TITLE: Self-Help from Hamming
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 26, 2018  2:04 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
 In 
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2018-11.html#e2018-11-25T10_50_07.htm">
   yesterday's post</A>,
 I mentioned re-reading Richard Hamming's 1986 talk,
<A HREF="http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html">
   You and Your Research</A>.
 Hamming himself found it useful to manage his own behavior in
 order to overcome his personal faults, in service of his goal
 to do great work.  I have faults, too, and need occasional
 reminders to approach my work more intentionally.

 I've been at low ebb recently with my own creative work, so
 there is plenty of low-hanging fruit to be picked after this
 read.  In the short term, I plan to...
<UL>
<LI> focus my reading and programming time on material that
     contributes to specific research and teaching problems
     I'm working on.  In particular, as Hamming says, "you
     need to keep up more to find out what the problems are
     than ... to find the solutions" -- then get to work
     actually solving problems.  </LI>
<BR/>
<LI> attend seminars in other departments regularly next
     semester, especially in our science departments.  This
     action works in the opposite direction as the first
     bullet, as it broadens my vision beyond my own work.
     Its benefit is in providing a cross-fertilization of
     ideas and giving me more chances to converse with smart
     people outside my area who are solving interesting
     problems.  </LI>
</UL>

 I'm also our department head, an administrative role that
 diverts much of my attention and energy from doing computer
 science.  Hamming doesn't dismiss "management" outright,
 as so many scientists do.  That's heartening, because
 organizations need good leaders to help create the
 conditions in which scientists do great work.  He even
 explains why a capable scientist might reasonably choose to
 become a manager: "The day your vision, what you think
 needs to be done, is bigger than what you can do
 single-handedly, then you have to move toward management."

 When I became head, I had some ideas about our department
 that I wanted to help implement from a leadership position.
 Do I still such ideas that I need to drive forward?  If so,
 then I need to focus my administrative work on those goals.
 If not, then I need to think about next steps.
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