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Visiting Academics in New Orleans Versus Getting Things Done
April 24th, 2007
I’m in email triage. I am applying my new habit. My new habit for email triage is to tag. This is the processing step of my getting things done regimen. (Getting Things Done is an organizational principle for people who work in information and communications heavy fields.)
Today, I come across an email message from an academic and I take pause. Why don’t I care about helping academics with their social research on New Orleans, I wonder? They are kind enough students. They mean well.
Certainly, there are good friends in New Orleans who’s work I assist in any way I can, who work for or study at a university. I’m referring to the academics that rotate in and out of our crisis.
When someone writes me asking for help with the Road Home, housing, or for a connection into the neighborhood organizations when they are a neighbor, I take the time to answer, as best I can. This is my mission.
However, someone who doesn’t have connections and is turning to me for connections, for the purpose of a paper, doesn’t motivate. That’s an email that sits in my inbox. Now, finally, it triggers the business sense that I’m struggling to develop.
Perhaps it’s common sense of some kind. (I have common sense, I just don’t listen to it.)
Tim Ryan of NOVAC sent me an email yesterday looking for technical assistance on a grant. I called immediately. A successful local nonprofit needs technology input to raise money. Common sense says that this is perfectly aligned with my professional objectives. Common sense says pick up the phone and call.
Fortunately, I have emails that are just that actionable, that I can place in contrast to the request to do public relations work for a research paper. An inbox is one imperative after another. It helps you tackle that inbox if you know how to say no to a bulk of those calls to action.
Getting over it, and going pro, means that you must realize that helping is not question of equity. Not every request needs to be fulfilled. You can tell when a request should be fulfilled, because it tugs on your sense of decency. That is the mission oriented stuff.
Otherwise, it’s all business. (Ergh. Something about that sentiment makes me wince. I am an approval junkie.)
At second glance, the academic seeks interviewees. In return, I’m offered the research for any projects. That sounds like doing work and in return I get more work.
I don’t know that we have time for more interviews that do not lead directly to material help for our recovery.
How do you decide to help an academic with their research?
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Comments 
You can choose whatever “mission” you want, but dismissing academics is shortsighted. True, much research doesn’t result in immediate application and, frankly, some research is purely for the increase in the general knowledge of all of us. But, shutting down, or not encouraging academic research at the “what do I get for this” stage is surely shutting down the cure/treatment/product phase of research in the future. The cure for any disease started with a scientist doing research solely to have that light-bulb moment.
For social research, which I’m guessing much of your email is geared towards, the “business” angle is even harder to read. But, just because you might not get an immediate reward doesn’t negate the value of the research. There is a point where New Orleans can help others as well; Katrina will not be the last, major disaster in this country (or abroad). The population of New Orleans certainly holds some enticing knowledge and experiences. Is that coldly academic? Sure, it can be. That doesn’t lessen the collective value of the research.
That said, your email has different purposes (or at least your post says so). Perhaps contriving some resources for the connection-seeking researcher and a polite “Sorry, I have a non-profit to run” gets them further than the black hole of your inbox and you can continue with the actionable items. Build a macro that reads keywords or codes in replies that auto-populates canned text (which can be flowery and approachable) so you can churn out replies.
Or trash them; at the end of the day, you’ve set yourself up as a point of contact for more than what you’re focused on. What you choose to do with that visibility is up to you.
I always just say yes. But that’s not a very good strategy. It would be better if I restricted myself to projects that seemed interesting or compelling.
Another way to look at it might be that some interviews are an opportunity to practice speaking about the issues. We could all use a little practice.
Ryan
I’m not dismissing their work. I’m dismissing the need to spend my time on their work.
There are people that I’ve spoken with, who I’ve enjoyed the conversation. One student even sent me a coffee shop gift card as a thank you. An indication that she’ll go far. I don’t expect that all students can afford such things, but even the hand written note, that was meaningful. Actually, I didn’t notice the gift card until months after I got the note. I thought the note was pretty impressive. She was very aware of the imposition. She also asked very interesting questions, so the interview was entertaining.
“Sorry, I have a non-profit to run,” is where I’m headed. I’m blogging about it, because, like Bart, I’m inclined to always say yes. Actually, what occurs to me as I type this out, Ryan, is that before when I was teaching the workshops, there was a place where I was supposed to be, and be available twice a week, and meeting with people before or after was natural. These workshops will be resuming soon, so it makes sense to say, sure, you can meet me in one of four time slots.
The visibility is good. And your message reminds me that I do admonish people to pay attention to other cities if we want people to pay attention to our own. That economy of attention thing.
Ryan
Now I am actually wondering how to create the email macros you describe. In so many cases, it’s a matter of turning the incoming email around into something actionable. Like, I need a canned response that asks people to redirect their questions to the blog, explaining that it is difficult to fetch an answer and respond.
How would one do email templates in Mail.app?