Read on Twitter
Recently, Dr. @GretchenSneegas asked me how I manage multiple projects and push them forward. As you may know, on my blog (which will be soon reorganized!) I have a couple of blog posts on project management for academics.
For this specific Twitter thread, I'm going to focus on
For this specific Twitter thread, I'm going to focus on
... how I choose which projects to work on and how to manage moving them all forward.
In the before times, I used to do what I called a MEPFED strategy (Move Every Project Forward Every Day). http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/02/mepfedvswoped/
This method worked for me as I'd do a bit for each project...
In the before times, I used to do what I called a MEPFED strategy (Move Every Project Forward Every Day). http://www.raulpacheco.org/2017/02/mepfedvswoped/
This method worked for me as I'd do a bit for each project...
... on a regular basis.
I also suggested in my post that Working on One Project Every Day (so, bottled water on Monday, informal waste picking on Thursday) also worked fine for me (which is true, it did). Doing WOPED allowed me to compartmentalize. https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=7mn6g3oAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
I also suggested in my post that Working on One Project Every Day (so, bottled water on Monday, informal waste picking on Thursday) also worked fine for me (which is true, it did). Doing WOPED allowed me to compartmentalize. https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=7mn6g3oAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
During these pandemic times, I've experienced some duress (my parents are aging, I decided to basically move in with my Mom so I could be near her and my Dad, I still have my own house, so I need to travel back-and-forth to Aguascalientes, I switched jobs) so neither approach...
... gave me the peace of mind I needed to move my research forward knowing that I have a very immunocompromised body and that my parents and I are all at risk because of COVID19.
So I've moved to a different approach, what I call the Research Streams Approach (RSA).
So I've moved to a different approach, what I call the Research Streams Approach (RSA).
If you read my Research Interests, you'll know I'm a multi-method, interdisciplinary scholar http://www.raulpacheco.org/my-research-2/my-research/
With a background in chemical engineering, economics of technical change, business administration, leather science, political science and human geography...
With a background in chemical engineering, economics of technical change, business administration, leather science, political science and human geography...
... I often move across areas (water, bottled water, wastewater, solid waste, environmental activism and protests, water conflict, polycentricity) and disciplines (political science, public policy, public administration, human geography) and methods (ethnography, experiments).
As I mentioned in my thread, I am now using a Research Streams Approach.
One of my Research Streams is "Comparative Qualitative Methods": comparative ethnography, comparative case studies, process tracing across countries/subnational contexts, etc.
Another Research Stream is
One of my Research Streams is "Comparative Qualitative Methods": comparative ethnography, comparative case studies, process tracing across countries/subnational contexts, etc.
Another Research Stream is
"Waste and Discards" and yet another one is "Bottled Water".
I am currently writing two book chapters: one on doubly-engaged ethnography for bottled water and discards and another one on research methods to study waste. Both of these combine 2 Research Streams nicely.
I am currently writing two book chapters: one on doubly-engaged ethnography for bottled water and discards and another one on research methods to study waste. Both of these combine 2 Research Streams nicely.
So, what I am reading right now and what I am writing about combines two Research Streams and thus what I read is also associated with those streams (check out my entries in the #AICCSED September Reading and Annotating Challenge) http://www.raulpacheco.org/2020/09/the-september-2020-aiccsed-reading-annotating-and-systematizing-challenge/
I try to stay focused.
I try to stay focused.
I am also writing 2 papers on informal waste and informal water vending. Both of these papers fall under combinations of Research Streams (Water and Informality, and Waste and Informality). So I am also trying to stay within the informality theory scholarship for reading/writing.
I also got invited to write a paper on the politics of climate change in Mexico. I do write on climate politics but it's more rare. So I had to basically set aside every other writing project to re-read, delve deeply into the climate literature. I know it, but I have to re-read.
I struggled with finishing this book chapter because I am often removed from the climate literature. Had it been on informal water or informal waste, I would have cranked it out in a couple of weeks easily (I am healthy now and my psoriasis/eczema/dermatitis/chronic pain receded)
But contrary to other projects (where I applied either MEPFED or WOPED), this time I stayed with the climate politics literature until I was done (I sent it out last week).
So now I'm back to informality, ethnography, waste and water. These are areas where I write comfortably.
So now I'm back to informality, ethnography, waste and water. These are areas where I write comfortably.
I'll probably go back to Bottled Water stuff in about 3-4 weeks time, once I get these four pieces out.
One proviso to the Research Streams Approach (RSA). If I get an R&R (a revise-and-resubmit), I listen to every senior scholar who tells me "DROP EVERYTHING AND RESUBMIT".
One proviso to the Research Streams Approach (RSA). If I get an R&R (a revise-and-resubmit), I listen to every senior scholar who tells me "DROP EVERYTHING AND RESUBMIT".
This is super-hard for me, and I often times dread working on R&Rs. I am super, super, super afraid that "one wrong move, you're an organ donor". That is, I am scared that if I screw up the response to reviewers I will not have my paper published (I do have posts on R&Rs too!)
But the more senior of a scholar I become, the more used I get to the fact that if my paper doesn't get published in journal A, it'll end up in journal Z at some point (or in a book, or elsewhere).
I no longer have absurdly high expectations of where I am going to publish.
I no longer have absurdly high expectations of where I am going to publish.
Thus, while I eschew making recommendations, I would suggest that regardless of which approach you take (MEPFED/WOPED/RSA/write whenever my care obligations/health allow me to), you should TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES FIRST, especially your health and well-being.
These are not the times for productivity. If I write about stuff like this, it's with the understanding that whatever I do I'm doing it to survive this pandemic, continue my research, teach as well as I can, and not kill myself in the process.
Take care of yourselves.
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Take care of yourselves.
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