Not sure what my plans are for tomorrow. It feels odd because I'm normally quite well organised. I have experimental plans for the rest of the week and I also know I need to continue to work on a poster and start work on a talk when not in the lab, but tomorrow, I'm not too sure.
This made we wonder whether I’m as organised as I think I am and whether I can do it better.
I have a large over-arching plan of my PhD: the aims, the experiments I'd like/need to do, labs I hope to visit, but these broader plans are flexible. I also have a similar, loose but more specific ~6 month plan: approximate times of when I want to finish a particular set of experiments, when I need to start working on posters/talks etc. Most specific are my weekly plans - which particular experiments I need to do, what analysis needs taking care of, what talks/seminars I want to go to. Generally my mid-term plans are now in a list on my iPad and my weekly plans are usually in my head and on a bit of paper.
How do other PhD students plan their time? Do you go for old fashioned post-it notes or have you found an amazing iPad app that I need to know about? Do you, like me, just keep some short term plans in your head?
So far I've found notepad on the iPad useful as you can type out stuff and then draw/scribble on it also adding pictures (I find it handy to add a copy of a graph or table to help remind me what came before a particular experiment for example).
Looking for ideas on how to organise yourself in the lab? Take a look a Happy Science's post
I write big plans (usually just in word, with summaries of bits of things) and I revisit it whenever I come to making a decision, or every few months (whatever is sooner). I write daily plans EVERYWHERE, sometimes on outlook, on scraps of paper, in my notebook - usually whichever is closest at the time. Weekly plans are usually in my notebook, (although they also can sometimes be found on bits of paper). Experimental plans, I always write on my computer, but may write modifications to the plan on whatever is closest to hand and then update the online copy when at my desk.
ReplyDeleteI also make monthly/yearly plans.
I don't think you can plan too much!!! BUT one thing that is really important with PhDs is that plans change, constantly.. things take longer than expected, things don't work or experiments don't go the way you expected... so plans need to be revisited frequently and modified a lot! :-)
Totally agree. PhD plans are never set in stone. I forgot about daily plans. They can be found on the nearest piece of paper, or on my hand. Also use outlook quite a bit too.
ReplyDeleteI've stuck with an old fashion little black book which I use to make weekly plans and just keep the big stuff overarching plan in my head. I feel more productive since I've got the book, don't tend to forget to do that one little crucial thing so often! Might be upgrading to an Ipad soon though doubt it will make me any better, we shall see.
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