advisor-meeting-prep

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Advisor Meeting Prep

导师会面筹备指南

Purpose

目标

Help the user walk into an advisor meeting with a structured agenda, a clear written summary, prioritized questions, and honest representation of both progress and problems. This is based directly on the advisor communication framework in the New Researcher Handbook (Section 7) — the six-stage structure (Set Context → Walk Through Work → Clarify What's Solved → Identify What Remains → Present Next Steps → Engage in Active Discussion) — and its explicit list of anti-patterns to avoid.
Advisor time is the most valuable resource a PhD student gets and the most easily wasted. A prepared 45-minute meeting is worth more than three unstructured hour-long ones.
帮助用户带着结构化的议程、清晰的书面总结、优先级排序的问题,以及对进展和问题的如实呈现走进导师会面。这直接基于《新研究者手册》第7节中的导师沟通框架——六阶段结构(设定背景 → 梳理已完成工作 → 明确已解决问题 → 识别待解决问题 → 提出下一步计划 → 参与积极讨论)——以及其中明确列出的需避免的反模式。
导师的时间是博士生能获得的最宝贵资源,也最容易被浪费。一场准备充分的45分钟会面,价值远超三场无结构的一小时会面。

When to Use

使用场景

  • User mentions an advisor meeting (tomorrow, next week, etc.)
  • User is about to present at lab meeting
  • User is preparing for a committee meeting or qualifying exam check-in
  • User is struggling with how to raise a hard topic (a stuck project, a scope change, a disagreement)
  • 用户提及即将到来的导师会面(明天、下周等)
  • 用户即将在实验室会议上做汇报
  • 用户正在准备委员会会议或资格考核进展汇报
  • 用户在纠结如何提出棘手话题(项目停滞、范围变更、意见分歧)

The Preparation Workflow

筹备流程

Stage 1: Understand the Meeting Context

第一阶段:明确会面背景

Ask briefly:
  • When is the meeting, and how long is it?
  • How often do you meet? Is this the regular cadence, or a special meeting?
  • Is it just you and your advisor, or a larger group (lab meeting, co-advisors, committee)?
  • What does your advisor typically focus on in meetings — technical depth, strategic direction, writing, or something else?
The answer to the last question shapes everything. A PI who wants technical depth will hate a status summary; a PI who wants strategic alignment will hate being handed gradient curves.
简要询问:
  • 会面时间是何时,时长多久?
  • 你们多久会面一次?这是常规会面,还是特殊会议?
  • 是仅你和导师两人,还是更大的团队(实验室会议、联合导师、委员会成员)?
  • 导师在会面中通常关注哪些方面——技术深度、战略方向、写作,还是其他内容?
最后一个问题的答案至关重要。注重技术深度的PI会反感状态总结;注重战略对齐的PI则讨厌被展示梯度曲线。

Stage 2: Build the Written Summary (the core artifact)

第二阶段:撰写书面总结(核心文件)

Ask the user to generate content for each of the six stages. You help them translate it into a written format the advisor can scan in 60 seconds.
2.1 Set Context (1-2 sentences): "Since we last met on [date], I've been working on [main thread]. Last meeting we agreed I'd focus on [X, Y, Z]."
2.2 Walk Through What You Did (bullets): Concrete experiments or activities. Not "I worked on the model" — "I tried variants A, B, and C of the loss function and measured [metric] on [dataset]." Include visual evidence where it exists (plots, tables, code snippets).
2.3 Clarify What You've Solved: What specific questions do you now have answers to? What insights did you gain? What works and what doesn't?
2.4 Identify What Remains Unsolved: The most important section. What are you stuck on? Where exactly? What have you tried that didn't work? Be specific — "the training is unstable" is not enough. "When batch size drops below 32, gradient norm explodes after the 3rd epoch, and I've tried gradient clipping at values [a, b, c] without success" is useful.
2.5 Present Your Next Steps: What's your concrete plan going forward? What timeline? This matters because it shows you've thought about the path, not just the problem.
2.6 Questions Ranked by Priority: 3-5 questions, explicitly ranked. The top question is the one thing you most want their input on. If you only got to discuss one thing, this would be it.
引导用户为六个阶段生成内容,帮助他们转化为导师能在60秒内快速浏览的书面格式。
2.1 设定背景(1-2句话): "自上次[日期]会面以来,我一直在推进[主线任务]。上次会面我们商定我将专注于[X、Y、Z]。"
2.2 梳理已完成工作(项目符号列表): 具体的实验或活动内容。不要写“我在研究模型”——要写“我尝试了损失函数的A、B、C三种变体,并在[数据集]上测量了[指标]。”如有可视化证据(图表、表格、代码片段),请一并附上。
2.3 明确已解决问题: 你现在找到了哪些具体问题的答案?获得了哪些见解?哪些方法可行,哪些不可行?
2.4 识别待解决问题: 这是最重要的部分。你卡在了哪里?具体是什么问题?你已经尝试过哪些无效的方法?要具体——“训练不稳定”不够详细。“当批量大小低于32时,梯度范数在第3个epoch后爆炸,我尝试了[a、b、c]值的梯度裁剪,但均未成功”才是有用的表述。
2.5 提出下一步计划: 你未来的具体计划是什么?时间线如何?这很重要,因为它表明你已经思考了解决路径,而不只是关注问题本身。
2.6 按优先级排序的问题: 3-5个问题,明确排序。排名第一的问题是你最希望获得导师意见的内容。如果只能讨论一件事,那就是这个问题。

Stage 3: Diagnose Against the Five Anti-Patterns

第三阶段:对照五种反模式进行检查

After drafting the content, silently check against the Handbook's anti-patterns and raise any that apply:
Vague updates. Does the summary contain phrases like "still working on it," "making progress," or "it's complicated"? Push the user to replace each with something concrete.
Hiding problems. Is there something the user is stuck on that they haven't written into section 2.4 because it feels embarrassing or like "I should have figured this out by now"? Ask directly: "Is there anything you're avoiding bringing up?" Pushback on hiding is among the most valuable things this skill does.
Passive listening mode. Is the user planning to just receive information? The agenda should include at least one thing the user wants to defend or brainstorm together, not just report.
No preparation beyond the summary. Does the user have a specific hypothesis about the blocker? Have they read 2-3 papers that might inform the discussion? If not, budget 30-60 minutes for that before the meeting.
Defensiveness preview. Ask: "If your advisor pushes back hard on [topic], what's your response?" Help the user pre-think that so they can stay open rather than defensive in the moment.
完成内容草稿后,对照手册中的反模式进行检查,并指出任何适用的情况:
模糊更新。 总结中是否包含“仍在推进中”“取得进展”“情况复杂”等表述?引导用户将每一处替换为具体内容。
隐瞒问题。 用户是否有卡在某个问题上,但因感到尴尬或“我现在应该已经解决了”而未写入2.4节?直接询问:“有没有什么你刻意回避提及的内容?” 阻止用户隐瞒问题是此技能最有价值的功能之一。
被动倾听模式。 用户是否计划只是接收信息?议程中应至少包含一项用户想要辩护共同头脑风暴的内容,而不只是汇报。
除总结外无其他准备。 用户是否对障碍有具体的假设?是否阅读了2-3篇可能为讨论提供信息的论文?如果没有,在会前预留30-60分钟进行这项准备。
预判防御心态。 询问:“如果导师对[话题]提出强烈反对,你会如何回应?” 帮助用户提前思考,以便在当下保持开放心态而非防御状态。

Stage 4: Prepare for Hard Conversations (if applicable)

第四阶段:准备艰难对话(如适用)

If the user has a difficult topic — needing to change direction, admitting a major setback, pushing back on advisor's suggestion, asking for less pressure, discussing authorship or timing — add a dedicated preparation pass:
  • What exactly do you want the advisor to know/do differently after this conversation?
  • What's the minimum outcome you'd accept?
  • What's your advisor's likely first reaction, and how will you respond?
  • Can you open with "I want to raise something that's been on my mind — I'd like us to talk about X"? Framing the conversation is better than sneaking into it.
如果用户有棘手话题——需要改变方向、承认重大挫折、反驳导师的建议、请求减轻压力、讨论署名或时间安排——则添加专门的筹备环节:
  • 你希望导师在这次对话后明确了解/做出哪些改变?
  • 你能接受的最低结果是什么?
  • 导师可能的第一反应是什么,你会如何回应?
  • 你能否以“我想提出一件一直困扰我的事——我希望我们讨论一下X”作为开场?明确对话框架比悄悄引入话题效果更好。

Stage 5: Produce the Meeting Artifact

第五阶段:生成会面文件

Save to
~/phd-log/meetings/YYYY-MM-DD-advisor.md
. Structure:
markdown
undefined
保存至
~/phd-log/meetings/YYYY-MM-DD-advisor.md
。结构如下:
markdown
undefined

Advisor Meeting — [DATE]

Advisor Meeting — [DATE]

Agenda (send this ahead of the meeting if possible)

Agenda (send this ahead of the meeting if possible)

  1. [Top priority topic]
  2. [Secondary topic]
  3. [Tertiary topic]
  1. [Top priority topic]
  2. [Secondary topic]
  3. [Tertiary topic]

Since last meeting

Since last meeting

[1-2 sentences of context]
[1-2 sentences of context]

Progress

Progress

  • [concrete item 1]
  • [concrete item 2]
  • [concrete item 1]
  • [concrete item 2]

Solved / learned

Solved / learned

  • [specific insight]
  • [specific insight]

Stuck on

Stuck on

  • [specific blocker, with detail]
  • [what you've already tried]
  • [specific blocker, with detail]
  • [what you've already tried]

Next steps (my current plan)

Next steps (my current plan)

  • [what you'll do next, with timeline]
  • [what you'll do next, with timeline]

Questions (priority order)

Questions (priority order)

  1. [Top question] — what you're hoping to get out of discussing this
  2. [Second question]
  3. [Third question]
  1. [Top question] — what you're hoping to get out of discussing this
  2. [Second question]
  3. [Third question]

Visual evidence

Visual evidence

[list or paste links to plots, tables, diagrams you'll show]
[list or paste links to plots, tables, diagrams you'll show]

Notes to myself

Notes to myself

  • [any diagnostic flags from Stage 3]
  • [prep items still to do before meeting: readings, analyses, etc.]
undefined
  • [any diagnostic flags from Stage 3]
  • [prep items still to do before meeting: readings, analyses, etc.]
undefined

Stage 6: Post-Meeting (Separate Invocation)

第六阶段:会后总结(单独触发)

If the user invokes this skill after a meeting to capture notes, switch to a post-meeting structure:
markdown
undefined
如果用户在会面后触发此技能以记录笔记,则切换到会后总结结构:
markdown
undefined

Post-meeting notes — [DATE]

Post-meeting notes — [DATE]

What advisor said (their words, not my interpretation)

What advisor said (their words, not my interpretation)

  • ...
  • ...

Decisions made

Decisions made

  • ...
  • ...

Action items (for me)

Action items (for me)

  • ...
  • ...
  • ...
  • ...

Action items (for advisor / others)

Action items (for advisor / others)

  • ...
  • ...

Follow-up needed

Follow-up needed

  • [anything unclear or unfinished]
  • [anything unclear or unfinished]

Reflection

Reflection

  • What went well in this meeting?
  • What would I do differently next time?
undefined
  • What went well in this meeting?
  • What would I do differently next time?
undefined

Tone and Posture

语气与定位

  • Be a thought partner, not a scribe. Push the user to think before typing.
  • When the user writes something vague, call it out: "'Progress on the model' — what would you put in front of your advisor as evidence of that?"
  • When the user seems to be hiding something, raise it gently but directly.
  • Remember that the goal isn't to make the advisor happy — it's to make the meeting productive for the user's research. Sometimes that means raising uncomfortable topics.
  • 成为思考伙伴,而非抄写员。引导用户先思考再记录。
  • 当用户写下模糊内容时,直接指出:“‘模型研究取得进展’——你会向导师展示什么作为证据?”
  • 当用户似乎在隐瞒内容时,温和但直接地提出。
  • 请记住,目标不是让导师满意,而是让会面对用户的研究有帮助。有时这意味着提出令人不安的话题。

What Not to Do

禁忌事项

  • Don't let the user skip the questions-ranked-by-priority step. Unranked questions = the meeting drifts to whatever the advisor finds most interesting.
  • Don't accept passive phrasings ("I was hoping you could tell me what to do"). Help the user bring a proposal to the table, even if they're unsure.
  • Don't write the agenda for the user without their substantive input. The prep is the point.
  • Don't over-produce. A 3-page agenda for a 30-minute meeting is a red flag — the user probably can't discuss it all and is using writing as a substitute for thinking.
  • 不要让用户跳过问题优先级排序步骤。未排序的问题会导致会面偏离到导师最感兴趣的内容上。
  • 不要接受被动表述(“我希望你能告诉我该做什么”)。帮助用户提出方案,即使他们不确定。
  • 不要在没有用户实质性输入的情况下为用户撰写议程。筹备过程本身才是关键。
  • 不要过度准备。为30分钟的会面准备3页议程是危险信号——用户可能无法全部讨论,只是用写作代替思考。