Getting things done for your research

Our profession (if you can call it that) is what people call "creative", meaning that the process is as important as the results.  Sometimes it is very easy for the grad student to spend all his time on the process and left none for the results.  A technician told me, in his 25 years working at the university, he has perhaps seen only 1 out of 8 students who completed their research successfully.  Success, as in demonstrating how a new idea works and have the hard data to show, that is.  From my life as a grad student, I would say his estimate is in-line with my observations.

Unfortunately, for the outside world, this is perceived as "not getting things done".  What they think of use, however, has a hint of truth in it, and I would like to suggest ways to turn things around.

Mitigate your risk. Granted your success depends on a lot of things, luck being one of them, I think it is also the risky nature of graduate research.  You are charting unknown territory, and you won't know if something works unless you try it.   I have seen students going "all out", designing the most sophisticated equipment and ordering very expensive parts, only to see their plans fell apart for reasons unknown after investing only 4 years and almost $100k.  Now, if you are that grad student, will you spend that money and time to find out, or would you look for something that would provide feedback faster and cheaper?

Exercise judgement.  Good judgement and experience also help getting results faster.  If a professor suggests to you a possible solution that is not 100% certain, has a 8-week waiting time, and costs 600 bucks, you might want to look elsewhere for a solution.  In my case, I managed to find one that worked every time, worked that very evening, and cost nothing.  Always ask yourself if the end justifies the means, and if not, move on to something that does.

Know your limits.  No matter where you are, at some point you will end up doing things you are not very good at.  They will be the bottleneck of your progress.  Out of bravado (I am still accused of that once in a while) one would try to trek even further into unknown territory and get themselves exposed to further risk.  For things you are not good at, give it a day or two to try.  If the progress don't look too encouraging, look for ways to get around them, quickly.

Accept failures. Sometimes things stagnate out of fear of failure.  I waited about 2 months before I started my very first field test, because I was honestly afraid of seeing something to go horribly wrong.  It did, and it did throughout.  Thankfully things were minor, and could be fixed without causing injury.  The trick is to accept that things will go wrong, but take every steps to minimize your exposure if it does.

More difficult to deal with is, perhaps, when "bad" results arrive.  I had those on my desk, and it was discouraging.  I eventually found out what happened, but only a few months later.  I must admit, a trip to the supervisor's office might not give me a solution right away, but it would give confidence, and would have shaved 2 months off.

Clean up after yourself.  In the chaos of the grad students' labs, it is tempting to make patchwork solution that works right away to get you out of here.  It might sound like a good idea, but it slows everyone down.  A very able colleague got some results, got out, but it didn't take long to find out how he did it.  Good that we did a very thorough check (1 week) of the lab before we started.  Most of that time was spent on weeding out things that he introduced during his stay.

Grad research is no different than other types of work.  True, there is a lot more risk involved, but it is possible to moderate your risk with good judgement.  Once in a while, things will not work the way you wanted, but it is time to look for other interpretations (through other opinions).  Most importantly, knowing that you are not working alone, help others get things done as well.