来源丨科研大匠 图源veer“博士难毕”是全球博士都面临的头疼问题。在美国，每年都有70%以上的博士不能按时毕业。在我国，这个比例在2012年时，约为40%，到了今年，已经有超过65%的博士无法按时毕业。以后比例恐将更高。今年以来，降低论文复制比，硕博被大规模清退的新闻是一个接一个，由此可窥见一斑。我们知道，Nature一向很关注博士的成长，不仅每两年就有一次全球博士大调查，虽然调查结果被吐槽为“”，但同时，Nature也会经常推出帮助博士们更好成长的具体建议。今天就为大家分享一篇来自Nature的教你如何拿到博士学位的六个项目管理技巧“Six project-management tips for your PhD”。这些tips可以很大程度上降低不确定性，已经被证实确实可以增加成功几率。目前已经成功“出圈”，影响到学术圈以外，经常被一些企业拿来使用。文章作者是一名来自乔治亚理工学院（与麻省理工，加州理工并称为美国三大理工学院）的生物工程专业（全美前3）的准博士Angel Santiago-Lopez（即将拿到学位）。作者在读博期间，自己总结了这套项目管理技能，并亲身实践验证，很快就要顺利拿下博士学位了，相信对你也会很有帮助，分享给大家。六个策略建议都有一个核心：定义未定义。define the undefined佐治亚理工学院（Georgia Institute of Technology），简称Georgia Tech，也被简称为Gatech或GT，建校于1885年，是坐落于美国东南部第一大城市亚特兰大的世界顶尖研究型大学。它与麻省理工学院和加州理工学院并称为美国三大理工学院。在2020年《USNews》排名中其工程院下各系均位列全美前五，工业工程第1，生物医学工程第3，计算机工程第5等。
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想清楚要干嘛，明确你的时间表Define your timeline新学期一开始，就要想清楚你这学期是要干嘛，Define it，明确出来，你在这学期结束时要完成哪些任务，达到什么程度？时刻牢记在心。接着制定出你这个学期的研究项目（比如完成一篇paper综述的初稿）和你的研究生课程（比如进行博士论文答辩）的主要目标和关键时间节点，以此来开始每个学期的研究生涯。把要达到的目标进行分解，细化到每个措施。对此，你要评估好你完成任务所需的时间和项目本身规定的deadline。然后对每个项目进行优先级排序，以便具有可操作性。Start the academic semester with the end in mind. What would you like to accomplish by then? Begin each academic term by defining major milestones associated with your research project (for example, completing the first draft of a review article) and your graduate programme (for example, conducting a PhD-proposal defence).Break down what actions you need to take to achieve each goal. At this point, you can assess the time commitment required, as well as existing hard deadlines, then prioritize each action item to fit within the time available for the semester.
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随时准备被”打脸”
计划中断，随时调整，备好Plan B
Prepare to be ‘punched in the mouth’美国拳击手迈克·泰森（Mike Tyson）曾经说过：“每个人都有一个计划，直到他们被打脸。” 很多不可控的突发事件（比如实验室中的管道破裂或领导变更截止日期）都会打乱你的计划。最重要的是，你要记住，计划永远赶不上变化，随时准备调整！考虑到研究项目的动态变化，我在学期中进行了一次修订，来重新评估总体进度并确定优先项。做计划时，最好提前预留足够的腾挪空间：制定任务时间表时多预留点时间以备后患，防止突发事件影响到项目的整体推进节奏。American boxer Mike Tyson once said “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. Unforeseeable events (such as a broken pipe in your laboratory or a change in deadlines from your supervisor) will affect your timeline. It is important to keep in mind that the projected path for your semester will need continuous readjustment. To account for the dynamic nature of a research project, I perform a mid-semester revision to assess overall progress and decide which aspects to prioritize. It is good practice to build margins into your schedule: overestimate the time required to complete a specific task. Margins will serve as a protective cushion against unpredictable events that threaten to thwart your progress.
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制定明确的项目计划列表Define your project scope你的项目计划首先应该明确阐明你的总体目标，然后列出你预期在项目中要完成的具体事项的列表。这部分可以简化成一个“主要待办事项列表”，一旦全部勾选完毕，就表示项目已经完成。Your project scope should start with a clear statement of overall goals, followed by a list of specific things that you expect to deliver in the course of your project. This part can be simplified as a ‘master to-do list’ that, once all checked off, will indicate project completion.
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增加价值，而不是实验Add value, not experiments 为了使项目价值（或影响）最大化，哪些是绝对的、必须要做的？在制定你的主任务清单时，哪些是能给你的项目带来最大价值的，这个一定要多思考，想清楚！一旦明确下来，拼尽全力，完成它们！作为一个研究生，我们常常迷失于学术自由和科学好奇心不能自拔。但要切记，偶尔开个小差没关系，千万不要以你的“好奇心”为借口，来证明你在项目范围之外的“钓鱼”是合理的。作为一名研究生，你的时间有限，通常，你的资源也很有限。What is absolutely needed to maximize the value (or impact) of your project? When creating your master to-do list, reflect on what would bring the most value to your project. Once these elements have been identified, devote all your efforts to completing them to the best of your ability. As graduate students, we are sensitive to the double-edged sword of academic freedom and scientific curiosity. You should let your curiosity take the driver’s seat in some cases, but do not use scientific curiosity to justify fishing expeditions outside your project scope. As a graduate student, you have limited time and, often, limited resources.
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定“好”指标，最好细化明确 Define metrics of success指标定的好可以带来节节胜利。你的主任务列表上的每个项目成功的标准是什么？如何评判？尽量明确出来，有了这些评判标准，将有助于确定你是否在朝着正确的方向前进。理想情况下，达成每个指标应该都可以让你对研究项目最终结果的认识向前推进一步。我认为达成每一个指标都是一次小小的胜利，都能增强我们继续前进的信心。Well-defined metrics of success lead to small victories. What does success look like for each item on your master to-do list? Having these metrics in place helps to address whether you are moving in the right direction. Ideally, reaching each metric should provide a glimpse of the final product of your research project. I consider reaching each metric a small victory, and each provides a boost of confidence to keep moving forward.
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通过前期的失败来取得进步Make progress by failing early
失败是每个搞研究的必经过程。对失败的恐惧会让你患上“分析瘫痪”症，最终严重影响你的产出效率。而这通常都是由于你过度思考要达到目标所要做的事情导致的。以我的经验，当你面临很多风险或事关重大时，这种分析瘫痪很难克服。为了避免这种情况，设计实验时应该先设计解决总体研究问题中的一小部分，并预留足够的前期失败的腾挪空间-如果你对项目设计中的关键假设有误，那越早知道越好。早期失败是成功的失败，因为它可以让你重新校准并快速搞定项目的存在的问题。Failure is inherent to the research process, and fear of failure can damage your productivity by inducing what is known as analysis paralysis — the inaction that comes from overthinking what needs to be done to achieve one’s goals. In my experience, analysis paralysis is hard to overcome when there is a lot at stake. To avoid this, design experiments that address small portions of your overarching research question and give you space to fail early — if you’re wrong about a key assumption in your project design, you’ll want to know as soon as possible. An early failure is a successful failure because it allows you to recalibrate and quickly address the shortcomings of your project.
