
Mount Royal University

She/Her

mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.milenaradzikowska.com 

“I guess this is what we’re doing now...”

I LIVE AND WORK on the ancestral and traditional Indigenous territories of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuu T’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.

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