2013 CRA-W Graduate Cohort Workshop

Strategies for Human-Human Interaction

Hillery Hunter (IBM Research)Kathryn McKinley (Microsoft Research/UT Austin)

Amanda Stent (AT&T)

About HilleryAbout Hillery

Research Staff Member and Manager, Systems Technology and

Architecture, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown

Heights, NY

PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Electrical

Engineering

Research areas: Computer architecture, green computing,

memory systems, new memory technologies

Hobbies

Travel, outdoor activities,

theology, cooking & baking

(recent success with a Buche de Noel!)

Kathryn McKinleyKathryn McKinleyPrincipal Research, MicrosoftPrincipal Research, Microsoft

• Professor, UT Austin• ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow• 17 PhD students• Testified to Congress

Programming Language ImplementationDaCapo BenchmarkingCross system boundariesSoftware for Heterogeneous Hardware

Software for future hardware fast, portable, secure, energy efficient

Energy

+

FailuresFailures• Rejected: jobs (all)• Failed: my Rice PhD qualifying exam• Rejected: jobs (8 of 11)• Rejected: my first three grant applications• Bad teaching evaluations• Rejected 2 times: 10 years, my most cited• Rejected: jobs (some)• Rejected: papers, grants, papers, grants, papers,

papers, papers …

4

About AmandaAbout Amanda

Current job and education:

•Principal Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Labs – Research,

Florham Park, NJ

•PhD from University of Rochester, Computer Science

Research areas: dialog, natural language generation,

computational linguistics, assistive technology

Hobbies: EMT, taekwondo, piano

Also

An introvert

A recovering perfectionist

About AmandaAbout AmandaI love doing computer scienceMost of the time, I like the people I work with

My experience as a woman in computer science is framed by micro-inequities and micro-affirmations (Rowe, 1990; Rowe, 2008)•Micro-inequities are “apparently small events which are often ephemeral and hard-to-prove, events which are covert, often unintentional, frequently unrecognized by the perpetrator, which occur wherever people are perceived to be ‘different.’” (Rowe, 2008)•Micro-affirmations are “apparently small acts, which are often ephemeral and hard-to-see, events that are public and private, often unconscious but very effective, which occur wherever people wish to help others to succeed.” (Rowe, 2008)

TeleconferencesTeleconferences

The worldThe world’’s not flat!s not flat!

In the US, the team I work with on a daily basis is spread across:

New York (3 sites), Texas (3 sites), California (2 sites), Vermont, Minnesota, North Carolina

International teams I have worked with:

Haifa, Israel; Boeblingen, Germany; Delhi, India

International teams I work with now:

Zurich, Switzerland (+6 hours); Tokyo, Japan (+13 hours); Bangalore, India (+9.5 hours)

These are just colleagues within my own company… across companies, I am on the phone regularly with people from Idaho to Seoul to Tokyo and beyond!

China

WatsonAlmaden

Austin

TokyoHaifa

Zurich

India

IBM Research Lab

Brazil

Global, Smarter Planet Collaborations

Pangoo

IBM Research: IBM Research: Collaborative Collaborative

InnovationInnovation

Human-Human Interaction: Human-Human Interaction: TeleconsTelecons

Teleconferences are a “necessary evil” of our global economySome people learn to use them incredibly effectivelySome people are terrified of them

• Better to “make peace” with them early!

Telecons 101Telecons 101

Use a good connection •Don’t skype/VoIP/cell phone if you don’t have a great connection

Call from a quiet place • Don’t unnecessarily distract others

Mute is your friend!Introduce yourself at the start of a callOn a large call, give your name before asking your first/second question • So people learn to identify your voice

Telecons: Making presentationsTelecons: Making presentations

Remote presentation fundamentals• Always put numbers on your slides• Make sure your slides are neat when not in

presentation mode (animations, etc.)• Call out slide numbers as you speak• A&P: ASK and PAUSE

• Ask questions to make sure your audience is understanding you (you’ll have no visual cues they’re confused… create your own cues)

• Pause so others can get a word in edgewise

Telecons: Leading a discussionTelecons: Leading a discussion

Unless the call is very large, take a roll-call at the beginning, so you know who’s presentMake sure relevant materials are sent to everyone prior to the callPlan & communicate an agenda, to keep everyone engaged

• Attention naturally wanders when participants are not facing one another

Telecons: Leading a discussionTelecons: Leading a discussion

If most people are in the same room and only a few are remote, be over-considerate of those who are remote

• Don’t let those in the room exclude/forget them

Don’t be afraid to cut off discussionsDon’t be afraid to address questions to specific peopleInstant messaging can be your friend, but don’t let it distract youAfter the call, ask for feedback

DEALING WITH REJECTED DEALING WITH REJECTED PAPERS and bad reviewsPAPERS and bad reviews

Writing Process?Writing Process?

PrewritingPrewriting

DraftingDrafting

ProofreadingProofreading RevisingRevising

PublishingPublishingX

Writing ProcessWriting Process

PrewritingPrewriting

DraftingDrafting

ProofreadingProofreading RevisingRevising

SubmittingSubmitting

Ask a friend

Reject/accept

Academic Writing and Academic Writing and PerfectionismPerfectionism

“Academic writing has the greatest potential to inflame perfectionism for several reasons…the lack of built-in accountability for writing, the fact that academic writing is a long and difficult process, and that the nature of knowledge production guarantees criticism”

– Kerry Ann Rockquemore

Becoming RealisticBecoming Realistic

“Even for highly successful academics, criticism and rejection never entirely goes away”•Female Science Professor“To survive the review process, you've got to look at reviews through a certain type of lens or filter that allows you to ignore the useless comments from cranky reviewers and extract the essence”

• Female Science Professor

Rejected Paper/ProposalRejected Paper/ProposalBreatheKnow that you are not alonePut the reviews aside for a day or twoRead them again (with your coauthors or a friend), focusing on the facts

– Comments on the research: are they reasonable? How long would it take you to do the extra work? – Make a plan!

– Comments on related work: look it up– Comments on the writing: deal with them

Resubmit!

Special CasesSpecial Cases

Very short (negative) reviewsThe dreaded you should cite <yourself>Personal attacksBiased reviews by your competition

Other CommentsOther Comments

PracticeFind writing partnersDon’t put all your eggs in one basketBe a good reviewer

CULTURAL ISSUESCULTURAL ISSUES

Cultural IssuesCultural Issues

Cultural IssuesCultural Issues

Taulbee survey, 2010-2011 results

Cultural IssuesCultural Issues

Be observant•What is happening? Why does it make you uncomfortable?•Is this person clueless or malicious?

Be direct•Don’t do that•When you <X>, it makes me uncomfortable because <Y>

Give a chance to the uninformed•But no one is “owed” your forbearance

Find your champions•Can you come with me to talk to <X>?

Climb the chain if necessary•I need your help.•I need to report an incident.

IGNORING/INTERRUPTINGIGNORING/INTERRUPTING

Ignoring/InterruptingIgnoring/Interrupting

Establish your presence•Be the first in the room and greet others as they come in•Introduce yourself to anyone you don’t know

Establish your voice early and late•Agree with someone, ask a question, or be the first to state an opinion•Take notes and circulate them, or follow up via email

Be confident and strong•Avoid hedges like “I feel” or “maybe”•If someone “steals” your point, you can say “I’m so glad you agree with me that <X>” or “that was my point 5 minutes ago, thanks for expanding on it”

Ignoring/InterruptingIgnoring/Interrupting

Find your champions•Someone who will ask your opinion, or confirm that you made a point

Be a champion•Solicit input from everyone, note contributions of others

Be direct if you have to•I have something to say•Please let me speak

Prepare and practice

SummarySummary

ParticipateBe preparedBe directBe inclusiveDon’t quit

Recommended ResourcesRecommended Resources• Writing

– How to Write a Lot, Paul Silvia– Writing Science, Joshua Schimel– Writing for Computer Science, Joshua Zobel– Frédo Durand:

http://people.csail.mit.edu/fredo/student.html– Purdue OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

• Speaking– Crucial Conversations, Kerry Patterson– How to Control Any Conversation, Peter Murphy– Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton– Toastmasters

Recommended ResourcesRecommended Resources• Confidence

– Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia, Emily Toth

– Kidding Ourselves: Breadwinning, Babies, and Bargaining Power, Rhona Mahoney

– Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, Lois Frankel– Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide,

Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever– Kerry Ann Rockquemore:

http://www.insidehighered.com/users/kerry-ann-rockquemore

Additional ScenariosAdditional Scenarios• In your group meeting, your colleague never looks at you and keeps interrupting you.• Your collaborator student S wants to and is working on all your projects. You want to have some without

S. • You have been working on an idea and have some results, but your advisor has not suggested a venue or

a publication plan. • You are great at coming up with ideas and implementing solutions, but get stuck when writing them up. • Your junior collaborator lacks confidence in public speaking. • You are going to a conference and want to meet person X to talk about a research topic (or a job at their

organization). • How do you (an introvert) successfully navigate a three-day symposium with 400 attendees and 30

speakers, without exhausting yourself?• You have been invited to interview for a job at X. The two-day interview will involve meetings with

managers and engineers, as well as a coding test/talk/sample lesson. How do you prepare for the events on this interview?

• How do you safely and professionally handle human-human interaction in the digital area (emails, blogs, social networking)?

• How do you deal with the personal-professional boundary (going back to social networking, but also generally where lines are in the academic or professional workplace)?

• In general, how do you interact with someone who is your boss (either your advisor or a summer internship boss)?

• How do you consider the role of attire in human-human interaction (I recently read 60% of perceived "presence" is related to attire)?

• How do you have the “I’m expecting” conversation with your boss?

Finding and Managing an AdvisorFinding and Managing an AdvisorWhat to look for•Research compatibility•Mentoring ability•Collaboration network•Assistant/Associate/Full First steps•Take their class•Read their papers •Talk to the other students

• Email for an appointment with specifics– I want to discuss becoming your PhD

student. I am currently funded <how>. Please find below my relevant classes and experiences <resume, papers, classes, transcript>. I am interested in <project>.

• Persist if Professor puts up an obstacle – He doesn’t have funding; She has too many

students,etc.– I have my own funding. I have a TA.– Let’s do a one semester project.

Next StepsNext Steps

• Prepare for appointment– Suggest specific projects on which you would

like to work. (You know the current projects because you read papers & talked to students.

– I read paper on X and I think Y would be a good next step.

– It is your choice too! After a semester, assess, is this the person/topic I want to pursue?

• Attend group meetings & related lectures

Next StepsNext Steps

Advisor ManagementAdvisor Management• Ask for a weekly meeting• Stuck after a day, ask for an impromptu meeting or

just show up in office hours• Weekly meeting management

– Email agenda 24 hours in advance– Repeat high level project goal first (1 to 2 sentences)– What you did this week– What you want to talk about

• Problems: ideas, implementation, bugs• Strategies, publication plans

– Plan for next week– Every one or two months, program progress (exams,

proposals, thesis, etc.) and goals