Chapter 4 Team Management

There’s a lot happening as you start your graduate degree. To make things easier for everyone, I will (force) the research group to use the following tools:

  1. Microsoft Outlook for the calendar functionality*

  2. Slack for project and general intralab communications (as opposed to email)

  3. Github for version control and code storage

    *you’re free to use any other mail/calendar app! My one request is that you find one that can sync with my Outlook calendar so you can see my availability for meetings to help schedule any 1:1 meetings

Other than the things above, you should explore other tools to help you make your time in grad school enjoyable. Based on my own experience, I will highly recommend the following tools for ease of consistency (and general bad experiences with competing products), but you are more than welcome to use an alternative.

Task Suggested Program Other Options
Manuscript Writing

Google Docs/Microsoft Word

  • These programs unfortunately have pros and cons each and are good for different stages of writing a manuscript. Google Docs is exceptionally good for collaborative writing while Word is good for final formatting
 LaTeX
Research Notes OneNote Obsidian, Notion
Reference Management

Zotero

  • Integrates well with Word/Google Docs
 Paperpile
Project Management GitProject Trello
Data Backup OneDrive AND Group Sharepoint Drive AND local/external hard drives
Code Backup Github, local drives
Graphics, Posters, Final Figures Figma Adobe Illustrator, Powerpoint

4.1 Managing Up

To help me help you, it would be great for you to do the following:

  • Be prepared for our regular one-on-one meetings to: remind what was outstanding last time, discuss progress, new questions/roadblocks, and plans for next meeting. If you’d like a template to start with/adapt, consider using this

  • As a rule of thumb, if you’re stuck on something for more than several hours, seek help!

  • Keeping good documentation of code, data, assumptions. I encourage you to use a combination of a markdown system (RMarkdown, Quarto, Jupyter notebook, etc.) for code and research notebook (e.g. OneNote)

  • I am happy to communicate via Slack messages and face-to-face chats

    • Slack has the benefit of keeping a record of our discussion for posterity, and is great for short/easy questions, dropping interim figures/analyses, etc.

    • Face-to-face is better for in-depth discussions, multiple topics, etc.

  • Keep on top of important dates for degree milestones/forms, conferences, etc. especially if you need feedback/signatures, etc. and tell Fred in advance!