Hacking Academia

In professional careers we tend to focus a lot on what we're do at work - but what we do *outside* of work can be just as important. This is a well known phenomenon in other endeavours in life - for example in athletic endeavours it's not just the training, but the quality and quantity of recovery and sleep you get that's just as important.

Taking breaks, both short and long, is a key component of a maintaining a healthy and sustainable work life balance. Perhaps counter-intuitively, breaks can also help directly with your work as well, in multiple ways.

But the huge benefits of taking a break is wasted if you don't think about and plan for how you take a break.

In my latest Hacking Academia video and podcast, I delve into the why and how of taking breaks from your professional career.

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🔗 Full page and notes: https://michaelmilford.com/the-importance-of-and-art-of-taking-a-break-from-work/

🔗 Complete series covering topics including #negotiation, #writing #papers that get accepted, managing #rejection, #worklifebalance, finding and applying for a great #PhD and many more: https://lnkd.in/gwhjXa9G

🔗 Complete YouTube playlist: https://lnkd.in/ghdpeTfJ

⌚ Topic Timestamps:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Taking Breaks 
📌 (0:34) Taking Effective Breaks is a Skill
📌 (1:30) Breaks Are Vital Even if You Don't Think You Need Them
📌 (1:51) The Obvious Personal Benefits of Taking Breaks
📌 (2:13) Taking Breaks Benefits Your Work 
📌 (2:34) Distance From Work Generates New Insights 
📌 (3:07) Breaks Give You a Better Work Reset Opportunity
📌 (3:32) Good Break Planning and Execution is Vital
📌 (3:48) Taking Good Breaks Means Letting Go
📌 (4:12) Focus on the Bigger Picture Benefits of a Break
📌 (4:45) Thinking About Good Work News is Still Thinking About Work! 
📌 (5:53) Provide Alternative 📌 (Agreed Upon) Points of Contact
📌 (6:13) Alert People Before Your Break 
📌 (6:26) Alternative Points of Contact Reduce But Don't Remove Missed Opportunities 
📌 (6:37) Example: Dealing with a Speaking Opportunity Invitation 
📌 (7:18) Nominate Multiple Appropriate Points of Contact 
📌 (7:21) Delegation Can Provide Others with Development Opportunities
📌 (7:31) Confirm Points of Contact Are Willing to Do So and Give Them Clear Instructions  
📌 (7:38) Points of Contact Are Not Full Replacements For You
📌 (7:56) Approaches to Managing Crises While You're Away 
📌 (8:30) Make Sure People Know You're Away 
📌 (8:37) Notify All Communication Channels
📌 (8:55) Disconnecting Fully From Work
📌 (9:07) Fully Quarantining Your Work Communications
📌 (9:57) Choosing Between Zero and Highly Limited Work Check Ins
📌 (10:15) Objectively Assessing the Actual Need for Check Ins
📌 (10:48) Minimizing the Intrusion of Work Check Ins
📌 (11:21) Be Aware Of and Minimize Work Check In Creep
📌 (11:51) Work-Disconnected Mechanisms For Noting Ideas
📌 (12:31) Short Versus Long Breaks
📌 (13:20) Develop Your Own Break Taking Philosophy

Do you manage the discretionary budget for a large research group or centre? If yes, then you know budgeting can be a challenging yet crucial aspect of your work. ⠀

My most recent Hacking Academia release walks through the theory and practical aspects of budget management for research entities like a centre.

In Part 1, we dive into key concepts that shape how you manage a budget, explore how funding amounts, time spans, and restrictions can affect your decision-making, and discuss ways to respond to unexpected costs. We also delve into the nuances of over and under spending, and the importance of indexing and leveraging your funds.

Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or new to managing large budgets, this video will provide valuable insights and possibly overturn some budgeting wisdom you may have learned as a child.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll discuss potential spending categories you might consider allocating to a center budget.

As always, I appreciate your engagement and look forward to your comments, questions, and experiences.

Please reshare if useful

Timestamps are as follows:

 (0:00) Introduction to Budgeting for Centres
 (0:08) Introduction to Discretionary Funding
 (0:30) Discretionary Budgets Enable Many Opportunities
 (0:41) Managing Larger Budgets Can be Daunting
 (0:44) Many People Receive Little Formal Budget Training
 (0:55) These Videos Cover Concepts and Budget Examples
 (1:11) Many Budget Concepts Are Common to Most Contexts
 (1:26) This Video Covers Key Budget Concepts and Issues
 (1:35) Key Factor: Budget Size
 (2:03) Small Budgets Necessitate Co-Funding
 (2:24) Larger Budgets Can Enable Staffing
 (2:40) Large Events and Equipment Purchases
 (2:57) Key Concept: Budget Timeline and Uncertainty
 (3:27) Prioritising Amidst Uncertainty
 (3:54) Ability to Make Future Co-Funding Commitments
 (4:06) The Vital Importance of Indexing
 (4:28) Indexing Example
 (5:03) Volatility in Expenses
 (5:08) Salaries Are Relatively Predictable
 (5:14) More Volatile Expense Categories
 (5:20) Examples: Travel and GPU Costs
 (5:42) Lots of Factors Can Drive Price Volatility
 (5:53) Things Can Get Cheaper Too!
 (6:01) Expenditure Restrictions
 (6:18) Examples of Expenditure Restrictions
 (6:37) Key Concept: Underspending and Overspending
 (6:46) Some People Have Learnt a Tendency to Save and Underspend
 (6:59) Underspending Can Be Counterproductive
 (7:13) Large Overspends Are Of Course Bad
 (7:21) Be Wary of Excessive Hoarding of Funds – They May Disappear
 (7:33) Funding Roll Over Is Not Always Possible
 (7:45) Co-Funding Can Stretch Limited Budgets Further
 (8:03) Example: Partial Funding of Work Travel
 (8:22) Make Sure Funding Schemes Don’t Exacerbate Inequities
 (8:33) Leverage Both External and Internal Co-Funding
 (8:40) Internal Co-Funding Examples: Grants and Equipment
 (8:49) Reality Often Doesn’t Match Budget Plans
 (8:57) The Timing of When Expenses Hit Your Accounts
 (9:10) Example: Equipment Charge Delays
 (9:32) Large Expenses Missing Their Planned Year
 (9:41) Expenses Can Sometimes Be Routed Via Other Accounts
 (10:06) Completely Unexpected Charges
 (10:24) Retaining a Strategic Reserve
 (10:36) Example: Unexpected Strategic Opportunities
 (10:52) A Strategic Reserve Needs Rollover
 (11:04) Recap: Discretionary Budgets Enable Lots of Opportunities
 (11:20) A Steep But Worthwhile Learning Curve
 (11:29) Video Recap and Preview of Part 2

I’ve been meaning to get my thoughts on the recent developments and likely disruptive impacts of #Artificialntelligence into a video, and to do this free of any constraining context, as most of my keynotes, workshops etc. over the coming year will be specific to certain contexts or domains (e.g. #education, #tech etc.).

So here it is: a free form video where I discuss why I think recent #AI developments are most definitely not “business” as normal, and the key reasons why.

My key points are:

⭐ my perspective is shaped by both a deep tech research background and from spending a substantial fraction of the last few years advising and learning from a very wide range of stakeholders about the effects of transformative tech; from big tech to local community advocate groups, and from pre-school children to retirees, both internationally and within Australia

⭐ that the likely depth and breadth of impact on what so many of us do on a day to day basis is unprecedented – past AI tech innovations have primarily had shallow impacts on many people or very deep impacts on a small subset of people.

⭐ that the “barriers” to access that have so commonly both hindered enthusiastic early adopters, and comforted a lack of action by reluctant organisations, are no longer there – the capabilities of these systems are stark and immediately, viscerally graspable by anyone within minutes of interacting with them

⭐ that, again unlike past AI tech disruptions, the likely disruption doesn’t require one or more multiple “miracles” of further improvements: the status quo is enough even given their substantial flaws, and

⭐ that nevertheless any reasonable projection of future development would suggest that at least some of their known shortcomings will be mitigated, further scaling their impact

Finally, whilst needing a treatment in of themselves, I talk about:

⭐ why I am cautiously optimistic that the misuse and abuse of these systems will be successfully countered and moderated, and, to the primary point of the video, that

⭐ I think their immediate huge disruptive potential is in no way reliant on this tech getting close to #artificialgeneralintelligence (#AGI) – a whole other debate

With this video I hope to provoke discussion and welcome your thoughts and comments!

🙏 Pls reshare as you see fit!

#research #technology #robotics #science #AI #artificialintelligence #tech #chatgpt #chatgpt4 #bard #google #meta

🤔 “It’s what wasn’t said that’s most interesting…”

My new video covers the significance of implied messaging in settings such as job interviews, grant rejoinders, job referee reports and more.

I highlight the importance of recognizing underlying messages in communication, and effectively using implicit messaging in your own comms.

Check out the tutorial now in the video! 👉

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Implicit Messaging
📌 (0:23) Implicit Messaging Can Be Both Intentional and Unintentional
📌 (0:27) Present in Both Outgoing and Incoming Communication
📌 (0:34) Explicit Messaging Working Definition
📌 (0:44) Implicit Messaging Working Definition
📌 (0:54) It’s What Isn’t Said That is Interesting
📌 (1:02) Example: Layoffs at a Startup Company
📌 (1:34) Understanding and Using Implicit Messaging is a Powerful Skill
📌 (1:41) Two Reasons It’s an Advanced Skill
📌 (1:46) Only Useful If the Basics Are Strong
📌 (1:57) Implicit Messaging Won’t Save Poor Explicit Messaging
📌 (2:20) Implicit Messaging Adds Significant Cognitive Load
📌 (3:05) Examples and Case Studies
📌 (3:22) Example: Giving Experience Examples in a Job Interview
📌 (3:56) Implied Messages Can Be Pivotal Even if They’re Incorrect
📌 (4:15) Awareness of Possible Implicit Messages Can Help You Rephrase
📌 (4:24) Modified Response To Remove Unwanted Implied Message
📌 (4:52) Example: Implicit Messaging in Grant Rejoinders
📌 (5:06) Where You Respond Can Send an Implied Message
📌 (5:29) Awareness of All Implied Messages is Key
📌 (5:41) There Can Be Multiple Implied Messages
📌 (6:07) If You Don’t Like the Implied Message, Change It!
📌 (6:14) Example: Talking to Referees for a Job Candidate
📌 (6:39) Implicit Messages Can Prompt Further Investigation
📌 (7:00) Implicit Messaging Can Be Present in All Communication Forms
📌 (7:15) Being Direct and Explicit Isn’t Always Possible
📌 (7:30) Circumstances Can Limit Direct Messaging
📌 (7:38) It’s Not Always Appropriate to Probe for Explicit Details
📌 (7:47) In Non-Interactive Communication, Probing May Not Be Possible
📌 (7:56) Understanding and Recognising Implicit Messaging is Important
📌 (8:03) Recognise and Use Implicit Messaging to Your Advantage

Are you one of those people who get excited when a new robot or autonomous tech demo goes viral? 🌐 Me too!

But did you know that not all videos are created equal? It’s crucial to understand the varying motivations behind them and what you can (and can’t) infer from them, and why.

In this video, I break it down into some key points:

1) The motivation behind releasing a demo video 🎯

2) The variations in what you can infer from the video, and why 🔍

Some videos are released purely out of excitement or in association with academic research papers, while others have financial motives or even aim to de-hype certain technologies. It’s essential to understand the context before drawing conclusions. 📚

Tech demo videos can also fall into different categories: staged, composited, or representing a (theoretically) mature technology stage. Knowing which category the video falls under can help you understand its reliability and significance. 🤔

The bottom line: Tech demo videos are a fantastic way to showcase the capabilities of new technologies, but it’s important to approach them with a discerning eye. 🧐

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Tech Demo Videos Are Everywhere!
📌 (0:07) They Get a Wide Range of Reactions
📌 (0:17) Demo Videos Are Impactful and Reach a Wide Audience
📌 (0:37) Videos Can Be Misinterpreted with Consequences
📌 (0:52) Helping People Interpret Videos is Important
📌 (1:09) The Why and What of Tech Demo Videos
📌 (1:24) Two Common Motivations for Video Demos
📌 (1:32) Excitement-Driven and Academic Videos
📌 (2:14) Commercially Motivated Videos
📌 (2:27) Financial Incentives Affect the Context
📌 (2:38) Many Videos Have a Combination of Motivations
📌 (2:46) A Third Type: De-Hyping Videos
📌 (2:51) De-Hyping Videos Can Help Ground the Discussion
📌 (3:20) De-Hyping Videos Should Also Be Viewed Critically
📌 (3:42) Three Primary Types of Demo Video
📌 (3:47) Highly Staged Demo Videos
📌 (4:01) Context Sometimes Dictates Staging
📌 (4:29) Composited Demo Videos
📌 (4:47) Disclosure is Important
📌 (5:06) Research Maturity Informs Interpretation
📌 (5:14) Example: Walking Robots
📌 (5:42) Videos of Deployed Robot Technology
📌 (6:08) A Critical Viewing is Still Required
📌 (6:17) You’re Seeing a Tiny Fraction of What’s Happening
📌 (6:44) Reliability is Much Harder Than Doing it Once
📌 (7:00) Tech Failure Case Video Segments
📌 (7:11) Failure Authenticity Can Vary a Lot
📌 (7:41) Videos Should Be Interpreted in the Application Context
📌 (7:55) Imperfect Reliability is Sometimes Acceptable
📌 (8:28) Some Applications Require Near Perfect Reliability
📌 (8:38) Short Videos Present Insufficient Evidence
📌 (8:50) Autonomous Vehicle Example
📌 (9:21) Hypothetical: Two Videos From Different Companies
📌 (9:48) More Information Beyond the Video is Needed
📌 (9:57) Weight Expert Advice Appropriately
📌 (10:51) The Great Reason Why Demos Sometimes Go Backwards
📌 (11:16) Example: Drones With and Without External Localization Systems
📌 (12:16) Less Impressive Demos Can Be Very Important
📌 (12:28) Other Scenarios: Less Sensing, Compute and More Learning
📌 (12:53) Good Videos Will Explain the Context
📌 (13:02) Tech Demo Videos are Important But Need Careful Interpretation

📣 Excited to share my latest video: “Key Considerations for Transitioning to Leadership Roles” 🎥🌟

Are you considering a leap from small team leader into more senior leadership positions in academia or research? This video is for you! I delve into essential aspects such as:

✅ Key considerations & strategies for a smooth transition
✅ Benefits of stepping into leadership roles
✅ Common hesitations & some reassurances

Leadership in academia and research is crucial for driving innovation and fostering a culture of growth. My video provides personal insights that will help you make informed decisions and empower you in making informed decisions about any possible journey into more senior leadership.

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Leadership Transitions
📌 (0:13) Leadership Transition Career Stages
📌 (0:35) Video Overview
📌 (0:53) Typical Scenarios
📌 (1:49) Typical Hesitations
📌 (1:56) I Haven’t Done Everything I Need to Do Yet
📌 (2:51) Leadership Experience is Valued for Researchers
📌 (3:18) Research Output Doesn’t Have to Collapse
📌 (3:41) Research Involvement Changes, Doesn’t Disappear
📌 (3:56) Some Time Intensive Research is Harder to Do
📌 (4:15) Letting Go and Opportunities for Your Team
📌 (4:41) Caveats: Totally Different Leadership Roles
📌 (5:17) Transitioning From Temporary Acting Roles
📌 (5:31) Acting in a Role Shortcuts Your Learning
📌 (5:45) Acting and Ongoing Can Be Perceived Differently
📌 (6:05) Leadership Skills Are Research Skills
📌 (6:27) Increased Access to Information & Decision Makers
📌 (7:03) Things to Consider When Taking a Role
📌 (7:08) Choosing Where to Stay in Technical Touch
📌 (7:36) Commit to Get the Full Experience
📌 (8:10) Requesting Extra Support
📌 (8:15) Resourcing for Junior Group Leadership
📌 (8:28) Administrative Support
📌 (8:36) Support for Transitioning After the Role
📌 (8:55) Final Notes – Not Overthinking
📌 (9:23) Experience That Informs Your Career Planning

I’ve been fortunate to travel ✈ a lot over the last 20 years, both professionally and personally.

One thing I’ve refined over many years is my so-called “carry on only” baggage game for work trips specifically. This is where you only take carry-onto-the-plane baggage and no checked-into-the-plane-hold baggage.

The idea being on busy trips you substantially reduce the chance of your checked baggage going missing, or not getting transferred onto a tight connection, which can throw a tightly planned itinerary into disarray.

First up, should acknowledge this is only feasible for some people and in some situations: if you’re travelling with your family, have a health condition that requires extra equipment, or need to take items on your trip that are only allowed in checked baggage, just for example, this is not viable. And what I need to take will be different to what others have to take.

But for when you can attempt carry on only, there’s a lot of simple tricks and items that can make your life that much easier, which I cover in this video, made “authentically” in my New York City hotel room, in the middle of my current two week work trip touring around the USA.

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Carry On Only
📌 (0:39) Key Motivations
📌 (1:20) Only Suitable in Some Situations
📌 (2:36) The Bag Situation
📌 (3:57) Vacuum Bags
📌 (5:15) Toiletries Bag and Contents
📌 (6:42) Passport Wallets
📌 (7:20) Noise Cancelling Headphones
📌 (7:58) Power Banks, Cables and Adaptors
📌 (9:03) Document Folder
📌 (9:25) Laundry Bag
📌 (9:52) Folding a Business Shirt
📌 (11:23) Folding Jackets
📌 (12:02) Comfortable Pants
📌 (13:12) Fabric Shopping Bag
📌 (13:44) Lip Balm
📌 (13:50) Backup Alarm
📌 (14:19) Pandemic and Health Items
📌 (15:03) Antibacterial Wipes
📌 (15:29) Antibacterial Wipes
📌 (15:54) Quickly Removable Footwear
📌 (16:08) Bags as Packed
📌 (16:15) Summary

If you are in the business of applying for #grants or #fellowships, you are in most cases in the business of writing #rejoinders!

The rejoinder is a critical stage in many grant applications where you get the chance to increase the proposal’s prospects, potentially getting it across the line to acceptance and award. For what is often just a few hundred carefully chosen words, you can make a very big difference to your chance of success!

In this #HackingAcademia video, I outline the key considerations and concepts that can help you make your grant rejoinders as effective as possible. In particularly I cover the key characteristics and rules of the rejoinder process that affect how you can go about the rejoinder, the process of reading and digesting the reviews themselves, and the key concepts that shape how you go about writing the rejoinder itself, including “less is more”.

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Rejoinders
📌 (0:09) The Rejoinder as Part of the Grant Process
📌 (0:25) Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Rejoinder
📌 (0:34) What The Rejoinder Can and Can’t Do
📌 (1:16) Understanding The Grant-Specific Rejoinder Rules
📌 (1:24) Do Reviewers See Your Rejoinder?
📌 (1:44) Typical Constraints: Only Factual Correction
📌 (1:58) Typical Constraints: No New Content
📌 (2:11) Rules Can Both Be Absolute and Subjective
📌 (2:33) Understanding The Amount of Signal in Reviews
📌 (3:00) Example: High Scoring, Highly Critical Reviewers
📌 (3:11) Calibrating Risk Appetite in High Signal Situations
📌 (3:26) Negative versus Positive Reviews
📌 (3:55) Read Reviews Multiple Times and Sleep On It!
📌 (4:14) Categorized Highlighting of Reviews
📌 (4:29) Get Multiple Opinions
📌 (4:39) Drafting the Rejoinder: Key Concepts
📌 (4:52) Key Concept: Less is More
📌 (5:13) Key Concept: Words That Do Double Duty
📌 (5:37) An Attitude of Calm Assurance and Confidence
📌 (6:02) Choosing Your Battles
📌 (6:31) Group Reviewer Comments in Themes
📌 (7:02) Panels May Partially or Fully Disregard Comments
📌 (7:27) Keep Responses to Crazy Comments Short
📌 (7:42) Formatting and Spacing is Your Friend
📌 (8:10) Be Deliberate In Where You Spend Your Words
📌 (8:35) Where Possible Reference Existing Content
📌 (9:01) Rejoinders are for Crisp Responses Not Debates
📌 (9:27) Dealing with Inappropriate Reviewer Comments
📌 (10:07) Rejoinder Excellence is a Worthy Skill to Develop
📌 (10:34) Rejoinder Writing Helps With Other Skills

Most academics and researchers in a university context will engage in some sort of work with industry, government or public organisations at some stage in their career. However, how this is done can vary hugely: the experiences of a biotechnologist engaging with industry in the agriculture sector can be worlds apart from that of a computer scientist engaging with the technology sector.

One of the key variations is in the volatility of the field you’re working in – are the companies, and the people you’re interacting with, typically still there a decade later, or does everything change every 6 months? In this video, I’m focus on a bunch of practical advice on how to effectively generate and process leads in rapidly moving and volatile industries, so that this sort of activity becomes a fulfilling positive addition to your career, instead of a traumatising drain on it! In particular, I cover three key concepts: that this enterprise is very much a numbers game, that effective filtering and referrals are key, and explain the role of timelines and uncertainty.

Please reshare if useful 🙏

🕒 Timestamps are as follows:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Effective Engagement
📌 (0:20) The Training Situation
📌 (0:33) Experiences Vary Hugely Based on Sector
📌 (0:53) Stable Versus Volatile Sectors
📌 (1:23) Video Overview – Practical Advice for Engagement
📌 (1:39) Three Key Concepts
📌 (1:52) Key Concept: It’s A Numbers Game
📌 (2:30) Maximizing Only Credible Leads
📌 (2:40) Doing It Yourself Doesn’t Scale
📌 (2:59) Two Key Solutions for the Scaling Challenge
📌 (3:13) Working With Your Industry Engagement Leads
📌 (4:17) Co-Opting Your Colleagues
📌 (5:02) Key Concept: Lead Filtering
📌 (5:14) Don’t Exhaust Yourself For the Wrong Opportunity
📌 (5:40) Filtering by Expertise Fit
📌 (5:49) Three Fit Types: Not Suitable, Competent, Perfect
📌 (6:12) Perfect Fit Projects Provide More Capacity Margin
📌 (6:31) There Typically Aren’t Enough Perfect Fit Projects
📌 (6:43) Limited Timelines Can Change Your Filter
📌 (7:18) Filtering Based on the Development Stage
📌 (7:29) Three Stages of Development
📌 (7:32) Early Stage Conceptual Ideas
📌 (8:16) Well Developed Ideas With a Detailed Plan
📌 (8:51) Joining Existing Projects
📌 (9:18) Do Due Diligence on Existing Opportunities
📌 (9:37) Your Appetite May Be Different to Others
📌 (9:52) Idea Stage Often Determines Input Level
📌 (10:06) Timing: Engagement Can Pay Off Much Later
📌 (10:58) An Increased Reputational Focus On Prior Work
📌 (11:23) You Can’t Force One Opportunity to Be Successful
📌 (12:11) You Can Successfully Engage In Fast Moving Fields