Time management will be a difficult task for me this summer because of the nature of the position I will be working in. As a research assistant my tasks will be more abstract than other industries and deadlines are essentially arbitrary. There is no profit motive or schedule to determine when tasks or the project as a whole are completed. This challenge will be compounded by the fact that the “team” I am working with at Trinity College Dublin will consist of two individuals, including myself. My supervisor Dr. Nicola Fontana will also spend some time this summer in Italy doing research for our project on the ground. Although we will still be in constant communication and coordination during these periods, this will leave me essentially alone in the office in Dublin.
I will have to develop strategies to motivate myself to continue working toward the ultimate goal without and real incentive to do so. This is not especially difficult for me, as this is a strategy I already employ in my studies at Pitt to prevent procrastination and the build-up of assignments later in the semester. I often give myself deadlines for assignments and projects sooner than their actual due dates, and I will do the same this summer.
Due to the nature of this position, my tasks will be a mix of assignments given to me directly from Dr. Fontana, smaller projects I will initiate on my own because I believe they will benefit the overall project, and other side tasks I will pursue out of my own intellectual interests. I will prioritize tasks assigned to me, using my judgement to determine which are most crucial to Dr. Fontana’s work, and tackling those first. After finishing what is given to me, I will look for ways I can support arguments we are making or take a “devil’s advocate” position to find weaknesses in our claims and evidence. If I believe these projects have uncovered a significant new path or gap in our work, I may prioritize this work over less-essential assignments given to me by Dr. Fontana.
The last set of work I will only do if all of my project-related work is completed and I cannot find any other ways to support the main body of research. Although it is not likely that I will reach this stage this summer with a project of such depth and breadth, I will spend some time doing independent research on areas of our work that I find most interesting and may want to pursue in my own studies back at Pitt or in graduate school. I may also use this time to catch up on background information on the subject area which would allow me to contribute to the project in more creative ways. This will likely consist of reading historical and political literature on the period or looking further into sources we used in our work. Although this will likely not have any visible benefit to my work on the project, this will make me a more effective employee and researcher for the work that remains.
I have begun to do this work by reading into the subject in the time since my arrival in Dublin. Although I am still far from an expert in the subject, using my down time in this way has better prepared me for my first day of work tomorrow and will hopefully prevent any embarrassing gaps in my knowledge when the investigative and analytical work begins. I have taken courses at Pitt that look into the fascist period and the birth of nationalism in Italy, but I have yet to investigate the intersection of these areas as deeply as I will this summer.
I will work to improve my time management and the order in which I conduct my work by regularly checking in with Dr. Fontana to ask which tasks he would like completed first before I begin working, and later by asking if the order I completed them in was most efficient for him. I will also clarify the diligence or speed he would like all of these tasks to be completed. Hopefully, it will not take long for me to be able to anticipate the order he would like tasks to be completed and the level of scrutiny he wants me to apply to each of them without having to ask. Although effective communication is always helpful, I find it is easier for a group or partners to work together if each is able to understand the other and predict desires.