On the reg

Jason had pneumonia when he recorded this very long pod with Inger. It's a testament to his brainy-ness (and Inger's sound engineering skills) that it turned out as well as it did, given he coughed and sweated his way through it.Warning: in the chat section at the top there's a lot of talk about TEQSA. If you're confused, here's their webpage. Jason was too sick to do mailbag, but please keep sending in your letters and speak pipes!At we switch to our work problems section (26:04)  Large Language Models (LLMs) - we recommend you have a look at our Discussion Guide as we talk, or after you get back from your walk/gardening/gym/cooking or what every you are doing. You can read the briefing note that Inger wrote for her boss here.We skip the reading section and  coast out with some two minute tips (1:38:22)  for planning large complex tasks and reading all the instructions before you start doing a thing.The good news is that Jason did not die of his pneumonia and is back on his feet again - phew!Things we mentioned:On the Reg discussion guide for this episode (free to share)The briefing paper Inger wrote for her boss on how researchers are using ChattieGTimothy Snyder On Tyranny BookManchester Phrase BankRandy Olsen 'and but therefore' writing tip is in 'Houston, We have a Narrative'Team Human podcastLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason are at the end of the holidays. For Jason this meant going to a hash den in Thailand (it's a long story) and for Inger it meant organising all her rococo style porcelain figurines (yes, really).The mailbag (18:53) is full of interesting letters and provokes only one moment of feminist rage from Inger. Ok, maybe two. In the Work Problems segment (56:35) Jason gives us an alternative way to think about the year ahead with the VRIO model from Jay Barney and there's  quite a lot of talk about late stage capitalism.Reading time (1:24) Inger's been reading romance books about audio p*rn stars (you read that right), while Jason has been reading about how to be younger. In the Two minute tips  (1:38) Inger shares her library thing project and Jason talks about his State Of Mind.Then the first episode of season 5 was in the can- can you believe it?!Stuff we mentionedThesiswhisperer on InstagramWhy so slow, on the advancement of women Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for menTiago Forte's PARA bookMcSparky's new productivity field guidePlain English Podcast episode with Oliver Burkeman that enraged IngerCounter Productive by Mel GreggMind the gap in the literature blog post on Thesis WhispererFated Mates podcastCan I tell you something? (romance novel)The productivity Project by Chris BaileyThe man who invented HitlerYounger next yearLibrary Thing Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

This one has been in the can for a while - but it was recorded only a week after the previous one about the Meat Grinder. You'd think that would make the banter session shorter, but ...not really. Jason has largely avoided having his face squished at Brazilian Jujitsu and Inger has been writing whiny emails to her boss. The team finish up the Cambridge hiatus mailbag (13:32), including one from Janet Davey that was lost at the bottom (sorry about that Janet!). This prompts a lengthly discussion about Teams and autocorrect, so the usual nerdy stuff.In the Work Problems session (49:38) Jason confesses to Inger that he doesn't know how to gossip well, but Inger proves to him that he has got his academic gossip skills Just Right. Along the way Foucault is not mentioned, but he might as well have been given how much the word 'power' popped up.Inger's read her friend Stan Emmerson's new book 'What is the It' (1:28:44) and gives a completely biased review. Jason features a couple of 50 cent app shop bargains. Finally In two minute tips (1:37:10) Inger reports back on taking her own advice and Jason shares the rather tragic news that his email address is now on the Dark Web, which seems appropriate for a Halloween episode!Mentioned:We work to earn the right to work video Inger's blog post on Hot Academic GossipInger's academic paper 'Assembling the PhD candidate: troubles talk'Stan's book on editing 'What is the 'it'? A Handbook for proofing court judgementsAustin Kleon Steal like an ArtistClip at the end is The Fine Print: outer worlds song by Stupendium Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason are back, a bit later than anticipated because the audio the first time this episode was recorded was borked (that's a technical term). We promise the re-record is much better, and also, much longer.There's some unscripted banter at the start, which Inger had to cut as it went on a bit long. Jason can tell you about his new bike another time and you really don't need to hear all about Inger's struggle to find supplies of Ozempic. We dig into the mailbag (18:22), but not all the way to the bottom, then we get side tracked with a rave about MacSparkey's new Obsidian Field guide.In the work problems section (52:49), Jason drops all the knowledge about teaching large classes, drawn from his experience of teaching 1000 students a year in the same subject, over three countries and time zones. Yes you read that right, Inger is amazed - - and also horrified.Inger read some  books (1:33:38). They include a cook book, which Jason was interested in, and a romance novel, which he was not. The two minute tip section (1:42:48) actually takes around 17 minutes and includes at least four tips, so it's a bonus episode! Enjoy.Things we mentioned:Mac Sparky Obsidian field guideDownload Obsidian for Mac or PC (it's free!)Clean text (Mac app)ScrivenerMathpixOverleafZoteroTimingThings appMarked 2Teaching for quality learning at university by Jamie BiggsStyle, 10 lessons in clarity and graceWorkflowyPARA - Tiago ForteExtra focus: a quick start guide to adult ADHDMy kitchen year: 137 recipes that saved my lifeThe stand in by Lily ChuInfo click (mail.app search tool)Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

The Downs household has suffered a loss, while one member of the Mewburn household has discovered hither to unknown talents. Somehow the team still end up crapping about Obsidian a lot in the banter section. This is our second sabbatical mailbag episode (starting 20:44), which prompts a series of incredibly nerdy conversations about Microsoft Teams, Omnifocus, Text Expander, Obsidian, Bullet Journal etc - Even Nvivo and MaxQDA. In other words: the greatest hits. (A comment from listener Aaron has us wondering why most people's eyes glaze over when we start talking about this stuff, prompting Inger to wonder out loud if being interested in productivity is a bit like being a vegan. You decide!)Jason is reading Hunter S Thompson (starts 1:12:17) to avoid Inger giving him yet another romance novel. Oh, and Inger read the new Tiago Forte book so you don't have to - you're welcome. Lastly: Two Minute Tips (1:33:13)  lasts heaps longer than two minutes, fair warning.Stuff we mentioned:The Cat protection societyDavid Sparks Obsidian Field GuideOur first Obsidian Episode (mysteriously popular with listeners - warning. Super Nerdy)Danah Byrd Context CollapseLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

WE'RE BACK BABY!Inger sums up her whole Cambridge University experience in one anecdote about dinner. Jason has gone up a notch in Brazilian Ju Jitsu, which puts him in a position to comment on Mark Zuckerberg's training routine. In other words, it's a normal catch up, but twice as long!This episode is all a mailbag, starting with a speak pipe from Jonathan O'Donnell challenging the team to regular lunches and a content warning at 30 minutes about weight talk. If you don't want to hear a discussion about losing weight, skip ahead to 40 :46.We follow with a letter from  Alessa Teunisse about Bullet Journalling with all kinds of #bujo spreads to share. At 58:40 we get to a speak pipe from Ben Archer, who is asking about old technology and what to with it At 1 hour 17 minutes with a letter from Marcel Cardinali with all kinds of cool automations in Obsidian.In the reading segment at 1 hour 27 minutes, the team tease their new book project. Finally, two minute tips happens at 1 hour 32, In the sign off, we explain that @thesiswhisperer on Twitter will shortly be shut down. If you're one of the 52,000 odd followers to that account, have a look below for other options.Oh - and the first two episodes of the Academics talk about Severance pod have finally dropped! Listen and subscribe here.Things we mentioned:Google document with the images from Alessa and Marcel Focussed pod and yearly wall calendar Sadie James art from Ningaloo reefE-waste donation in CanberraAutomater app Jason used to create his Fantasia File ProblemDavid Kadavy: Mind Management not Time ManagementInger's video about Obsidian plug ins for ZoteroJoplin app for transferring Evernote dataThe enshittification of academic social media and Inger on ABC radio talking about it Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Jason has been doing BJJ, the gym, eat sleep and repeat - with an occasional visit to country Victoria. Inger has been doing ALL the event organising and somehow managing to make a podcast with her sister about the Apple TV show Severance at the same time. You'll have to subscribe to the Thesiswhisperer podcast channel to get the episodes when they drop.In other words, it's been busy.Which means we didn't have time to prepare for this episode, other than to book an actual studio to record in, as we happened to be in the same space time continuum for once. Hear what we sound like when someone else does the levels - it's pretty amazing.After our catch up there's a very full mail bag [12:54] before we get to our work problems segment [37:15]. This time we are doing a Frequently Asked Questions episode where we report back on two of our most asked about work problems: getting to inbox zero and how to write 'on top of everything else'. We talk about our systems and processes.  There's a discussion guide for you to follow along.Finally, the two minute tips [1:39:35} segment is all about Microsoft Teams - but interesting, we promise!Links to things we mentioned:Discussion guide for this episodePotPlant Productions (where we recorded this ep)If you want to listen to Academics talk about Severance, you'll need to subscribe to the Thesiswhisperer podcast channel Inger's Nature article about time tracking (yes, you read that right)The Syrian Underground library storyWhen McKinsley comes to TownLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger's happy her Apple Watch has declared her 'fit' while Jason surprised his team with actually putting on an interesting strategy day. Inger finally bought a ticket to the UK for her sabbatical in Cambridge, so Jason is on notice that the pod will be his while she is away. He's got Plans.The Mailbag [21:14] has a speak pipe and a letter about Inger and Jason's current objects of obsession: ChattieG and ADHD. For once they don't talk about Obsidian the whole time... in the Work Problems segment [33:54] the duo move on to talking about Influence, specifically Robert Caildini's 1984 book 'Influence: the psychology of persuasion', which Inger read in an attempt to better understand the addictive stickiness of social media. There's a discussion guide which you can use to follow along with the conversation, which is (as usual) pretty wide ranging. After you have learned the Weapons of Influence you will not be able to unsee them in everyday life.The conversation is so long, in fact, that Jason makes the executive decision to cut the reading part and only just lets Inger do a 2 minute tip [1:32:48] because it's a good one. But you'll have to listen all the way to the end!What we talked about:Influence: the psychology of persuasiondiscussion guide That paper Inger sent Luke about programmers writing worse code with AI assistantsAdam Kendon, gesture research guruLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger was late to the microphone  but Jason is in the lead this time, so the show actually happened! Jason didn't win at the first annual 'Meat Off' competition, but it was a tough field. At work it's all Chat GPT all the time, or, as Inger's sister Anitra calls it 'ChattieG'. Inger's been on the road again, this time at Monash Uni where she ran a session on Bullet Journalling. She also wrote 5000 words of her new book without even noticing, using Obsidian. The mailbag (19:15) also has a bit of an Obsidian theme, with some thanks and a question, which gets Jason going on the ChattieG again and inger complaining about the over 700 pages she has managed to put on the ANU website without even noticing.In the Work Problems section (32:10), Jason takes Inger at length through a strategic thinking exercise, using her research team's 'PostAc' product (more information on PostAc here). You can access Jason's discussion guide slides here.Inger finds this way of thinking fascinating and the team wonders all over the place touching on how universities will cope with Zoomers and dead birds being turned into Zombie robot drones. Yes. It's a lot. The What Have You Been Reading section (1:29) is fairly short this time before we head into 2 Minute Tips (1:44) where Jason drops the knowledge on pen holders and Inger has suggestions for a Digital Colonic - yes you heard that right.We mentioned:Quit by Annie Duke Discussion guideLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason have been on holidays, so there's a lot to catch up on. Jason was off the grid, finding boxes of romance novels in country opp shops while Inger borked all the authenticator apps on her phone and was locked out of ANU email.  There's a brief foray into Power Ballads and the Australian 80s band Noiseworks. There's a rather large mail bag to get through (13:53), which also prompts a bit of a discussion about AI (again) before the duo get to their work problems segment at 30:52. This time David Allen's classic 'Getting things done' gets a bit of an airing, along with some reflection on tools and techniques that the pair think will carry on into 2023. There''s a slide deck you can follow with the episode if you want more detail. For once, Inger does not have a feminist critique  and wonders if Allen got a sensitivity editor. Jason has read three books (starting at 1:18:39) - Inger guesses correctly they are all Navy Seal related so he feels both judged and seen. Inger has been reading a romance set in a Strictly Ballroom reality TV show world as well as a couple of useful things on managing events, thinking about ADHD and the Digital Zettlecasten. In the Two minutes tips (1:35:52) Inger publicly commits Jason to the next On The Reg book project - listen to the end to find out!Mentioned in this episodeVideo of Noiseworks 'Take me back'- for those unfamiliar, Noiseworks was THE premier 80's Australian power ballad band (16 year old. Inger had a crush on the lead singer and 52 year old Inger stands by her judgement)The second edition of Getting Things Done (2016)Can't Hurt Me by David GrogginNo Easy Day by Mark OwenDesert Fire by Phil Campion (not as recommended reading, just to validate Inger's comments on the forearms)Getting Things Done as an Audio book (what Inger listened to at the gym)Getting things done workbook (Inger uses this in teaching)  Event managers bible D.G. ConwayADHD 2.0 by Hallowell and RateyDigital Zettelcasten: principles, methods and examples by Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

You might have noticed this episode is rather... long. But it's  your last episode before February, 2023. so we  figure you can digest this omnibus episodes in parts!Look, there's a lot of Spider Talk in our catch up, so you might want to skip it if you're an arachnophobe. There's some very interesting questions from listeners in the Mailbag section [22:54], which gives us the chance to drop the knowledge on difficult publishing problems and how to tell someone they look nice at work. In our Work Problems segment [46:35] we talk about the new wave of Generative AI tools about to 'disrupt' higher ed (or are they?). You can follow along in the discussion guide we made for this episode.The reading section (1:44:00) has more podcasts than actual reading and the two minute tip section (1:52:00) returns to the problem of spiders via Obsidian back ups. Happy Holidays everyone!Stuff we mentioned:Inger's mosquito death bio-chamber thingyHuntsman Spider info (CW: spiders!)Pre-order Inger and Simon's new book Be Visible or Vanish at a cheapish price.Thesiswhisperer pod cast channel Secrets to winning at office politicsChat GPT3 from OpenAIDiscussion Guide for this episode on Google DocsChokepoint CapitalismHard ForkPosting Through itOddly influencedCautionary TalesLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger's had Covid Bingo, where she scored almost every symptom in the book. Meanwhile Jason has been been out there, having a life, which involves a story about the physics of gumboots. It makes sense in context, we promise.Inger snippety doodah-ded our catch up a bit, but it's still kind of long, so if you want to skip it, go straight to (24:02) when we open Mailbag. We have our first message from Mastodon and Jason got recognised in the street. Thanks to @bron@aus.social, who wrote a nice pocket review of our Text Expander book. There's a discussion guide for for this week's topic: transitions (which starts at 30:15:09). We talk about the pain points of starting or starting again (which ended up being a topic suggested by PETA the pirate, who left a review - thanks Peta!). We go to many places in this discussion, from Monkey cortex sizes to Obsidian MOCs, university branded sweat shirts and horrible colleagues. Inger also reveals why you never use an apostrophe 's' when you write about The Australian National University (yes, it's really in the style guide).In our reading session (1:28:26) we talk about some books we've read and a little bit about generative AI, but decided to hold over a fuller discussion to next time. In our two minute tips section (1:37:34), Jason reminds us about the value of starting projects with 'Who, What, Where, Why and How' and Inger needs Jason's help with making check lists to deal with Covid brain fog...Things we mentioned on the show:Academic Assholes and the circle of nicenessWhat not to wear: the academic edition The Curated closetWhy so slow: the advancement of womenSecrets to winning at office politicsObject Secure by Nick LaveryBulldozed by Nikki SavaAnyList appCheckvist appMastodon app 'Toot!'Max QDAObsidianLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Buckle up folks, this is a long one! It's been a big couple of weeks since Jason and Inger caught up.  Inger went to Tassie and experienced crossing bass strait in gale force winds on the way back while Jason got rained on while camping and discovered 'Truckie Twitter' on the UHF band radio during an unexpected 2.5 hour journey home from work.... Oh, and Thesiswhisperer Jnr is now being paid to play with puppies at a pet store, which Inger and Jason agree is a great career choice and maybe one they should consider.There's a very full mailbag (17:23), with lots of nice feedback on our Obsidian episode and a speak pipe by friend of the Pod, Shainal - who is going to be car pooling with Jase now he's working at Latrobe too.Our work problem segment (26.37) is the big story of the week: The Big Twitter Meltdown. Inger and Jason dig in for more than an hour on the topic of tweeting/tooting while academic and it goes to a surprisingly reflective place. There's a discussion guide that will be helpful we think and talk of algorithmically shaped behaviours, soft power, vitality and server architectures constructing realists - even Erving Goffman gets a mention. Even if you don't Tweet or Toot, there's stuff to think about in here because online life is still real life and this Twitter ruckus has real world consequences, but if you are looking to make the jump of Twitter, Inger has lots of Thoughts and a few suggestions for getting started.Inger has been doing nothing but attending to the Great Twitter Migration, so Jason is left to do the honours with the reading section (1:52:06)  and the 2 minute tip section, which features a bit of 'is this book bullshit' talk and the problem of too much WIP. Look, this is a long one, so get down to some cleaning and gardening or a long walk!Things we mentioned:The discussion guide for this episode (which has links to all the services and articles mentioned).Book: coach to coachAtul GawandeLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason catch up to get their nerd on HARD in this episode - you have been warned. After the usual catch up - with only a little bit of old person health problems - Inger reads out some nice feedback (17:50). People loved our last episode on 'Building a second brain for writing' where we talked about Tiago Forte's book. Because of this conversation, Jason had an epiphany and started using Obsidian - a database program which Inger describes as 'your own personal Wikipedia'.Because Jason had such a conversion moment about Obsidian, Inger had to hear all about it. Basically Inger's career success is built on copying everything Jason does so she needs him to talk her through it. Which he does. For over an hour.  Two things for listeners to note about this conversation:1) It's nerdy. Like, really, really nerdy. Not only about Obsidian, but about TEQSA and accrediting universities and stuff like that. We don't blame you if it's too much. We'll be back to a more audience friendly format next time.2) It is not necessarily good pod fodder because it relies a bit on seeing what Jason is doing when he talks. So Inger has made a quick, edited video of what Jason is showing her. We highly recommend having a look at this  video before, or while, you are listening.We are so exhausted by this conversation, but all we can talk about in the rest of the episode is shopping and watching TV.Things we mentioned:Obsidian - download it here.The video that Inger made of what Jason was showing herKarst desk plannerLeave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

There's a lot of sweary words in this one, headphones in!Inger brought a sword to work and Jason is back on the mats at Brazillian Ju Jitsu (BJJ) so it's business as usual at On The Reg. Big shout out to Jason's wife Cath, who has nearly finished her course, which somehow leads to a long discussion of Jason's first experience of removing unwanted body hair. In other words, the usual catch up, but if you want to skip it, go straight to 24:32, where Siobhan calls in on Speakpipe to ask Inger if she's read 'How to take smart notes' by Sonke Ahrens. Siobhan's call is a great segue into Inger and Jason's discussion, starting at 28:58, about 'Building a Second Brain: a proven method to organise your digital life and unlock your creative potential' by Tiago Forte of Forte Labs. Inger LOVED this book and spends an hour telling Jason all about it, which caused Jason to spend yet more money on books and software. There's a lot of talk about the relative merits of (and how to integrate) Pocket, Evernote, Obsidian, Roam Research, Notion and the Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason have been busy, you know - the usual. Inger has been deep in three minute thesis land (ie: the annual ANU 'high school musical') and Jason paid $250 to learn he doesn't have to have surgery (yay!).There's only a little bit of 'old people complaining about their health' in the first bit before they listen to a speak pipe from Tseen Khoo (17:14). Tseen has finally read and reviewed the Navy SEALs romance that Inger sent her, and points out the trope that  ruins the book for Inger, forever (and how well the hero fills out his Dress Whites). Tseen's expert review forces Jason to finally Share His Feelings about 'Ordinary Everyday Jones', the Navy SEALs romance Inger sent him at the same time. Needless to say, He has Notes and finds the book terribly confusing... but does actually admit it was a fun read.  Look, this whole bit goes on much longer than expected, but hopefully it's the review that Inger's friend Nick Hill has been waiting for!The duo move on to their work problems segment (35:48) where they do a Bristol Stool chart analysis of 'The 80/20 principle: how to work less and achieve more' by Richard Koch. Inger prepared an On The Reg discussion guide, complete with the Bristol Stool chart so the pair could do an accurate bullshit rating. Inger reckons that Richard needs to knock off the single malt whiskey a bit, while Jason talks her into seeing the valuable bits amongst all that rampant capitalism.Finally the pair get to two minute tips (1:26:17). Jason talks about bomb disposal and reports back on the timers he bought the other week. Inger talks about how a colleague nearly killed her laptop by knocking over a bottle of water and takes the opportunity to wax lyrical about backup plans.Things we mentioned:Get Lucky by Suzanne BrockmannEveryday Average Jones - Suzanne Brockmann (on GoodReads)The 80/20 principle by Richard Koch.The On The Reg discussion guide for the 80/20 principle (complete with Bristol Stool chart - beware!)Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason are both complaining about their health again. Jason has 'mild degeneration' of his shoulder joint and Inger has 'mild degeneration' of her eye lens. The duo agree that it means they are falling apart, but as Jason says ' slowly'. After the whinging about health, and a few things about the Jeep/Tesla/Tinny there 's a bit about academic administration before a Speakpipe from Dasha from Finland (27:10) and another email from Heather Brown and finally, the point of the podcast: our work problems segment (34:49).This week we're talking about Making work Visible: exposing time theft to optimise work and flow by Dominica DeGrandis. This is an amazingly useful book and to help convince you, Inger produced a reading guide, which you can access on Google Slides as you listen. During the discussion, Inger shares the PERT formula, which is below:Most Likely Estimate (Tm)Optimistic Estimate (To)Pessimistic Estimate (Tp)PERT Estimate = (To + 4Tm + Tp) / 6Standard Deviation = (Tp – To) / 6Give it a try - Inger and Jason both think it's amazing. Since the team are on the clock with Jason going off to a Jeep show, they zoom through the reading segment (1:36:56), but promise to come back to talk in more detail about Navy SEAL romance novels next time (much to Jason's disgust). There's only time for a quick discussion of slime robots at 1:38:31. Two minute tips (1:42:40) are strangely in synch this time, and there's merch you can buy! Link to said merch and all the things we mentioned in the show should be in the links, below:Stuff we mentioned: Making work Visible: exposing time theft to optimise work and flow by Dominica DeGrandis.+ reading guide to the book, which you can access on Google SlidesOmni show episode with usOmni show ep with Kaitlin Salke about automating time calculationsInger's neglected project: The Whisper CollectiveMagnetic slime robotsWhy we did it: the Republican road to hell by Tim MillerWork won't love you back: how devotion to our jobs keeps us exploited, exhausted and alone. by Sarah Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason catch up on Inger's 24th wedding anniversary (with Mr Thesis Whisperer's permission!). Inger went to Newcastle in the Tesla and had fun doing a workshop in a bathroom. It's been a weird couple of weeks: she also encountered giant animatronic wombats on the lawns of parliament house while taking part in an NTEU event. Jason's had Covid in the house (9:47), but avoided getting it, despite using his Aunt's method of taking temperature of kids via hugging. He's finally going back to just two jobs (thank goodness) and trying to work out how to not overwhelm the big boss when she gets back.Jason and Inger talk about how they were interview by Andrew for The Omni Show (18:48) and are just a little bit excited that they got retweeted by Ken Case (squee!). At 24:46 there's some talk about Navy SEALS and our #deathcagematchreadathon with @tseenster on Twitter. Inger's been reading 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willing and Leif Babin while Jason has been reading a romance called 'Everyday, Average Jones' by Susan Brockmann. They also made @tseenster read one, but she hasn't left a speak pipe review yet (no pressure Tseen!).Then they both unpack the lessons from 'Extreme Ownership: how US Navy SEALs lead and win' (40:38) Using a slide deck to guide the conversation. Inger applies three of the lessons (extreme ownership, Believe and Plan) to the problems of academic life, specifically designing a career for yourself (1:01:58). The pair discuss her theory there are two types of academic 'elbow patch' (who spend their careers in deep study becoming The Expert) and Entrepreneur (the ones who are agile to survive). They debate the pros and cons of both career choices and then how to fit into the broader mission of a university (1:13:39) and then go on to drop the knowledge about how to use the university strategic planning process to basically Get What You Need (1:22:48).They close out with talk about necrotic robots (yes, reanimating dead spiders - shudder) and the terrifying footage of a robot dog with a crazy accurate machine gun strapped to its back (1:42:59). The two minute tips are there, but trust us when we say that you will STILL be thinking about killer robots by the end of this episode - hasta la vista! Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Stuff we mentioned:Jason and Inger guested on the The Omni Show podcastThe romance novels Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Jason and Inger are behind on their podcasting schedule because Inger had Not-Covid/ Not-flu and too sick to record last Sunday. Meanwhile Jason has injured himself at Brazilian Ju Jitsu - again. Jason texts a picture of his inner thigh to Inger, live on air, to show her the damage. She is shocked (not at the body part itself, because she lives with a pair of 50 year old male inner thighs) because she didn't know bruises could actually be that big. In our listener feedback section, Martin Emo speak pipe's in some Good Advice on making our sound better. Inger tried to action with a 'there I fixed it' style home brew 'confuse and diffuse' set up .... with egg cartons, and a towel.  Further work needs to be done, but she's quite happy with how it turned out. Matthew sent us in a good #bujo numbering system by email, so the pair are really benefitting from all the free consulting offered by their audience!In our work problems segment, we give Chapter three of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People the full 'is this book bullshit?' treatment. As usual, Inger is exasperated with Covey and suggests the book should come with a content warning 'essence of patriarchy', but Jason does a good job of convincing her that a certain amount of preachy-ness is part of the self help genre. Both agree that they could have less Mormonism but that Chapter three is full of excellent productivity tips.In our reading section Inger drops the knowledge on a couple of books for distressed thesis writers and finally tells Jason what romance novels she is reading. Inger argues they are 'the instruction manual for women' and Jason reluctantly agrees to try reading one. Jason has been reading about academic integrity, which is a good thing because Inger just wants to benefit from this knowledge and not have to actually do this kind of reading herself. Inger has a two minute tip - and it's quite a good one. Jason has been doing 50+ hour work weeks, so he gets a pass this time!Thanks to Riverside.fm for supporting the show. We recommend it for all your podcasting and remote recording needs: enter ONTHEREG for a 15% discount or use this link.Links to things mentioned in the showSeven habits of highly effective people by Stephen CoveyStory machine - An AI writing generatorCanada’s Worst Drivers on YoutubeRomance novels by Kylie Scott (Inger recommends you start with the Stage Dive series)Cheating Academic Integrity by David Rettinger and Tricia GallantWrite your dissertation in 15 minutes a day Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com

Inger and Jason are back to their usual format now the election is done. This is the first weekend in 18 months that Inger doesn't have any political activism planned for the weekend - and she is happy about the election result because a well hung parliament is a good parliament in her book (totally worth a 6 vodka hang over). Meanwhile, Jason has been super busy with being #bigboss but he does have an awesome executive assistant who is now in charge of his diary (which is weird, but in a good way). In the work problems segment, the duo revisit their bullet journal practice, 18 months in, to see what's changed. (If you don't use a bullet journal or #bujo, it's a good idea to watch this  4 minute video before you listen otherwise the whole segment probably won't make sense. )Will Inger give up Omni? What actual page number is Jason up to now? What happens when you lose your #bujo on the train and a kindly soul returns it to you? (Well, this last one won't happen to Jason because he's sorted that out with an RFID card). You'll have to listen to the episode to find out! (Or skip if if it seems like incomprehensible gibberish, we honestly don't mind). Jason's commute and Brazilian Ju Jitsu practice has made it difficult to read, while Inger has been reading, but a  LOT of trash. She does share an article on the seven varieties of stupidity by Ian Leslie, which the duo agree explains a lot of their life inside universities.Finally, in the two minute tip section, Jason is experimenting with 'Hook', a new kind of linking software on the map and Inger is using travel time to put more buffers in her day. In other words, a pretty typical episode of On The Reg, but a long one because, well - it's been awhile and we've missed our nerd chats. Queue up a long drive, some gardening, housework or be like Siobhan and get out the knitting :-)Links4 minute video about how to do a #bujoseven varieties of stupidityIf you're interested in the timing app, you can find out more here.If you're interested in Omni focus, have a look at this video Inger's toying with moving to Todoist to manage tasksJason is playing with Hook, here's their Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. Email Inger, she's easy to find. You will not be able to find Jason's email (he likes it that way).Talk to us on BlueSky by following @thesiswhisperer and @drjd. Inger is sadly addicted to Threads, but cannot convince JD to join. You can find her there, and on all the Socials actually, as @thesiswhisperer. You can read her stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. If you want to support our work, you can sponsor Thesis Whisperer for $1 a month on Patreon, buy Inger a coffee on Ko-Fi or grab a copy of our ‘Text Expander for academics’ book off Thesiswhisperer.com