DWG Tips and Challenges
What worked for your group (i.e. logistics, maintaining motivation, communication, writing process, etc)?
Fall 2012 Session Feedback
“informal, relaxed gathering approximately every 3rd week on Thursdays for about
2 hours. It was a fantastic break from the stress and monotony of thesis writing.”
“ having a set schedule (e.g., fridays at noon). even if all of us couldn't manage to make it every week, it was still useful to have a day/time picked out for writing”
“ Moral support, mutual motivation, exchanging LaTeX templates and writing tips.”
“
Meeting at times when we were already all in the office during the day proved much easier than trying to set up meetings for other times. Getting together in a lowpressure setting to talk about what we had been doing was very useful for several reasons. For one, it helped us to set reasonable expectations for ourselves; it's easier said than done to write a whole chapter in a few week's time, and when everyone failed to do so for the same reasons (other teaching duties especially) we all felt better about the more limited progress we had made. Secondly, we all work in pretty different areas but have a basic idea of each others' projects and general interest in them. So it was nice and very motivating to be able to talk casually about the philosophical questions we'd been thinking about, to have to explain them simply and clearly, and get fresh outsider perspectives on our problems. I think it was productive for everyone without feeling like "work."”
“ We met once a week for coffee or lunch, everyone had to bring 2-3 new pages or about 5 pages of revision, we would take some time to read each other's work and write comments on it, and then we would workshop one person's writing at a time.
This would take about 60-90 minutes. We would then go grab a few beers at a happy hour, brainstorm about problems we're having, and talk about what we'd be working on next. It works quite nicely for us. Also, if someone didn't bring any writing they had to buy a round of beers.”
“
Sending documents one day in advance, being flexible with scheduling, focusing on only two people's documents in any meeting, communicating well about the length of forthcoming documents, communicating expectations for kinds of feedback
(ignore typos, specific questions from the author, etc.)”
What did not work well for your group? (i.e. what hurdles/complications did you face?)
Fall 2012 Session Feedback

“people traveled a lot and one person wound up working on her thesis remotely so finding times to meet were challenging.”
“ people's schedules are pretty variable -- i wouldn’t make it a requirement for everyone to be there, maybe some quota like if 2/3 of the group can make it, then its ok to meet and use the dwg money”
“
Did not follow a regular schedule.”
“ One of our members had a family issue and dropped out of the group, but I think 4 people would have been too many anyhow, at least for us. It's hard enough to coordinate schedules and get to discuss everyone's progress with 3 people. Also, we originally tried to make a lot of rules to keep ourselves on track, and they didn't work well. For example, I wanted to have everyone specify a silly punishment (like forgoing something pleasant or wearing a hated t-shirt) for not keeping to their goals from meeting to meeting, and Mike wanted everyone to prepare little formal presentations. Nobody else wanted the punishments, and I don't think they would have helped because when we failed to meet goals it was generally for good reasons.
The mini presentations also would have been an extra burden, and we didn't need them to have quality discussions of our projects. So I think the "lots of rules and structure" approach was a failure.”
“
We originally tried using a worksheet that we found in a book on dissertation groups and that was a complete bust for us.”
“ Waiting until too late in the day when we're all exhausted, one member who was not doing reading but giving feedback anyway, forcing ourselves to meet despite very busy schedules (it's been worth it!)”