Prioritize, Strategize, Execute

Everyone in science knows that scientific research is hard. Scientific research is hard for several reasons – experiments take weeks, months, and occasionally years to complete; many things don’t work for both technical and scientific reasons; multiple skillsets are required to excel in science; funding and time are both limiting factors; there is an overwhelming amount of new literature to keep up with; and finding the balance between staying focused while remaining adaptable is tricky.

I’ve found that a key to success in science is the following: Prioritization, Strategy, and Execution. Performed in this order, this allows a researcher to hone in on the most important questions to execute in the most efficient manner. And yet in the laboratory, we tend to learn these skills a bit out of order, though often for good reason – lab courses and the earliest experiences in laboratory research tend to focus first on techniques, then experimental design, and finally, on decision-making.

Prioritization involves first deciding which questions are the most important to tackle at any given point in time for a project. This is important at every time scale: which experiments should I be doing this week? Which experiments should I be completing over the next few months? Which directions should I focus on for my future publication or thesis? This process can sometimes be the most subjective and involves several judgment calls. Juggling whether to pursue questions to round out an existing finding vs. questions that push the project into new territory can be tricky. The skills of prioritization and decision-making take time and concerted effort to build. The ability to prioritize requires many things, including a broad vision of the science as a whole, a deep understanding of the field at large, as well as a realistic assessment of which goals are most compatible with the lab’s and the individual researcher’s strengths and interests.

Strategizing comes down to deciding which experiment to do and how to do it. This involves asking, what is the best experimental approach for this problem? What protocol should I follow? What are the technical stumbling blocks I need to be aware of? What controls are most essential? How would I interpret the data? How do I manage my time to complete this experiment in as little time as possible while also juggling other ongoing experiments or other demands?

Execution involves a set of skills in getting motivated and organized to efficiently conduct what has been decided needs doing through prioritization using the best strategy. At the execution level, it is important to overcome several obstacles: any lingering uncertainty about the right decision made (i.e., move forward quickly until new information is gathered), any self-doubt or anxiety regarding the procedure itself, particularly if it is an unfamiliar technique (e.g., budget extra time for a first attempt at an experiment and be willing to consult others, incl. the web, for help), and moving quickly and efficiently at the bench to finish the experiment. This includes having the protocol(s) written out in advance, being meticulously organized at the outset of the experiment (e.g. having all necessary reagents ordered or prepared in advance), carefully plotting out incubation times to maximize efficiency (i.e. excellent time management), beginning the work day early and ready to roll, tag-teaming when a collaborator is involved so that there is both an early and late shift to extend an experimental day, and when possible, pushing through to complete any steps short of an incubation period as quickly as possible (e.g. an overnight incubation of a bacterial culture, or several weeks of recovery time post-surgery) so as to maximize speed of progress. Adjusting course as needed mid-experiment is ok, but only when done judiciously.

In general, prioritization and strategizing benefit from a more relaxed state of mind, whereas execution benefits from moving as fast as possible, short of making mistakes and burnout. Effectively alternating between these operational modes (slow vs. fast) and applying the right mode to the right phase is critical for success. Making either rushed decisions or performing an experiment too slowly are both bad.

In summary, without prioritization, it’s easy to wind up doing beautifully executed experiments that may be tangential at best to the project and thus a waste of precious time and resources. Without strategy, the wrong experiments are performed, even if they are done well and attempt to address the right questions. Without execution, nothing gets done.