Time Management and Self-Organisation in Academia. Markus Riedenauer

planning of research requires knowing and applying the basic rules of project management. Particularly in the case of teamwork, but also when working alone on a research project, phases must be objectively identified and planned in their logical sequence according to the subject matter under consideration. Even where no research exposé and timetable had to be submitted to receive funding, you should nevertheless work this out in a professional manner (see Subchapter VI.1). If you plan target dates for the individual phases and subgoals of your project, when integrating this into the chronological planning in calendar form, you should also take into account the requirements of your subjective life situation and ‘private’ life goals such as non-academic training, partnership and family, and other interests and activities that increase motivation, provide recreation, and create meaning. You will learn how to do that in this book, especially as of Subchapter II.3.

      Personal Challenges and My Commitments

      The most important ideas to improve my self-organisation:

      My commitments and SMART goals:

      ¹The determination of (core) working hours naturally varies from institute to institute.

      ²The current structure in universities is partially characterised as ‘presidential feudalism’ (präsidialer Feudalismus), partially as a transition to an ‘individual-centred negotiation jungle’ (individuumszentrierten Verhandlungsdschungel): Christian Scholz und Volker Stein: Überlebenskritische Fragen zur Struktur von Universitäten; in: Forschung und Lehre (January 2011), 26–28.

      ³In Germany, 98% of full-time academic and artistic employees under the age of 35 (excluding professors) have fixed-term contracts; between the ages of 35 and 45, the figure is still 77% (92% overall, little changed since 2010). An employment contract of doctoral students lasts on average 22 months, of post-docs 28 months. About one-third of young academics are employed part-time; see Bundesbericht Wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs 2021 (www.buwin.de/dateien/buwin-2021.pdf, 14.4.2021), 108. The mid-level faculty, the many teaching assistants and outside lecturers, i.e. post-doctoral lecturers with teaching duties, however, provide a large part of the total teaching, see https://www.gew.de/aktuelles/detailseite/neuigkeiten/professorinnen-und-professoren-in-der-minderheit/ (14.4.2021).

      ⁴The terms ‘mastery’, ‘autonomy’, and ‘meaning’ are fully described in Daniel H. Pink: Drive, the surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin, 2011. Behind this are older concepts for example by Alfred Adler and Viktor Frankl.