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Let’s talk about research productivity loss during COVID, root cause(s), and what we can do to minimize the damage. A thread 
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Every other Wednesday, I look forward to chatting with @JoshuaSchrier & @alexnorquist. We spend half the time talking science, and the other half brainstorming how we can better serve our research teams. Last night, we discussed positivity & growth despite difficult times.
Winston Churchill said, “never let a good crisis go to waste.” While there are undoubtedly opportunities as we negotiate our new normal, it's undeniable that productivity is down. Why this paradox? And how best to foster personal growth and team productivity?
There appear to be not one, but several, underlying root causes of productivity loss. (By examining myself, I notice them in my team.) And they conspire non-linearly to render a PI’s habitual group-management strategies less effective.
First, for future-oriented planners, *uncertainty* drains productive mental energy, reduces reserves, and renders thought patterns more “brittle.” When small new distractions (buzzing phone notifications, negative news…) surface, they have outsized destabilizing impacts.
Second, for social beings, *loneliness* deprives the emotional energy that would previously fuel productivity by working in teams.
Third, for worriers, *isolation* deprives the individual of the "mental guardrails" of team feedback / group work. Mental energy is allocated toward non-productive work — often, the primary task at hand is not executed, because worry about second-order effects becomes crippling.
In short, our electrochemical networks (brains) are exhausted fighting backpropagation with negative training sets (news cycles, bad habits, self talk…). Here are some strategies I’ve taken for myself, which have (modestly) boosted my productivity:
1) Schedule small-group work. Writing? Zoom with the co-first / senior author using real-time Overleaf editing. Permit small talk, as long as there’s a positive feedback loop created by two people interacting and co-creating together. It’s a win that stimulates offline momentum.
2) For the first draft, prioritize first-order thinking. Use the Feynman technique to get the main message right. Ask “why,” but not “what if.” Leave the “what ifs” and second-order thinking for the second draft / refinement. I think Experts call this “beating analysis paralysis”
3) As petty as this sounds, focus on making the other person *feel good* during your interaction. Optimize body language, verbal intonation, and word choice to maximize the number of smiles per minute in the other person. I think The Experts call this “emotional intelligence.”
(This will get you out of your own head for a while, breaking negative neural patterns. I believe The Experts call this “cognitive displacement.”)
I’d love to hear your opinions and strategies, to run a more effective group — and be more productive myself — during COVID times. Thanks for reading!
