GTD: write a thesis and stay alive

This article is not for academics and not for researchers - they are supposed to write a dissertation. This article is for programmers, leading programmers and other IT workers who, for whatever reason, have entered graduate school and are looking for the strength to defend a disserter.

Having recently completed this quest to the end, I want to share lifehacks that I missed so much myself. It is known that the experience comes after it was very necessary. I generalize my experience for Habr, diluting it with advice from colleagues from Virtuozzo and Parallels, candidates and doctors of science.


')
1 / Work on a topic related to a thesis
Advice from the category of "thank you, cap." Not everyone is lucky so that the company has high-tech tasks, as is usual with us. But it is also true that the task was formulated by me and initially conveyed its significance to the management, too, I. Many companies will not mind if you work on a work-related topic in your free time. And when the prototype is already started, it is quite possible that you will be given both working time for its final debugging and production facilities for testing.

2 / Find hard deadline sources
Deadline at the end of graduate school does not mean a deadline for protection. Thus, my thesis stretched for almost 7 years. And in the 7th year they helped me again: in the presence of a prototype, the company itself was pushing it so that the result would meet on time. Deadline should be tangible: for its violation you should have some specific problems - a lost bet on money with the boys, scolding at work for a deadline, a ripped trip to the Bahamas

3 / Come up with a comfortable description of the process
Thesis is not a duty. dissertation is time for yourself. This is an act of self-development. This is creativity. This is proof. This is curiosity satisfaction. In general, enjoy the process.

4 / Develop a dissertation ritual
One of my colleagues every morning got up an hour earlier than his wife and wrote-wrote-wrote. As far as I know, at the end of the dissertation, he could no longer induce / awaken himself to such a ritual.

5 / Do not do research alone
Writing an article for two is 2.5 times easier than writing an article for one. And less work and more motivation. Many studies require different skills. I have mastered a bunch of different technologies myself, which of course is commendable, but somewhat stupid. Solomon wrote with Russinovich, Kormen along with Rivest, Stein and Leiserston - you are not worse, are you?

6 / Formulate working motivation
Even if you are not going to engage in academic activities, a finished project is better than unfinished. The thesis is a reason to talk with a huge number of interesting people. Meet other views on the problem. Visit the conferences and find like-minded people. Practice writing large folding texts. Bring the result to shine (where else the perfectionist will find his paradise?). Implement a large project, in which you are interested above all, and not someone else's side - a sort of training in the direction of your business or your research laboratory.
At the same time, I honestly say that the thesis is quite a voluminous piece. In my opinion, it is justifiable to engage in a thesis when it is related to your mission. If you have somehow spent time on it, and now you are wondering if your dissertation has surrendered to you, then either associate the direct or indirect (see above) results with the mission, or make the courageous decision to stop.

7 / Look for support and find it.
I was amazed how many people were willing to help me. Sincerely. To advise, to listen, to penetrate, to recommend a book, or to casually suggest the right mate. apparatus. Spend your time, listen to the next run of the presentation. Bow to them to the ground. Not all, of course, people are so unconditionally kind. But they don’t take money for the demand - until you ask for advice, you can hardly hear it

8 / Do not be scared by formalities.
I was frightened by stories about endless piles of paper through which it is difficult to break through. On the one hand, thank you very much to my assistants from among the students who took to take the papers to places like ISP RAS, VS RAS, MIPT, etc. On the other hand, these papers didn’t have such a catastrophic amount. Moreover, WAC, oddly enough, improves its processes. So, they refused to postcards (sic!) And replaced them with quite ordinary e-mails, which generally passed by me.

9 / Carefully work with the documentation and your notes on the topic.
I used Mendeley to streamline materials. To streamline thoughts, we used field field techniques from Weinberg on Writing . For ordering things, I used the classic GTD and Things . All results (or almost all, alas) versioned, laid out in folders and even partially backup-sludge. This is a tedious thing, but redoing the work 2-3 times after the lost packets / data / servers demotivates me many times more.

10 / Finish each your entry to the dissertation with specific instructions for the next entry.
With these instructions, you will begin work the next time. This hack significantly reduces the switching time. And inhibits procrastination. Cartmendum Max Dorofeyev can tell more about this in his presentation about Jedi techniques .

11 / Do not rely only on yourself
You will be tired. You will not have time. You decide to quit all of this, for "well_n \ 's not possible". And this is not a reason to go the distance. Look for support and support. Do you have family, partners in a golf club, God, or friends - think over the options to your liking.

12 / Experience performance boost
Thesis is an excellent task, described in SMART terms. Not so often in life such tasks fall. While working on a thesis, productivity increases significantly. Try it yourself.