https://michaelnielsen.org/blog/principles-of-effective-research/

Richard Hamming describes setting aside time each week for “Great Thoughts”, time in which he would focus on and discuss with others only things that he believed were of the highest importance. Systematically setting aside time to think (and talk with colleagues) about where the important problems are is an excellent way of developing as a problem-creator.

When you identify such a mess, the natural inclination of many people is to shy away, to find something that is easier to understand.

But a field that is a mess is really an opportunity. Chances are good that there are deep unifying and simplifying concepts still waiting to be understood and developed by someone – perhaps you. the importance of identifying the messes. What areas of physics appear to be a state of mess? Funnily enough, one of the signs of this can be that it’s very hard to understand.

Imagine Andrew Wiles feeling if he had worked on Fermat’s Last Theorem for several decades, and completely failed. For most people, the fear of ending up in such a situation is enough to discourage them from doing this. Being clear about some goal, even if that goal is the wrong goal, or the clarity is illusory, is tremendously powerful. For the most part, it’s better to be doing something, rather than nothing, provided, of course, that you set time aside frequently for reflection and reconsideration of your goals. Much of the time in research is spent in a fog, and taking the time to set clear goals can really help lift the fog.

The great mathematician Andrei Kolmogorov described an interesting trick that he used to get around this problem. Rather than investing all his time and effort on attacking the problem, he’d put the problem into a larger context. He’d announce a seminar series in which he’d lecture on material that he thought would be related to the problem. He’d write a set of lecture notes (often turning into a book) on material related to the problem. That way, he lowered the psychological pressure on himself. Rather than investing all his effort in an attack on the problem – which might ultimately be a complete waste of time – he knew that he’d produce something of value.

By making the research process part of a larger endeavour, he ensured that the process was a success no matter how it came out, even if he failed to solve the problem, or was scooped by someone else. It’s a case of not putting all of one’s psychological eggs in one basket.

https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

https://stevemcconnell.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ClassicMistakes.pdf Avoiding Classic Mistakes [In Software Engineering]

“If you can’t find time to do the job right in the first place,” the old chestnut goes, “how will you find time to do it again later?”

“We didn’t have time to do a Design”

The bottom line is that organizations that succumb to silver-bullet syndrome tend not to improve their productivity at all; indeed, they often go backward.

Conduct project postmortems to identify the classic mistakes particular to your organization. Exchange war stories with colleagues in other organizations to learn about the mistakes they’ve made. Create checklists of mistakes for use in your project planning. Post lists of classic mistakes on your group’s bulletin board for use in project monitoring. Appoint a “classic mistakes watchdog” to sound an alarm if your project begins to succumb to a classic mistake.

🔗 http://theory.caltech.edu/~preskill/all-i-really-need-to-know.pdf ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW —- David P. Srern

“Being a physicist is a great privilege. Be worthy of it. Most of humanity spends its life doing boring repetitive tasks.”