Tuesday, 9.14pm
Sheffield, U.K.
In 1903, I finished my doctor’s thesis and obtained the degree. At the end of the same year, the Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Becquerel, my husband and me for the discovery of radioactivity and new radioactive elements. – Marie Curie
I haven’t laid down any words on my thesis so far this year.
Last year I made some progress – sparked in part by the method I use on this blog – draw something and use that drawing as a way to explore an idea.
Today’s drawing is from a throwaway comment on Mastodon – where I wrote that writing a thesis is like doing a 10,000 piece jigsaw where you first have to make the pieces.
This is literally the case. I need around 10,000 sentences and each one needs to be crafted and arranged in the right place. Or at least in a suitable place.
So how do you make progress. How do I move on from where I am so I can get this document written?
If you have any advice, I’d like to hear it, but in the meantime the purpose of this post is to figure out the next piece to make.
I’m working in a field called Operations Research.
The idea is that we can use scientific methods to make organisations work more effectively.
Some of those methods are quantitative – like figuring out how to reduce queues or manage logistics.
Other methods are qualitative – what strategy should we follow, how do we get people to work together more effectively?
That’s more what I’m interested in.
And I probably need to explain why that matters – what’s the purpose of my research.
This is the next piece.
It seems to me that the world is asking for two types of work.
Which should remind you of the joke – there are three kinds of people in the world, those who can count, and those who can’t.
Moving on.
The first kind of work is finished work. Work that is meant to be consumed. Work like movies, advertisements, books, products of all stripes.
These are things that are done, that are finished. All you have to do is buy them and enjoy them.
Your only decision is yes or no. Is this right for you or not?
This is the world of production and marketing, where a polished presentation of the thing is needed to persuade people who want or need the thing to buy the thing.
The second kind of work is uncertain, unknown or complex work.
This is where we don’t know what we need to do, what the right thing is, what would help us in this situation.
We need help figuring it out. In many cases we have to understand what we want or need before we can get on and make that thing.
This is the world of exploration and innovation – where we discover what is needed and create new products and services to meet those needs.
The tools and techniques I’m researching are about helping with discovery – with finding out what is needed in the world but which doesn’t exist right now.
It’s knowledge that helps us build new products and services, and create new opportunities and new businesses.
So that’s the area I’m working on, and the next section to write is for me to describe how my research helps make this happen.
Does that sound useful and/or interesting?
I hope so.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 