Comments on: 20% of the Time, 80% of the Value http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed Cate extends Human implements Programmer Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Cate http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-380 Cate Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:41:01 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-380 I found out my TA for the coming semester - beginner Java. Still in French, but I'm really excited about it and I think it will be a big improvement. I definitely need to work on skipping or not reading all of papers (and other things) that aren't useful. I worry I'll miss stuff too much! Need to let it go. Since I started printing papers out, it's much faster and much more pleasant. I've subscribed to that blog and added the book to my cart of Amazon :-) thanks for the recommendations! I found out my TA for the coming semester – beginner Java. Still in French, but I’m really excited about it and I think it will be a big improvement.

I definitely need to work on skipping or not reading all of papers (and other things) that aren’t useful. I worry I’ll miss stuff too much! Need to let it go. Since I started printing papers out, it’s much faster and much more pleasant.

I’ve subscribed to that blog and added the book to my cart of Amazon :-) thanks for the recommendations!

]]> By: Cate http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-1133 Cate Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:41:00 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-1133 I found out my TA for the coming semester - beginner Java. Still in French, but I'm really excited about it and I think it will be a big improvement. I definitely need to work on skipping or not reading all of papers (and other things) that aren't useful. I worry I'll miss stuff too much! Need to let it go. Since I started printing papers out, it's much faster and much more pleasant. I've subscribed to that blog and added the book to my cart of Amazon :-) thanks for the recommendations! I found out my TA for the coming semester – beginner Java. Still in French, but I’m really excited about it and I think it will be a big improvement.

I definitely need to work on skipping or not reading all of papers (and other things) that aren’t useful. I worry I’ll miss stuff too much! Need to let it go. Since I started printing papers out, it’s much faster and much more pleasant.

I’ve subscribed to that blog and added the book to my cart of Amazon :-) thanks for the recommendations!

]]> By: Cate http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-327 Cate Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:59:48 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-327 I just came across this from Penelope Trunk - http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/05/23/time-management-discussion-with-ann-althouse-only-sort-of/ It's kinda related to this. Lots of great tips - looking forward to spending time on them and thinking about this in more detail once I've finished this paper! For the TA-ing thing, part of it is the whole situation which (I'm assured) is a one-off, of 4 off given the number of TAs for this course... I also TA in French, which is difficult for me as I'm not bilingual. I'm confident it'll be better next semester, if I TA again. And I definitely play the racing games with marking! Only way not to lose my mind! I just came across this from Penelope Trunk – http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/05/23/time-management-discussion-with-ann-althouse-only-sort-of/

It’s kinda related to this. Lots of great tips – looking forward to spending time on them and thinking about this in more detail once I’ve finished this paper!

For the TA-ing thing, part of it is the whole situation which (I’m assured) is a one-off, of 4 off given the number of TAs for this course… I also TA in French, which is difficult for me as I’m not bilingual. I’m confident it’ll be better next semester, if I TA again. And I definitely play the racing games with marking! Only way not to lose my mind!

]]> By: Cate http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-1132 Cate Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-1132 I just came across this from Penelope Trunk - http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/05/23/time-management-discussion-with-ann-althouse-only-sort-of/ It's kinda related to this. Lots of great tips - looking forward to spending time on them and thinking about this in more detail once I've finished this paper! For the TA-ing thing, part of it is the whole situation which (I'm assured) is a one-off, of 4 off given the number of TAs for this course... I also TA in French, which is difficult for me as I'm not bilingual. I'm confident it'll be better next semester, if I TA again. And I definitely play the racing games with marking! Only way not to lose my mind! I just came across this from Penelope Trunk – http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/05/23/time-management-discussion-with-ann-althouse-only-sort-of/

It’s kinda related to this. Lots of great tips – looking forward to spending time on them and thinking about this in more detail once I’ve finished this paper!

For the TA-ing thing, part of it is the whole situation which (I’m assured) is a one-off, of 4 off given the number of TAs for this course… I also TA in French, which is difficult for me as I’m not bilingual. I’m confident it’ll be better next semester, if I TA again. And I definitely play the racing games with marking! Only way not to lose my mind!

]]> By: Sacha Chua http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-320 Sacha Chua Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:49:39 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-320 Tweak marking and other activities you don't enjoy to see if you can be more efficient at them, or even make a game out of doing them well. For example, when marking exams, I realized that I could go much faster if I checked all the page 1s, then all the page 2s, and so on. Rubrics helped me streamline marking projects and made writing feedback easier. I worked out the point breakdown, what to look for, and some templates for recommending improvements. I still customized things a little bit, but it helped to have a checklist. Reading papers: Speed-read. You usually don't have to read every word. Keep a highlighter handy, or copy interesting segments into your citation/quote file. When I was doing my literature review for my thesis, I dumped snippets into a file formatted for the Unix "fortune" command, complete with BibTeX citations. It was easy to search the file for just the quotes relevant to a particular section, and it was fun randomizing quotes too. (Good way to break writer's block!) <a href="http://www.calnewport.com/blog/" rel="nofollow">Study Hacks</a> is an interesting academically-oriented blog. Check it out for inspiration if you're not already reading it. =) And yes, continue to recognize the value of the rest of your time. The book <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=mIsh15NIZCQC&dq=work+like+you're+showing+off&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=r8wnS__ROYfJlAfZrcynDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false" rel="nofollow">Work Like You're Showing Off</a> might be a good read for you too. Enjoy! Tweak marking and other activities you don’t enjoy to see if you can be more efficient at them, or even make a game out of doing them well. For example, when marking exams, I realized that I could go much faster if I checked all the page 1s, then all the page 2s, and so on.

Rubrics helped me streamline marking projects and made writing feedback easier. I worked out the point breakdown, what to look for, and some templates for recommending improvements. I still customized things a little bit, but it helped to have a checklist.

Reading papers: Speed-read. You usually don’t have to read every word. Keep a highlighter handy, or copy interesting segments into your citation/quote file. When I was doing my literature review for my thesis, I dumped snippets into a file formatted for the Unix “fortune” command, complete with BibTeX citations. It was easy to search the file for just the quotes relevant to a particular section, and it was fun randomizing quotes too. (Good way to break writer’s block!)

Study Hacks is an interesting academically-oriented blog. Check it out for inspiration if you’re not already reading it. =)

And yes, continue to recognize the value of the rest of your time. The book Work Like You’re Showing Off might be a good read for you too.

Enjoy!

]]> By: Sacha Chua http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-1131 Sacha Chua Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:49:00 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-1131 Tweak marking and other activities you don't enjoy to see if you can be more efficient at them, or even make a game out of doing them well. For example, when marking exams, I realized that I could go much faster if I checked all the page 1s, then all the page 2s, and so on. Rubrics helped me streamline marking projects and made writing feedback easier. I worked out the point breakdown, what to look for, and some templates for recommending improvements. I still customized things a little bit, but it helped to have a checklist. Reading papers: Speed-read. You usually don't have to read every word. Keep a highlighter handy, or copy interesting segments into your citation/quote file. When I was doing my literature review for my thesis, I dumped snippets into a file formatted for the Unix "fortune" command, complete with BibTeX citations. It was easy to search the file for just the quotes relevant to a particular section, and it was fun randomizing quotes too. (Good way to break writer's block!) <a href="http://www.calnewport.com/blog/" rel="nofollow">Study Hacks</a> is an interesting academically-oriented blog. Check it out for inspiration if you're not already reading it. =) And yes, continue to recognize the value of the rest of your time. The book <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=mIsh15NIZCQC&dq=work+like+you're+showing+off&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=r8wnS__ROYfJlAfZrcynDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false" rel="nofollow">Work Like You're Showing Off</a> might be a good read for you too. Enjoy! Tweak marking and other activities you don’t enjoy to see if you can be more efficient at them, or even make a game out of doing them well. For example, when marking exams, I realized that I could go much faster if I checked all the page 1s, then all the page 2s, and so on.

Rubrics helped me streamline marking projects and made writing feedback easier. I worked out the point breakdown, what to look for, and some templates for recommending improvements. I still customized things a little bit, but it helped to have a checklist.

Reading papers: Speed-read. You usually don’t have to read every word. Keep a highlighter handy, or copy interesting segments into your citation/quote file. When I was doing my literature review for my thesis, I dumped snippets into a file formatted for the Unix “fortune” command, complete with BibTeX citations. It was easy to search the file for just the quotes relevant to a particular section, and it was fun randomizing quotes too. (Good way to break writer’s block!)

Study Hacks is an interesting academically-oriented blog. Check it out for inspiration if you’re not already reading it. =)

And yes, continue to recognize the value of the rest of your time. The book Work Like You’re Showing Off might be a good read for you too.

Enjoy!

]]> By: Terri http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-318 Terri Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:30:29 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-318 I got lucky in maximizing my 20% with TAing: my department introduced tutorials where I'd be working in the lab directly with students. Soon, I was spending ~6hrs/week actually in the lab helping students, a few more hours a week as prep time writing tutorials, and very little time spent marking. Totally flip-flopped my 80-20 and I couldn't be happier. I got lucky in maximizing my 20% with TAing: my department introduced tutorials where I’d be working in the lab directly with students. Soon, I was spending ~6hrs/week actually in the lab helping students, a few more hours a week as prep time writing tutorials, and very little time spent marking. Totally flip-flopped my 80-20 and I couldn’t be happier.

]]> By: Terri http://www.catehuston.com/blog/2009/12/14/20-of-the-time-80-of-the-value/comment-page-1/#comment-1130 Terri Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:30:00 +0000 http://catehuston.com/blog/?p=1058#comment-1130 I got lucky in maximizing my 20% with TAing: my department introduced tutorials where I'd be working in the lab directly with students. Soon, I was spending ~6hrs/week actually in the lab helping students, a few more hours a week as prep time writing tutorials, and very little time spent marking. Totally flip-flopped my 80-20 and I couldn't be happier. I got lucky in maximizing my 20% with TAing: my department introduced tutorials where I’d be working in the lab directly with students. Soon, I was spending ~6hrs/week actually in the lab helping students, a few more hours a week as prep time writing tutorials, and very little time spent marking. Totally flip-flopped my 80-20 and I couldn’t be happier.

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