Recently, Chase over at Studies in Semicolons started putting together a GTD-style trigger list for academics. I was inspired and took his invitation to modify the list for my own purposes. I think this will be quite useful in my weekly mind dumps as I try to get everything out of my head and into my “trusted” system. I hope to update this post as I go along, but if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Trigger List for Academic Scientists

Research

Current projects
- Experiment ideas
- Important control experiments
- Necessary equipment/resources
- Data analysis pipeline
Ideas for new projects
Ideas for mining existing data resources
Improvements to experimental protocols or analysis methods
Colleagues and potential collaborators

Advising

Coursework planning
Experiment planning
Data reports, lab meetings
Data analysis discussions
Figure/manuscript planning
Thesis proposals, defenses
Career planning

Writing

Grant proposals
Progress reports
Peer reviews
Primary articles
Review articles
Presentations
Posters
Conference abstracts
Departmental evaluations
News, press releases, and public outreach
Recommendation letters
Blog posts

Reading, note-taking

Primary articles
Review articles
Books
Blog posts

Coursework

Courses I am teaching
- Lecture prep
- Exam prep
- Course website updates
- Grading
Courses I may or might like to teach
- Textbooks, readings
- Syllabus planning
- Assignment planning
Classes I am taking
- Readings
- Assignments
- Exams
Classes I may or might like to take

Academic meetings

Registration and travel plans
Abstract submission
Lecture/poster planning and prep
Networking

Communications

E-mails
Phone calls
Face-to-face

Waiting for…

Responses from colleagues and collaborators
Submitted article reviews from journals
Grant reviews

Service

Thesis committees
Administrative committees
Reading/editing for colleagues
Community service
Academic society service

Miscellaneous

CV updates
Website updates