Greetings! I appreciate your interest in understanding how I work. This document aims to provide insights into my preferences, work style, and communication. Let's dive in!
First, although I will respond to titles such as Dr. Colbry or Professor, I prefer that people call me Dirk and I use He/Him/His pronouns. I realize calling someone in authority by their first name can be hard for some students from other cultures, but it is truly okay and not disrespectful. Also, please tell me what you would like to be addressed. If you are patient with me, I also really like learning how to correctly pronounce names that are unfamiliar, it just may take me some time and practice.
I prioritize my life in the following order: family, personal health, students, and work. Outside of work, I enjoy making things using digital manufacturing, using tools such as 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters etc.
At work passions revolve around facilitating others' learning and research. I lead the user support team at the Institute for Cyber Enabled Research (ICER), manage the SEE-Insight research lab, coordinate the data science capstone program, run the CMSETech group, and contribute to the CyberAmbassadors national organization, focusing on professional skills training.
I thrive on managing multiple roles, projects, and tasks through a complex organization system I assembled, continuously fine-tuning it for efficiency. My toolkit includes calendars, role lists, project lists, next-item tasks, multiple contact lists, and habit lists—all organized through scripts on my multiple computers. Rarely in my office, I encourage reaching out via email, my primary communication channel.
I dislike causing delays, so if you're waiting on me, let me know, and I'll prioritize your needs. While I use a complex system of lists, when I say, "I'll put it on my to-do list," rest assured it's not a dismissal, but a reflection of the challenge in timing due to the multitude of tasks and roles.
Every Friday, I try to conduct a "weekly review" to organize my roles and tasks, sharing a summary with my team. I encourage you to do the same, I will always try to respond with the understanding that my responses might come during the weekend and only after I prioritize time with my family.
I find my own learning preferences align strongly with hands-on experiences and real-world applications. This approach extends to my teaching style as well, while I occasionally find myself in lecture mode, I prefer to try and engage students in real-world, project-based learning.
However, I also recognize that this hands-on approach might pose challenges for those new to a skill or with a different learning style from my own. If you ever find yourself struggling with the hands-on approach, please don't hesitate to communicate your concerns. I am more than willing to explore alternative teaching methods, adapt to different learning styles, and provide additional resources to ensure a comprehensive understanding.
My goal is to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable and supported in their learning journey. Open communication about learning preferences allows us to tailor the learning experience to everyone’s needs.
I find joy in problem-solving and coding. Breaking down challenges into solutions energizes me. However, beware, once engaged, a problem tends to occupy my thoughts until a solution surfaces.
While helping others brings me satisfaction, constant reliance without effort is draining. I'm not a catch-all tech support; I appreciate those who strive to solve problems independently.
Email is my go-to. For efficiency, one question per email helps me manage tasks better. For me email isn’t a space where work goes to die. I appreciate the flexibility it offers through asynchronous communication.
I also enjoy conducting code reviews asynchronously, a process that involves students sharing links to their Git repositories with questions. I create detailed videos, walk through cloning the repositories, conduct a thorough code review, and address questions. When it is useful, I generate a pull request and include the process in the video to help with the learning experience.
For face-to-face interactions, use this website to schedule a meeting. Zooming is my default, and including a short agenda helps me prepare and optimize our time.
Note that my bookings website only shows time that I have not yet blocked off for work. If you are unable to find a time on the website, please email me blocks of time you are available. I can often move things around and prefer to schedule things manually rather than have people wait.
Initiative is key. Taking the lead in problem-solving while awaiting my input earns major points. Students, in particular, shine when they approach problems with a plan and seek guidance.
Constructive feedback is crucial. Vague criticisms frustrate me, so providing specific examples enhances our mutual understanding. Communication and collaboration is the key to improvement.
When looking for feedback on a written assignment I prefer people to send me a shared document which allows me to "track changes". I am flexible to the format but things like google docs, word and overleaf work quite well.
Similarly, when requesting my feedback on code I prefer collaborators to submit their work via a git repository which I can easily clone and edit. Git is my go-to version control tool and is the best way for me to work collaboratively with a wide variety of teams. I especially like it when we use tools like issues and pull requests. Please make sure the repository has complete instructions for reproducing the work and let me know if you need help, I have a lot of examples and tutorials I can share.
I'm an open book who cares about others' opinions. While I may appear neutral, I often hold nuanced opinions which I sometimes do not communicate well. I am terrible at arguing my point (especially if it intuitively seems right to me). It generally works best to engage me in conversations to understand each other better. Let me know if you think I am being obtuse or condescending, I sometimes need a push to see other points of view. Give me time to absorb the criticism, it often takes some reflection before I can respond properly.
Thank you for taking the time to familiarize yourself with how I work. I look forward to a productive collaboration!
Written by Dr. Dirk Colbry, Michigan State University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
