Work-fic rant
One email is all it takes for hopes to take a different turn. On Monday, we found out that we have an information bomb in our hands. We hardly breathed with excitement and planned parties already.
But last night, I learnt that a different group plans to submit a paper with very similar findings to ours in early July. They have broader scope, but we have finer details. And we are the only ones who have the proof for the break-through.
So what?
Well, we wanted to rewrite our work-fic for Science because of the information bomb. It would be prestigious, fabulous and awesome. It won't happen now. No time.
I was able to negotiate with the other group to let us go first and submit our paper before theirs. But they won't wait weeks until we rewrite for Science. If they publish before us, the context for our break-through would be old story for a top-rank journal. Too late, too little. The impact goes down by an order of magnitude.
That's my third high-ranking idea that disintegrated right under my hands. Time to reassess confidence, I guess.
But last night, I learnt that a different group plans to submit a paper with very similar findings to ours in early July. They have broader scope, but we have finer details. And we are the only ones who have the proof for the break-through.
So what?
Well, we wanted to rewrite our work-fic for Science because of the information bomb. It would be prestigious, fabulous and awesome. It won't happen now. No time.
I was able to negotiate with the other group to let us go first and submit our paper before theirs. But they won't wait weeks until we rewrite for Science. If they publish before us, the context for our break-through would be old story for a top-rank journal. Too late, too little. The impact goes down by an order of magnitude.
That's my third high-ranking idea that disintegrated right under my hands. Time to reassess confidence, I guess.