23#36 OKR of 2023 Academic Semester and September Summary

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I have established OKRs for this semester and this month, which I plan to review monthly in my progress summary. Based on my progress and the objectives of this semester, I will propose new OKRs for the following month.

OKR of 2023 Academic Semester

Deadline: @2024/02/10 09:00 (~ KDD 2024 Deadline)

Objective 1: spend most of my time on research.

  • Key Result 1

    Have a well-prepared 1 on 1 meeting with professor at least every two weeks.

  • Key Result 2

    Read and summarize at least 2 papers every day.

    Daily Paper Reading

  • Key Result 3

    Give a monthly summary of the research.

  • Key Result 4

    Finish 1+0.5 to 2 research projects before deadline and submit to KDD 2024.

  • Key Result 5

    Give an in-group sharing about my research.

Objective 2: try to discover specific future research interest.

  • Key Result 1

    Review essential mathematic tools (linear algebra, probability, graph theory) and establish a knowledge system expressed in English.

  • Key Result 2

    Select topics that interest me, participate in paper sharing activities and give a summary talk of selected topic.

  • Key Result 3

    Develop a habit of checking arXiv every day.

    Objective 3: speak English proficiently. (fluency > pronunciation)

  • Key Result 1

    Get familiar with common English words and research words.

  • Key Result 2

    Learn some English pronunciation courses and practice.

  • Key Result 3

    Give at least one academic talk in English.

    Objective 4: stay healthy.

  • Key Result 1

    Get enough sleep: ~7 hours every night and 40 minutes at noon.

  • Key Result 2

    Exercise every day.

  • Key Result 3

    Take a rest every month.

OKR of September 2023

Reminder: @2023/09/30 07:00

Objective 1: spend most of my time on research.

  • Key Result 1

    Realize all baselines.

    Try some attacks methods and think about how to design attack methods on trajectory and perform subtle backdoor attack.

  • Key Result 2

    Reread and summarize baseline papers and relevant attack papers.

    Read and summarize at least 2 papers every day.

  • Key Result 3

    Have a well-prepared 1 on 1 meeting with professor at least every two weeks.

  • Key Result 4

    Enough time: 7 - 11:30, 13:30 - 17:30, 20 - 23:30.

    Objective 2: study essential knowledge/tools/methods in spare time.

By mastering these basic tools, I can greatly improve my research efficiency.

  • Key Result 1

    Finish CS224W notes, experiments and homework, ahead of AIAA5028.

  • Key Result 2

    Introduction to Linear Algebra Page 22 - Page 180.

  • Key Result 3

    Review English grammar after finishing current pronunciation courses.

OKR of 2-Year M.Phil. Study

Objective 1: be/on the way to being a professional, independent researcher

  • Key Result 1

    An independent researcher

  • Key Result 2

    Excellent soft skills including presentation skills, social skills and proposal skills?

  • Key Result 3

    Follow-through

    事事有回应，件件有着落。成为靠谱的人

Summary of the Past Few Months

1. The First Lesson I Learned from Prof. Liu

Here are some notes I wrote during and after the first lecture given by Prof. Liu on September 5, 2023. To be honest, I was completely shocked by the professor's values and learned a lot from this lesson. It is my honor to join the USAIL group and be supervised by Prof. Liu.

In order to remind myself, I set a reminder to review today's notes every month. Next time: @2023/10/05 21:30

Notes: The First Lesson to My Ph.D. / M.Phil. Students

2. 上个月发现的一些问题

  1. 精力分散，没有完全专注在科研上

    客观上，开学前的诸多事务占用了部分时间；但主观上，积极性的确没有上上个月强，把太多时间分配到了较低效和低优先级的任务如数学、CS224W、迎新等。时间是很有限的，要可持续地形成良性循环，我只能保证 11.5 - 13 个小时的学习科研时间，如果不能尽量提高专注程度和效率，把太多时间分配到杂事上，那么很难保证科研进度。

    解决方案：尽可能让所有时间都为科研服务

    1. 提高专注程度，减少分配在低优先级任务的时间
    2. 学会跳岛，避免系统学习的倾向。除了必要的基础知识和工具，其他的东西在应用中学习和掌握
    3. 调整学习方法，自学时以 notes & hw 为主，视频为辅
    4. 学会复用，rbm 的项目必须与科研方向对齐，没有多余的精力和时间花在项目上

  2. 时间管理存在误区

    虽然很早我就开始践行 GTD 时间管理，但一直存在任务拆解不够明确、任务量不够细化、没有按优先级管理等问题。在听“开学第一课”时，我意识到应该按照任务的优先级来调整现有的时间管理方法。

    解决方案：尝试新的时间管理和日常反馈方案

    1. 所有任务按照 3 级优先级规划，减少不必要的日常任务提醒
    2. 在原先每周总结、每月总结的基础上，加入对当月 OKR 完成情况的回顾
    3. 基于回顾中发现的问题，制定下个月的 OKR

  3. 目前闭门造车严重

    闭门造车的原因有两点：一是过于追求完美心态，怕犯错。拿实现 baseline 注入攻击来说，总是担心设计的方案不够好，没法兼容后面的方法和新 baseline，导致经常修改设计思路，以至于拖慢了既定进度。二是对目前做的工作了解不够深入，没法用很简单的几句讲清楚。

    解决方案：

    1. 以结果为导向，优先实现功能，不要怕犯错，后面再迭代
    2. 每天吃饭/散步时找同学尽可能简洁地介绍自己的方法和进展
    3. 回顾相关的 attack 工作，及时总结他们的思想和攻击领域的论文行文结构

  4. 忽视效率工具的使用

    目前对以 ChatGPT 为代表的一些效率工具使用还不够熟练，上周写完脚本后尝试让 GPT 帮忙改进，发现效果很好。虽然不能依赖，但要掌握效率工具的使用。

    解决方案：

    1. 多多尝试 GPT、Claude 等生成工具，用他们去改进，不要直接生成，同时要仔细检查
    2. 目前申请了 Copilot 资格，下周研究在 VSCode 中如何使用