SAWG Round 3 exchanges are happening this week!

* Due date this week
* Productivity tip: The To Do Matrix
* Remaining cycle due dates

It's the week of June 21, so your third document exchange should happen this week by whatever day and time your cluster decided. Most groups are in or entering the feedback phase now as we hit the halfway point of the program. Please remember to give constructive feedback that focuses on the arguments and ideas, not on the person or his/her writing skills.

Scholarly Productivity Tip: The To Do Matrix
Do you ever wonder how the highly productive people get it all done? Most of them think not of a to do list - a (ordered or unordered) roster of things - but instead of a to do matrix, a two-dimensional sorting of tasks.

For most, one dimension relates to some cognitive aspect of the task: how intensive/difficult it is, how urgent or prioritized it is, its importance to their work. What dimension is right for you here is going to be something you need to work out, but for most academics in the summertime, I'd think about sorting by things that require A-brain energy (most cognitively demanding), B-brain energy (moderately demanding), and C-brain energy (minimally demanding). What goes in each category will vary by person. New writing is often an A item, except for things like the methods section where you're writing up what you already did, so that's probably a B.

The second dimension, however, is always the same: Time for completion. Time to completion estimates matter because they help you match available time windows to available tasks. I, for example, had a 20 min window open up, and I immediately knew I should write this essay because I could complete it in that time, and finish the rest of the email in another 10 min window. 

Depending on your circumstances, you may be planning <5 min, <15 min, and <30 min. You might also be planning 15, 30, 60, or any of a range of other durations. I recommend breaking tasks into subtasks that you can complete in no more than one hour.  Consider treating most emails in a block rather than scheduling them separately, or use them as 5 min fillers if you're scaling that small. 

Being able to match available time and available tasks is, effectively, acting as your own manager. Good bosses match the employee and the task and the time available. Being able to do this rapidly and exploit every small window that arises during work hours is key to maximizing productivity while still having effective downtime out of work hours. Thinking about your to-do's in a matrix, then, gives you that information to maximize use of those mini-bits of time.

Some of us only have mini-bits of time.  We have family and other responsibilities that require us to squeeze work in between other tasks. Having a list of tasks presorted by how long they'll take and how demanding they'll be circumvents that mental time spent searching for a task and deciding what you have time for.

THIS APPROACH IS HEALTHY IN MODERATION, and needs to be paired with a substantial amount of intentional unscheduled downtime to be sustainable. That's how - and why - the highly productive work 9-5 and take evenings and weekends off. It's a critical part of the cycle. You need to train yourself that downtime is part of the plan. You can fill every minute during work hours, but then you need to take time off afterward. 

 
Remaining Cycle Due Dates:
Cycle 4: week of 5 July
Cycle 5: week of 19 July
Cycle 6: week of 2 August
Cycle 7 (optional): week of 16 August