Time Management and Self-Organisation in Academia. Markus Riedenauer
grants. Professors and department chairs enjoy greater freedom and, for their part, shape the freedom available to young academics.
Larger research projects, which of course also include dissertations, usually have little internal time structure. Where you do not work in well-organised teams, but mainly alone, where there are no limited and fixed times in the laboratory, you must structure sensibly the long period of multiple semesters or years, break down your project into substeps and subgoals, set target dates, and organise your weekly working hours. You can often make your own appointments for regular feedback to supervisors or colleagues and postpone them easily because they are seldom annoyed when a meeting is cancelled.
Teaching at a university used to be done with considerable freedom, the professor would proclaim his (or more rarely her) sovereign ‘decisions’ on the topics of their seminars or lectures. This has changed very much; the Bologna Process requirements to standardise degree programmes into modules resulted in predetermining most course content in all semesters. Even if the expansion of compulsory courses restricts opportunities for special lectures, new seminars, or alternative exercises, you can often exchange courses with lecturers within the institute or repeat courses that have already been held—possibly with different emphases. However, great creative freedom still remains with regard to the methods and didactics: structuring the material to be presented over the semester, deciding when to go in-depth or only survey a subject, choosing examples, selecting literature or other teaching aids, including methods of e-learning, partner or group work, giving space for discussions, etc.
These freedoms, which require a high degree of self-discipline, can inspire and motivate, but also disorientate. In part, other factors influence them.
•How free am I in my research, teaching, and time management?
•In which areas do I feel somewhat unfree?
•How important are my freedoms, what are they worth to me?
Challenges
Specific challenges for those working in academia follow directly from the previously outlined freedoms. An initial consequence is the difficulty of estimating the specific returns on investments of time and energy, which raises these kinds of questions:
•What difference will it make to the learning success of students if I thoroughly rework my lecture X or that course Y?
•How important is it to publish an essay or paper on a topic that is new to me and thus show broader competence? Is there any point in writing another paper on a topic I published on already?
•Is it worthwhile to get involved in a side topic of my dissertation, or does it tend to distract me from the essentials?
•Can I, for example, make an impact as a representative of the mid-level faculty in my department that would be reasonably proportional to the time spent on these extra efforts?
•How should I balance my research, teaching, and other commitments?
The success of individual activities in both research and teaching often becomes apparent only later, perhaps after years—while it also common knowledge that the most important factor in scholarly success is investing time. Therefore, it is important to set criteria for deciding on priorities and not become discouraged while waiting for signs of success. The less positive feedback you receive from outside, the less that academic work is externally motivated (such as by above-average salaries), the more important it becomes to cultivate, on the one hand, your intrinsic motivation and, on the other hand, to ensure that external incentives arrive regularly.
•What does ‘success’ mean to me in research, teaching, and administrative work?
•How can I measure it?
•When do I get feedback ‘along the way’ that I am on the right path and making progress?
•Where can I build in additional encouragement stations like these?
For large projects and tasks, define partial goals that you review at predefined dates in order to raise awareness and to celebrate partial successes (see Chapter IV for more detail, especially under ‘Achieving goals’ and ‘Evaluation’)!
Frequently, an obstacle is that other people’s expectations and quality requirements are not quite clear, so that you do not know when your research or teaching can be considered successful. Many working on a master’s or magister thesis, and many doctoral candidates, are unsure if their writing is meeting the relevant criteria for a good text in their field. Without a doctoral group or something similar, collegial feedback is rare, or one does not dare to ask continually for comments.
What qualifies as a good lecture or a successful seminar is somewhat clearer, and meanwhile more emphasis is placed on regular teaching evaluations that provide a guideline. Nevertheless, the question remains of realistic targets beyond the students’ expectations and your own ideal image of a university lecturer or instructor: How do you prepare for and complete teaching obligations while having enough time and energy for your other tasks?
You must answer these questions yourself—especially if you face too many or even contradictory expectations. If you feel left alone due to a lack of feedback and assessment of your work by others, you should specifically ask for a response and not grope in the dark full of self-doubt.
A certain amount of trial and error seems to be part of academic freedom, and trying new things has value: subjectively, insofar as it is enjoyable, and objectively, as it generates innovation. But also see the limits: Routine tasks can be done following proven patterns and criteria. Do not strain your creativity and time in areas where the experience of others can make your work easier.
Many scholars also see their profession as a vocation, insofar as their work corresponds to their intrinsic interests and talents and to what they want to realise in life. This is matched by the relatively high degree of self-determination, which is why people gladly accept that they must work at home, in the evenings, and on weekends. The trap, however, is that work and private life intertwine too much without maintaining a rhythm of time conducive to a healthy life. The ‘home office’ no longer has a noticeable distinction (only ‘office’, no longer ‘home’). Women scholars with children come under extra pressure in this context, but so do couples who both work at a university. Life relationships and children suffer as well as friendships, health, and recreation. The 2020 pandemic and the countermeasures exacerbated the situation for many people.
•How do I set the boundaries between work and private life?
•Do I feel a distinction between my various roles?
•What rhythms—especially daily and weekly—do I maintain?
So far, we have thought about challenges arising from academic freedoms. But then this profession also has specific difficulties and constraints directly opposed to these freedoms.
In theory, you are self-directed and personally responsible for your work, but in practice you must submit to the person guiding you or your research team. Or, external factors dictate your schedule, such as vegetation cycles in biology.
If you have an assistantship position supporting the completion of your doctorate, then your main task is writing your dissertation; however, at the same time your doctoral advisor and first examiner may serve as your supervisor at the institute and demand too much of your time for cooperating and assisting with many other tasks (called ‘burning out your assistants’). Such dual commitments can be fatal if you fear falling out of favour and being judged less positively by saying ‘no’. Language also expresses this lack of freedom: Strictly speaking, you can neither independently write a dissertation nor promote yourself to a doctoral title, but you can only be granted a doctorate. In general, both official and unofficial hierarchies call into question many aspects of freedom.
Tension results from your different roles: Towards students and as a member of the international ‘scholarly community’, you need to appear independent, confident, and self-assured—but structurally and legally you