Promises and Expectations

Promises and expectations go both ways. Here’s how I see them:

What I promise you

• Although the choice is mostly still yours, I’ll be strict about quality — assessing a topic’s or idea’s potential early, so you don’t waste time on something with no value (and I’ll give you my feedback and reasoning clearly).
• I will tell you what I really think, including things you don’t want to hear — possibly tactful, but never vague.
• I will not be unreachable when you need me. When you hit a wall you can email me — no need to wait for the next meeting. And when you don’t need me, you’re welcome to cancel a meeting early. :)
• Your growth comes before our output. If a project is good for producing papers but doesn’t help your development, you can raise your concern directly and we’ll talk seriously about how to arrange things.
• I will do my best to protect your time, so you don’t have to deal with admin and chores that aren’t yours. If I need any help from you, I’ll ask for your agreement first.
• When you leave, I hope you’ll have good taste — the kind that helps you choose problems independently and judge for yourself whether a piece of research or a result is credible. That matters more than how many papers you published.

What I expect from you

• Communicate good and bad news proactively. Whether the news is good or bad, let me know on Slack, and I’ll reply as soon as I can; if you haven’t heard back for a while, just remind me directly.
• Own your results. Before showing a result to others, be a reviewer once yourself and pick it apart.
• Respect shared resources. Compute, data, other people’s time.
• Help those more junior than you. Everyone here has been helped by someone more senior — including me.
• Take care of your body and mind. The pace of this field can make all-nighters look like a virtue, but they aren’t. Sustained, steady output beats two or three months of relentless burning. And when you want a break, take it properly — I won’t message you (I take breaks too).

When the agreement isn’t kept

We talk about it directly and early, on either side. Most issues are still small when caught early; it’s staying quiet about them that turns them into big problems. If you feel I haven’t done something I said I would, tell me directly — that conversation won’t damage our relationship; avoiding it will.