Research Computing Teams #137, 17 Sept 2022
I get a lot of questions about both hiring and communicating expectations/performance management. I’m trying to compile and clean up some of what I’ve...
Research Computing Teams #136, 10 Sept 2022
A housekeeping item before we get started - I’ve had the searchable archives for back issues for a while, but there’s a limit to what a simple text search...
Research Computing Teams #135, 3 Sept 2022
Long time reader Adam DeConinck wrote in answering a question about Firecracker, a light-weight VM which is used for hosting tools like (as in last issue)...
Research Computing Teams #134, 27 Aug 2022
I’ve been catching up on some reader feedback now that I’m back in the swing of newsletter things. Thank you all so much for your emails! I’ve learned a lot...
Research Computing Teams #133, 20 Aug 2022
Hi - I hope you’re enjoying your August! One of the things I’d like to do now that I’m back from a couple of weeks off from the newsletter, is start being...
Research Computing Teams #132, 30 Jul 2022
Hi! Last week we talked about ways to say no to incoming requests; besides a flat-out no, I mentioned the possibility of involving another team, or...
Research Computing Teams #131, 23 July 2022
Hi! A question came in from a reader - I’ve talked before about how to not do things, and in my recent talk I said “do whatever researchers ask for” isn’t a...
Research Computing Teams #130, 15 July 2022
Hi! I want to write one more thing about strategy this week before going back into the basics of managing our research computing teams. It turns out I’m...
Research Computing Teams #129, 9 July 2022
Hi! I write a lot here about challenges our teams face, but I don’t think I mention often enough the huge advantage our background in science is in our work...
Research Computing Teams #128, 8 July 2022
I heard a number of answers back about what sorts of service request processes people were using: A lot of software development teams, of course, took bug...
Research Computing Teams #127, 25 June 2022
Before we get started, please answer if you can a question from a reader: What do you use to get and keep track requests for your work from researchers? Is...
Research Computing Teams #126, 18 June 2022
Hi! I write a lot here on the challenges that research computing and data teams face, and the challenges that their managers and leaders face in particular....
Research Computing Teams #125, 11 June 2022
Hi, all! I want to write a little bit more in the coming year about strategy for leaders of research computing and data teams: setting priorities; deciding...
Research Computing Teams #124, 4 June 2022
Hi! I wanted to write more this week about the consequences of research computing teams as vendors, and what that means for strategy - I’ll do that next...
Research Computing Teams #123, 28 May 2022
Hi! My new job, working for a large company that explicitly sells stuff, has indeed been eye-opening — but not in the ways I expected. Mainly I’m confronted...
Research Computing Teams #122, 14 May 2022
Hi! I took part in a hackathon this week, working directly with researchers on improving their code for the first time in — gosh, maybe eight years? Nine?...
Research Computing Teams #121, 7 May 2022
Hi! The (159-item!) intern process checklist from last week generated a few interesting discussions, and those plus Chris Dwan’s interesting talk discussed...
Research Computing Teams #120, 30 Apr 2022
A reader wrote in to ask: We have a new summer intern starting in a few weeks who I will be directly supervising. Although I have been the technical/project...
Research Computing Teams #119, 23 Apr 2022
Hi! I wanted to talk a little bit more about Research Computing and Data (RCD), how it connects to other work, and how that informs how I think about when...
Research Computing Teams #118, 15 Apr 2022
Hi! My discussion last week about when research computing and data work is and isn’t a research output in and of itself produced some replies, as the topic...
Research Computing Teams #117, 9 Apr 2022
Hi! I’ve long tried to describe the sudden disorientation of losing immediate feedback that comes with being a first-time manager. Recently I heard the term...
Research Computing Teams #116, 2 April 2022
“Contact us for pricing”. Say we’re looking at a potential new tool, for us or the team as a whole. When we want to learn about whether it’s feasible as a...
Research Computing Teams #115, 26 Mar 2022
Hi! Well, it finally happened. The time came for something I’ve been dreading since taking a job with a vendor; something which held me back from taking such...
Research Computing Teams #114, 18 Mar 2022
Hi! It’s been pointed out I have my view of the role of specialization in research computing teams seems a bit contradictory. I am very pro-specialization,...
Research Computing Teams #113, 11 Mar 2022
Hi! We now have 200 members of our community; people who care about research computing and data teams, their potential, and the importance of leading them...
Research Computing Teams #112, 5 March 2022
Hi! My current job, like most of my previous jobs, include a lot of people who have worked for a long time in research — either as researchers themselves or...
Research Computing Teams #111, 26 Feb 2022
Hi! I’ve been thinking of jobs a lot lately, of course, for my own reasons and just through the effort of curating the research computing teams leadership...
Research Computing Teams #110, 19 Feb 2022
Hi! I won’t lie; when I started offboarding myself from my current job a few weeks ago I was a little anxious. I was pretty sure that team members would step...
Research Computing Teams #109, 11 Feb 2022
Hi! A slightly short newsletter today, as I finally claw my way back onto the Friday schedule. One community update from last week - there was a fair amount...
Research Computing Teams #108, 5 Feb 2022
Hi, everyone: Several readers responded about their version of the challenges I described last week - most teams are still working remote; some had reduced-...
Research Computing Teams #107, 29 Jan 2022
I’ve had great conversations with research computing and data team managers this week. And while the the discussions were great, they weren’t all sunshine...
Research Computing Teams #106, 22 Jan 2022
Hi! As you can see from this issue again being late (but less late!), here at RCT HQ I’m still getting into the rhythm of the new year. I hope you and your...
Research Computing Teams #105, 16 Jan 2022
Hi everyone - Happy New Year! Here at RCT HQ, we’re slowly getting back into the swing of things after a long and relaxing holiday break - I hope it was...
Research Computing Teams #104, 11 Dec 2021
Hi! There seems to be something in the air - in the past week I’ve had or heard a number of conversations around leadership and managmement. Leadership vs...
# Research Computing Teams #103, 4 Dec 2021
Hi! It’s a busy time of year, as we try to get things closed out before the holidays. For a lot of us, outlines of opportunities and connections for the next...
Research Computing Teams #102, 27 Nov 2021
Hi! If you follow HPC twitter at all, you will have seen a heartfelt thread by a well-known research software developer, one who was a key contributor to the...
Research Computing Teams #101, 19 Nov 2021
Hi! A reader from a U15 research institution [Canadian research-intensive universities; think Russell Group in the UK, or R1 universities in the US] writes...
Research Computing Teams #100, 12 Nov 2021
Hi, everyone: It’s been a good week here at RCT world headquarters. First, our team finally published our paper describing our v1 platform at a high level -...
Research Computing Teams #99, 5 Nov 2021
Hi, research computing team managers and leaders: In our team there's been a lot of passages lately - a paper for our original work is (finally!) coming out,...
Research Computing Teams #98, 29 Oct 2021
Hi! At least one other research group has also taken to providing some interview questions ahead of time. In response to the discussion in last issue, Titus...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 22 Oct 2021
Hi! So, two final aspects of our recent hiring situation that I haven’t had room to mention earlier: we’re giving out interview questions ahead of time, and...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 15 Oct 2021
Hi! I wanted to give you an update on the co-op hiring mini-fiasco from last week. Even with the chaos, we still managed to get 3 of our top 4 candidates,...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 8 Oct 2021
Let me tell you about a mini-fiasco this week that was entirely my own doing. In our team, we routinely hire students for semester-long co-op positions. It...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 1 Oct 2021
Happy October! There’s a couple of articles in the roundup this week on professional development and career paths for those in research computing & data -...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 24 Sept 2021
Hi - I hope your week has gone well! I’ve been prompted by a few things to think about activity versus accomplishing lately. Falling into a trap of doing...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 17 Sept 2021
Hi! We’ve talked here in several issues about the “great resignation” that many companies are seeing as the pandemic starts to wane a bit. I think this is...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 10 Sept 2021
Research computing and data is increasingly a single discipline, a single area of practice. It’s a complex one, too; one which includes the support of first...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 3 Sept 2021
Quick: what’s your team’s specialty? Your team’s specialty is its reputation for what it’s good at. Not what you think your team is good at; what matters is...
Research Computing Teams Link Roundup, 27 Aug 2021
Hi, everyone: I hope that as the start of the academic year approaches in the northern hemisphere, those of you who are going back to campus are comfortable...
Research Computing Teams - Critical Mass Next Steps and Link Roundup, 20 Aug 2021
Thanks, everyone, for your responses last week. I’ve been thinking a lot about strategy in other contexts lately - some of you will have noticed that I’ve...