Inger and Jason recorded an episode at 9pm at night on the 15th of November, before Inger took off for the UK. Inger was meant to edit and post this sometime in December, while travelling in the UK, but due to the vagaries of wifi and Christmas shopping, she ended up doing it at Heathrow airport on Christmas eve. So look, it's a little bit ... unplugged? But at least it's short (well, for us) and there's some good stuff in here - including a surprisingly long digression on KanBan boards. We figure there's got to be some dishwashing or gardening to do over the Christmas break when you can enjoy this nerd out. Happy Christmas to all who celebrate (and we hope the rest of you get a well earned break too).We'll be back sometime in January :-)Things we mentionedArticle Kevin sent us about leaders and managersPersonal Kanban: mapping work, navigating lifeMind the gap in the literatureCapacities appObsidian Field guide by mcsparkyTalk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find here there as @thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.

The Downs household has suffered a loss, while one member of the Mewburn household has discovered hither to unknown talents. Somehow the team still end up crapping about Obsidian a lot in the banter section. This is our second sabbatical mailbag episode (starting 20:44), which prompts a series of incredibly nerdy conversations about Microsoft Teams, Omnifocus, Text Expander, Obsidian, Bullet Journal etc - Even Nvivo and MaxQDA. In other words: the greatest hits. (A comment from listener Aaron has us wondering why most people's eyes glaze over when we start talking about this stuff, prompting Inger to wonder out loud if being interested in productivity is a bit like being a vegan. You decide!)Jason is reading Hunter S Thompson (starts 1:12:17) to avoid Inger giving him yet another romance novel. Oh, and Inger read the new Tiago Forte book so you don't have to - you're welcome. Lastly: Two Minute Tips (1:33:13)  lasts heaps longer than two minutes, fair warning.Stuff we mentioned:The Cat protection societyDavid Sparks Obsidian Field GuideOur first Obsidian Episode (mysteriously popular with listeners - warning. Super Nerdy)Danah Byrd Context CollapseTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Inger and Jason pop in for a brief, 2 minute-ish pod. The quickest episode in OTR pod history! It's not really an episode, just a reminder that we will be back next month. Thanks for all the amazing emails and speak pipes so far - we're enjoying them all and planning a big mailbag episode when we get back!Talk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

On The Reg is officially on hiatus until Inger returns from her sabbatical in August. Listen to our quick explainer so you know what is happening until then. We're asking you send in all your questions and thoughts so we can put together a reader mailbag episode when we come back.The claim here that Severance Pod has dropped are false, but honestly, it will be here really soon. Follow on Thesiswhisperer pod The claims about blog posts about writing with ChattieG etc are entirely true and can be fact checked on the Thesiswhisperer blog. Have a look at the latest one here, which is all about using ConnectedPapers.If you're in the UK, you can meet Inger at a couple of public talks in Cambridge:A lecture at Wolfson College, Cambridge on Tuesday 6 June at 5:30pm, which touches on themes from hernew book with Simon Clews ‘Be visible or Vanish’. There’s an in-person option if you can get to Cambridge, and an online version if you can’t: you can book here.She's also giving a lecture about the PhD in uncertain times where she will talk about the latest data on the UK market for research skills, at Kings College, Cambridge on Monday 10 July, 5:30 – 7:30pm: you can book hereWe'll be back.... Until August friends! Talk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Inger's dusty in this episode, after an epic David Lodge style dinner party the night before, but her blood pressure is the best her doctor has seen in years. By the time you listen to this she'll be in Cambridge, punting or something.Jason didn't win the annual hot cross bun off, but did invite Inger into the WhatsApp group so she could share the fun this year. There is also an unexpectedly long digression about workplace exploitation, so - a normal catch up.There was nothing in the mailbag! [28:53] (although we did get a bunch of letters the day after we recorded this, so some of you still love us- thank you). In the work problems segment [30:47] we talk about the new book from Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner called 'How big things get done', which Inger partially distilled into a Discussion Guide. It's an excellent book and Inger sees a lot of cross overs between how high speed rail projects fail and the length of time most people take to get a PhD. Enough crossovers at least to get on her ranty high horse, like - a lot. Jason listens patiently while she has All The Feelings about the PhD. Again.Moving on. Jason's been reading The Upside of irrationality, while Inger's been reading Navy SEALS romances (again) [1:14:06]. The real surprise is left for the end of this episode: the 2 minute tips section [1:17:37] which turns into an epic, agonised conversation about just how much of our jobs to delegate to ChattieG and the future of the university. It's heavy. You may need a drink or four, just like Inger did the night before. Talk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Jason has Novid now, but he dragged himself to the mic. Inger’s been sick again and, honestly - the first 20 minutes or so of this podcast is just ‘old people complaining about their health’ (but we know some of you really like that stuff, so we left it in). Katherine Firth rings in (18m:17s) to give Jason another romance novel recommendation for the upcoming On the Reg competitive reading cage death match.In our work problems segment (25m:43s) the team leverage the advice offered by James Clear in his book ‘Atomic habits’ and apply it to helping you write more productively. They are using a teaching slide deck which Inger made, so if you want to read along with the segment you can access the slide deck here. Jason has been reading up for a forthcoming episode on stakeholder engagement (1h:22m). Meanwhile, despite being sick Inger has been reading ALL the books, but really quickly: just so she can add them to the bibliography in her book. Finally, in two minute tips (1hr:32m) Jason suggests a new app which Inger thinks sounds very handy. Inger’s tip involves compares skim reading to smoking Weed... Not that the team have ever done that. Ever. Finally, the sound on this one is GREAT - Inger finally implemented all the tips suggested by Martin Emo last time and is amazed by what a towel on a desk can do! Thanks Martin! Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Links to stuff we mentioned in the PodBooks we discussed in our work segment:Atomic Habits: the easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones by James ClearLink to the slide deck that we used to structure this discussion, where Inger has notes on how to apply the lessons in Atomic habits to your writing.Writing without teachers Peter ElbowWriting your dissertation in 15 minutes a day Jean BolkerTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

It's been a busy couple of weeks leading up to the end of the year for both Inger and Jason. There's a lot of cars on their respective work highways. While Inger was 'snappish', Jason suddenly found himself Overwhelmed by everything. Jason describes his  terrible, no good Tuesday and tells Inger how he ate hot chips, went to afternoon Brazillian JuJitsu and bullet journaled his way out of it.  Inger knows the ways of Burnout after she got carried out of a lecture theatre to hospital in 2018, after a terrible no good 2017. Inger explains to Jason  why his strategies worked according to Science, using the wonderful feminist self help book 'Burnout' by the Nagoski sisters. Apparently it's all about running away from the lion, which is why Jason deciding to have his face mashed into the mat by a BJJ sparring partner was exactly The Right Thing To Do.In other news, Jason has been trying to read 'Risk: a user's guide', but is annoyed about the writing style. Inger had the opposite reaction to 'The Game' by Sean Kelly (she even sent him an admiring note about his use of Gerunds. In the 2 minute tips section Jason shares a new #bujo innovation and Inger shares the 'one decision that saves 100 decisions' about peer reviewing. Links:Burnout: the secret to unlocking the stress cycleRisk: a user's guideThe Game: a portrait of Scott Morrison The Year America's Hair Fell OutAnd in case you were wondering, of course Inger bought the new Version Two Bullet Journal A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer reviewMy personal reviewing policy: No more billion-dollar donationsTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

After hearing briefly from Jason, who seems to be making progress on his digital detox, Inger is joined by Dr Ben Kraal. Ben used to be an academic, but escaped into the wilds of UX consulting where he makes a very nice living - but still runs an excellent academic-ish newsletter on the side which is called '1992'.Ben tells Inger about the inspiration for 1992, particularly the concept of Articulation work. This is a concept which comes from an early book on the Social organisation of Medical work by Straus, Fagerhaugh, Suczek and Weiner. Articulation work is a fancy way of talking about:Putting tasks in an order (to complete some arc or work)Doing tasks sequentially or simultaneously (to complete some arc of work)Assigning people to do tasks (to complete some arc of work)Basically all the stuff Inger and Jason do in their #Bujos or Omni or whatever else. Ben explains to Inger that Kjeld Schmidt and Liam Bannon applied the ideas from articulation work to computers and invented Google Docs and Zoom in 1992 - or rather, imagined them in a paper called 'Taking CSCW seriously: Supporting Articulation Work'.  This paper is pretty amazing when you consider at the time you had to use a physical phone hand set to access the internet through a phone line. This short history lesson on human computer interaction (naturally?) leads into a discussion of what meetings are really FOR and how Cal Newport has discovered the principles of Agile Project Management, not a whole new way to email. The nerd is very strong in this discussion, but Inger came away from it very enlightened and now understands why all those books that promise to solve your project management problems, never will (and why everyone hates Jira).In our reading section, Ben recommends a book on forest management (that is very relevant for understanding public health in pandemics - just trust us) and Inger shares an article on the importance of 'cooling off' before saying 'yes' to a new idea. In the 2 minute tips section, Inger shares some writing planning secrets and Ben changes your life with the Highlighted App.LinksSocial organisation of Medical work by Straus, Fagerhaugh, Suczek and Weiner.Taking CSCW seriously: Supporting Articulation Work' Schmidt and BannonThe Mythical Man Month Jason is reading: Seeing like a StateInger is reading: Julia Bank's Talk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Inger has a guest host while @Jasondowns is gallivanting his way around Australia on #epictrip2021. Tseen Khoo (@tseenster) from the Research Whisperer Blog joins Inger to talk about a topic that gets them both fired up: networking. They share their networking tips and techniques, especially the stuff that works online during Covid times when the dreaded wine and cheese events are no longer available (hooray!). Inger reckons they are both pretty judgy about how networking is taught to researchers, but Tseen prefers to think they are 'discerning'. They share their tips for shy people who want to network, as well as musing about the burnt tire aroma of International Roast coffee and the reason their children don't know how to send actual letters.Inger has been reading a book about doomsday bunkers while Tseen has a couple of excellent newsletters scooped from Substack. We finish with 2 minute tips as usual, and include a bonus bit of Jason who phoned in from an underground cafe in Cooper Pedy. If you want to leave a message like his, you can do it via a webrowser using SpeakpipeLinks we mentioned:Research Whisperer BlogPostAc appJason's Epic Trip on InstagramProlifiko newsletterOliver Burkeman's newsletter 'The Imperfectionist'NicoleDonutBunker: building for the end of timesTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

This week Inger is joined by Jonathan O'Donnell from the Research Whisperer as Jason is still away on #epictrip2021. Jonathan has given us lots of suggestions for On The Reg, so now is the time to talk to him directly!We start off talking about why innovation is hard inside universities, which have been fine tuned to avoid waste and increase transperency and accountability. This increases their sensitivity to risk. Sometimes the best way to get things done is through what Jonathan calls 'skunk works', which is exactly how Inger started Bootcamp at ANU.We travel over a lot of ground before we get to our reading segment. Inger has been reading Julia Banks' new book 'Power Play' and musing over 'Cognitive Flexibility'. Aside from reading about Anglo-Saxon history in the 900s, Jonathan has a fun read on the ridiculous morning routines of the influencer class and a fascinating article on 'ask vs tell' cultures, which can really help us work with others.There's a two minute tip about email that Inger is definitely going to try and a brief, but enlightening discussion about advanced Google searches - this episode has it all!Links:Potts, J. (2009). The innovation deficit in public services: The curious problem of too much efficiency and not enough waste and failure. Innovation, 11(1), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.5172/impp.453.11.1.34.Potts, Jason. ‘Innovation by Elimination: A Proposal for Negative Policy Experiments in the Public Sector’. Innovation 12, no. 2 (1 August 2010): 238–48. https://doi.org/10.5172/impp.12.2.238.Potts, Jason, and Tim Kastelle. ‘Public Sector Innovation Research: What’s next?’ Innovation 12, no. 2 (1 August 2010): 122–37. https://doi.org/10.5172/impp.12.2.122.Brandão, Soraya Monteiro, and M. Bruno-Faria. ‘Inovação No Setor Público: Análise Da Produção Científica Em Periódicos Nacionais e Internacionais Da Área de Administração’, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-76122013000100010.5 to 9 (Dolly Parton) video on side hustles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8jF96hoF9M 'IQ tests can’t measure it, but ‘cognitive flexibility’ is key to learning and creativity' on the conversation “The exact morning routines 18 successful high-achievers implement to start their day.”https://pdfcoffee.com/successful-morning-rituals-2-pdf-free.html Donderi (tangerine), Andrea. ‘This Is a Classic Case of Ask Culture Meets Guess Culture’. Ask Metafilter. What’s the Middle Ground between ‘F.U!’ AndTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Jason has been in #markinghell, but dreaming of his #epictrip2021 (which you can follow on Instagram!). Meanwhile Inger took a break and drove through spider rain in Victoria before dislocating her toe in NSW. So - it's been busy.Jason goes long and deep on procrastination again - this time looking at different sorts of procrastination and educating Inger on how to deal with lists of stuff you don't want to do. Inger then educates Jason on the strange (and kind of sexist) history of filing cabinets, so it was an asymmetrical exchange of information, but there you are. We finish up with some two minute tips that are, frankly, a little gross, so you're going to have to listen right to the end to experience the full glory. Mentioned:Spider rain! It's really a thing!The 5 second rule: 5, 4,3 ,2 ,1 Go! A history of the filing cabinetTubes: a journey to the centre of the internetThe Box: how the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy biggerTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Inger and Jason are very touched by a lovely message Chad left on Speakpipe - we ate the praise up like delicious yogurt. Jason and Shainul took the tinny on a last cruise before winter and proudly reports that he can fit back into his Brazillian Ju Jitzu gear. Inger has succeeded in a science experiment, and worried ThesisWhisperer Jnr by not having any notes on his psych essay. Inger has started work on a new academic book and is finding it hard going. Luckily, Jason has a lot of advice on procrastination after doing the deepest of deep dives into the literature. We move from procrastination, to bullying 'up' university management, decision fatigue in teaching and algorithmically poisoned 'gamification' of academic life, amongst other things. In our two minute tips section, we have some Omnifocus/bujo cross over tips, remembering people's birthdays and stripping funny stuff from internet cut and paste text.Talk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.

Inger was too scared to drive her new Tesla and Jason was scared he'd lost his drone at sea. Luckily Jason did not have to tell Cath the boy toy went missing and at least Thesis Whisperer Jnr thinks Inger's new book Level Up Your Essays is 'not that boring'. We take up the challenge, put to us by a sadly anonymous listener on SpeakPipe, to talk about why the famous book 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey is a problematic fave. Inger couldn't remember why she thought it was problematic, and Jason always reckoned it was great, so we decided to read it again.We've got as far as chapter one and Inger had a lot of notes.Inger enlightens Jason about the origin of the book as a literature review for Covey's PhD thesis and some of the surprising influences on Covey's thinking. Inger does a feminist critique of Covey's ideas, but comes away deciding they are not entirely rubbish. Jason promises to read chapter two for next time, so this could take awhile.Jason doesn't have a 2 minute tip, but thought Inger's tip was super awesome - but you'll have to listen to most of the episode to find out!Late note: @robjforsyth on Twitter inspired this conversation by leaving us a message on SpeakPipe - thanks Rob!Mentioned in this ep:Level Up Your Essays - Inger's new book with Katherine Firth and Shaun Lehmann.The seven habits of highly effective people by Stephen CoveyCriticism of Covey's book by BaptistsThe book of 5 ringsConnected PapersTalk to us on Mastodon @thesiswhisperer@aus.social and @jasondowns@ravenation.club (if you follow both of us you will see us chatting between episodes and can join our conversation). Inger is sadly addicted to Threads and can be found there as Thesiswhisperer.Leave a message www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer You can support the pod by buying our Text Expander guide for academics from the Thesis Whisperer website.Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend Riverside for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.