Blog

Thoughts and reflections on research, coding, leadership, and other distractions
Author

Dr Robert Johnson

What is Culture and how to change it?

leadership
scientific leadership
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” Peter Drucker
Jul 1, 2024
Dr Robert Johnson

The Importance of Trusting Your Team’s Judgment

leadership
scientific leadership
As a team leader, one of the most critical aspects of my role is to cultivate trust. Trust is not just a feel-good fuzzy thing - it is the foundation upon which…
Apr 19, 2024
Dr Robert Johnson

What are percentiles and probabilites?

analysis
data
statistics
I’m just back from an extended summer break - highly recommended - and so to kick things off here’s a little explainer.
Feb 27, 2024
Dr Robert Johnson

Running a Scientific Paper Reading Group

leadership
scientific leadership
As a part of my team’s regular activities we run a fortnightly scientific paper reading group. In this post I’d like to share how we operate our reading group, the…
Dec 14, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Reflecting on Stand-up meetings

leadership
scientific leadership
Looking back on my journey over the last few years, I’ve come to realise the nuanced complexities of team meetings, in particular the famous “stand-up”. There was a time in…
Dec 7, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

The Celebrity Interview

leadership
scientific leadership
Liberating Structures “Celebrity Interview” technique offers an innovative approach to fostering human connections and knowledge sharing between the elders of science and…
Nov 30, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

5 Fingers, 1 Team: How to Build an Unstoppable Team with Voting!

leadership
scientific leadership
Voting is an essential process in any democratic system, and it can be just as effectively applied to decision-making in research teams. In the collaborative hub of a…
Nov 23, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

The ‘Check-In’ Ritual: How to Create a Welcoming Meeting Environment

leadership
scientific leadership
Have you ever tried starting a meeting with everyone saying how they’re feeling or what they’ve been pondering? This idea is a riff on the “Check-In” ritual from the Core…
Nov 16, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Getting started with Innovation Sprints

innovation
agile
leadership
scientific leadership
People have been asking me how they can get started with Innovation Sprints, so I’ve put together a quick start guide on how to do your first Innovation Sprint with your team.
Nov 9, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

A Scientist’s Guide to Innovation Sprints

innovation
agile
leadership
scientific leadership
In today’s fast-paced research environment it’s easy to become so focused on meeting project deadlines that we forget to make time for innovation and creative exploration.…
Nov 2, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

My Boss Doesn’t Know What I Do

leadership
scientific leadership
When I first transitioned to remote work in 2016, I quickly realized that the physical distance between my boss and me created a gap in visibility and understanding of what…
Oct 26, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

The Calendar Cure

productivity
leadership
scientific leadership
I’ve always liked productivity apps - Things, OmniFocus, TickTick. There’s a particular kind of relief that comes from dumping everything floating around in my head into one…
Oct 19, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

What is Innovation?

innovation
leadership
scientific leadership
“Innovation is free pizza and an unsupervised workshop” - the moment I heard this quote from Saul Griffith’s it captivated me. I am a career scientist and Saul’s statement…
Oct 12, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Is Make the answer to the Reproducible Research Crisis?

leadership
scientific leadership
Reproducibility is the backbone of science. It’s the ability to re-conduct an experiment or piece of research to validate the findings. In the era where every modern…
Oct 5, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Decentralized Decision-Making

leadership
scientific leadership
Over the past few years, i’ve noticed a significant improvement in morale and effectiveness when decision-making is decentralized - meaning that those involved in the daily…
Sep 28, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Scientist as Surgeon - shift your view and protect your time

leadership
scientific leadership
I’ve been trying out a new time management mindset I think you might find interesting. It’s based on how surgeons structure their day between surgeries and consultations.
Sep 22, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

What are Liberating Structures?

leadership
scientific leadership
Do you struggle to get people on the same page or with effective cross team collaborations?
Aug 6, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Personal User Manuals

leadership
scientific leadership
Have you ever tried to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture without instructions? That exasperating feeling of not knowing where to start, the recurring thought of “If only I…
Jun 22, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Give people an ‘A’…

leadership
scientific leadership
We often judge others based on their past or their perceived limitations? As humans, it is natural for us to form opinions and categorize people in this way. Nevertheless…
Jun 15, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 8

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
As the Agile Coaching Lab (ACL) draws to a close, I am filled with a sense of happiness and gratitude for being part of this beautiful cohort. ACL is a transformative…
Apr 14, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 7

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
As part of our reading for the final Agile Coaching Lab (ACL) class next week we were tasked with reading up on the First Follower phenomenon. This is beautifully captured…
Apr 10, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 5

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
As part of the Agile Coaching Lab (ACL) homework this week we were asked to read the work of Daniel Mezick on Agile Coaching Lessons and reflect on what we learnt and what…
Mar 15, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Decision Records

innovation
leadership
scientific leadership
agile
In agile development, teams work in a fast-paced and iterative way, constantly making decisions that impact the project’s progress and direction. As a project evolves, team…
Mar 14, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 3

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
During week 3 of the Agile Coaching Lab (ACL) we focused on the craft of coaching. We explored many tools, techniques, and strategies, but the three that stuck with me were…
Feb 27, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

A Checklist for Adopting Innovations

innovation
leadership
scientific leadership
Lately i’ve been thinking about how one decides to adopt a new technology or tool. There’s a lot of push for scientists and organisations to keep up with the latest and…
Feb 24, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 2

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
So, this is week 2 of the 9th cohort of the Agile Coaching Lab (ACL). We worked through so many activities, readings, techniques and podcasts each week that I just can’t…
Feb 21, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

Agile Coaching Lab - Week 1

agile
reflection
leadership
coaching
On the 7th of Feb 2023 I joined the 9th cohort of the Agile Coaching Lab (ACL). The ACL is “An intensive 8-weeks program for agile coaches, scrum masters and leaders who…
Feb 12, 2023
Dr Robert Johnson

PyDuct - a Data Engineering pipeline in Python

python
code
analysis
research software engineering
In Data Science or Data Engineering you constantly hear term “data pipeline”. But there are so many meanings to this term and people often are refering to very specific…
May 14, 2022
Dr Robert Johnson

How to LaTeX - An Absolute Beginners Guide

LaTeX
I’ve been asked a few times recently about how to LaTeX so I thought I’d put a few notes up for everyone to refer back to later.
Jan 2, 2016
Dr Robert Johnson

R Shiny - Getting your data/analysis onto the web with Shiny apps.

R
code
analysis
research software engineering
phytoplankton
chlorophyll
A years ago a I worked in a lab that was spending a lot of money using commercial statistical software to analyse Phytoplankton physiological data collected with a PAM and a…
Sep 3, 2015
Dr Robert Johnson

Art meets Science

art-science
art
chlorophyll
phytoplankton
oceanography
Two years in the making and the ex Oceano symphony is out!
Jun 4, 2015
Dr Robert Johnson

How to calibrate a Turner Fluorometer for phytoplankton Chlorophyll a

data
chlorophyll
phytoplankton
oceanography
Chlorophyll a (chl) measurements are a useful estimate of algal biomass and have been used extensively for decades. Turner designs (http://www.turnerdesigns.com/ fluorometers…
Dec 1, 2014
Dr Robert Johnson
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