Of course its music themed because consistency is my first tip!
Grants: x.com/AinslieLab/sta
Pre-interviews: x.com/AinslieLab/sta
All These Things I Have Done – Small themed group mtgs w/ reports in OneNote to search for proposals & presentations. Mtgs every 2 wks where labbie presents to group. Discuss successes & where to revise. Group discusses experimental planning including groups for in vivo studies.
Oxford Comma – Protocols early and often. Via your Teams page or Slack have labbies prioritize writing protocols to share & revise. New method = new protocol write up. Protocols can also be used to write methods if a student leaves or you need it for a grant.
Hello Goodbye – Template intro & leaving email. Intro 1 stop email for trainings, shared files, WhatApp group info & other on boarding info. 2nd template when leaving the lab – what to do with data, materials, bench, and closeout. Documents exit expectations in case issues.
Call Me – In the intro email are instructions & link to lab directory w/ new member info including non-school email, and emergency contact w/ phone number (also their fav cupcake flavor!) Previous lab members are listed in the same directory for ease of access.
Authority Song – Set lab expectations in writing. What should they expect of you as an advisor & what do you expect of them. Document concerns via email after in person discussions. Setting a standard can help independently guide students as your lab grows.
Learning to Fly – Pilot studies. Performing a large study with a lot of new techniques is a recipe for error. Consider a smaller pilot study with smaller numbers to work out kinks. It saves costs, time, and frustration. If needed use model proteins (BSA) or the like to save costs
Time After Time – Submitting an abstract? Poster? Presentation? I had better see it at least 2 weeks in advance to review it for errors & corrections. No last-minute submissions if you want to attend the meeting. Meeting deadlines is a universal task in academia & industry.
Behind Blue Eyes – Peer editing can ease the advisor’s editing load, especially as there are more senior labbies who have writing experience w/ you. Have 1-2 sets of eyes on the paper, poster, abstract or presentation before I see it. Also share a list of common writing errors.
Better Together – Multiples eyes on project design, implementation & data collection prevents error & limits ability for mis-reported data. One individual performing a multi-animal & multi-assay large exp is going to lead to error. A team reduces errors & 12+ hr days!
Elevation – Giving a seminar, committee mtg, or conference talk? Set up a time during group meeting or another time to review it as a group. Present your talk & then go through slide by slide as a group for improvement. Let the group find your typos!
She Works Hard for the Money – Every order is on a Google sheet for key labbies to order. We know who ordered it, what fund it is on, cost, where its at & who needs it. Need to reorder an aliquoted antibody from 5 yrs ago – easy to track down! Can be used to make grant budgets
Closer to Fine – There are always new discoveries that can change plans, but creating a paper outline early can help guide labbies. Not all the data collected? No problem, just a box with a description is fine – fill it in later. Don’t forget the captions!
All the Small Things – Shared calendar. Lab tasks 4 every member w/ mtg scheduling & PMCID subs. Expectations for figs. Teams sharing: presentation & poster templates; my talks; funded fellowships; pubs; cover letters & response to reviewers for manuscript submission; images.
