Middleware Conference

Dissertation Panel

Peter HoneymanCenter for Information Technology

IntegrationUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Five point program

•Pick a small problem

•Build

•Measure

•Explain everything

•Work hard

Pick a small problem

•Read a ton of papers

•Read them critically

•What did they do wrong?

•What did they overlook?

•Take copious notes

•Keep a lab notebook

•Write and date your ideas

Build

•Solve the problem

•In code

•More than once

Measure

•Measure everything you can

•All behavioral aspects

•Redesign and recode for measurability

Explain

•Explain everything

•There are (almost) always mysterious behaviors

•Explain them

•Redesign, re-implement

Work hard•Work harder

•Write up your results as technical reports

•Circulate, publish, get feedback

•Departmental seminars

•Work-in-progress presentations

•After a few years, dissertation content will reveal itself

Hang in there