For many of us finding the time and the energy for professional productivity can be difficult. I have been incredibly lucky this past semester (and several other times in the past) to have found a fun and supportive solution to these problems: PUBLiSH ClUB.  

The first iteration of PUBLiSH CLuB grew out of such productivity frustrations within the VIPEr leadership group. We started with a few ground rules:   

1. Assemble a group of fellow slackers

These can be fellow IONiC members, members of a department, members of various science departments, etc. Each type of supporting groups has different strengths and weaknesses.   

2. Set concrete goals for a finite longish range time period (for instance, this summer).

The goals could be a paper, a grant, a SOTL project, a blog post--whatever you want to accomplish professionally. It is important that the group members individually set goals that are realistic for their personal and professional situation. This semester I was more ambitious (and more successful) than usual because I was on sabbatical.   

3. Determine a weekly goal setting and reporting process

Google docs and other document sharing tools are useful here. If you have a local rather than virtual study buddy, weekly “study dates” with your writing partner might help you keep on task and get you away from distractions and/or your research students for a few hours each week.   

4. Report each week

This could involve a Google hangout, an email exchange, filling in goals accomplished in your shared document, or a Friday night beer. Regular check-in can be a good way to calibrate and keep goals realistic on a week to week basis.   

5.  Pay up if you fail

Build in some accountability. The groups I worked with typically give one or two “free passes” for the time interval. This might be a vacation week, or a week when personal problems blew up unexpectedly or things just got super crazy with your students or your classes. In some groups we would send little gifts to one another when we failed to meet our PUBLiSH ClUB goals. Some examples included homebaked cookies, a Beaker keychain (above) and geeky crystalline glazed pottery.        

I give my sincere thanks to “VIPErettes” Anne, Karen, Sabrina, Kathy, and Barb for their help and support this semester! I finally got a paper resubmission done that had been sitting around for more years than I am willing to admit!

Anyone else out there try these kinds of groups and achieve success? Do you have advice for groups trying to get their collective butts in gear? Any questions from someone trying it for the first time this summer?