Timeline for Is there a reasonable explanation for why my professor submitted my recommendation letter months early?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2023 at 21:44 | comment | added | Captain Emacs | Frankly, I almost never had problems with people that were too fast, but a lot with those who were late. The cases where there is a "too fast" is where circumstances can change and more and more timely information would have been better. That's my experience, not claiming it is everyone's. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 18:15 | comment | added | EA304GT | @PLL Agreed. Or if I'm stuck with a manuscript, I'll take writing a letter as an effective way to procrastinate. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 12:27 | comment | added | PLL | @user71659: Always doing all tasks immediately is generally inefficient. But doing tasks immediately if they arrive at a suitable moment is quite different, and often good. If I see a reference-letter request come in while I’m preparing teaching, I certainly won’t suspend my teaching prep to handle it. But if the request comes in while I’m trying to get a bunch of miscellaneous smaller tasks off my to-do list anyway, then I may well handle it immediately. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 8:52 | comment | added | MikeB | @user71659 Actually, doing tasks (of any kind) immediately is MORE efficient than spending time putting them on a list, then spending time re-reading the list and coming back to them. It just isn't always possible, for various reasons. | |
| Oct 8, 2023 at 19:29 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | @user71659 humans aren't machines though. They have leaky memory, they may work more quickly when there is some pressure, they may enjoy when there's some idle time (or use it for research work that isn't time-critical and would never get done if there was always something in the teaching-duties queue). | |
| Oct 8, 2023 at 17:54 | comment | added | user71659 | The former is very rare because doing tasks immediately is ultimately inefficient. On the Internet, routers have buffers because packets tend to come in bursts. There are known self-synchronization effects. Buffering smooths out the outflow so that a link constantly utilized rather than switching between congested and idle. The exact same analogy applies to tasks. Things come in bursts (start of semester, upcoming conference, proposal due). Having a queue ensures you're not sitting idle or worked to death. | |
| Oct 8, 2023 at 10:42 | history | answered | Captain Emacs | CC BY-SA 4.0 |