execution-plan/weeks/week-00-cockpit-and-positioning/materials.md · UPDATED 2026-09-16
Week 00 — Materials: what to read, what to watch
Status: PREPARED 2026-09-15. Links checked on 2026-09-15 unless marked (verify). Authority: v6 master plan, Week 0 "Learn it" block, expanded into exact locators per the source contract.
Week 00 brief · Commitment · Evidence · Review · Next week's materials
0101
Where this fits in the week
01
Where this fits in the week
Week 00 has no Tuesday/Thursday study blocks. Everything below is read in spare 30-minute pockets or in the Sunday hour. Nothing here is allowed to displace the only-one-thing: the cockpit repo with TODAY.md filled for Monday.
| Slot | Budget | Material |
|---|---|---|
| Spare pocket 1 | 25 min | R1 Hamming, the two sections named below |
| Spare pocket 2 | 15 min | R2 Alon, two pages |
| Spare pocket 3 | 20 min | R3 Wilson, two sections |
| Sunday, before writing post 0 | 20 min | V1 or V2, one of them, not both |
| Saturday sandbox (optional) | — | Everything under "Deeper" |
Total required: ~80 minutes of reading + 20 minutes of video.
0202
Read
02
Read
| # | Source | Exact scope | Min | Why this week | Produce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Richard W. Hamming, You and Your Research, Bell Communications Research Colloquium, 7 March 1986. Transcript: gwern.net/doc/science/1986-hamming · PDF mirror: homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/wadler/papers/firbush/hamming.pdf | The passage on "important problems" (why most scientists never work on one) and the passage on open door vs closed door | 25 | It is the argument for why a 40-week plan aimed at one thesis beats 40 weeks of interesting side quests — the exact failure mode your ADHD brain is best at | 5 lines in notes/craft/W00.md: the one important problem you are choosing, and the two you are refusing |
| R2 | Uri Alon, "How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem", Molecular Cell 35(6):726-728, 2009. DOI 10.1016/j.molcel.2009.09.013 · free author PDF: weizmann.ac.il/mcb/alon/…/howtochoosegoodproblem.pdf | Whole paper, 2 pages — especially the feasibility × interest chart | 15 | You will reuse that chart in week 21 to scope Paper 3 with a partner. Learn it now, cheaply | Place FermLit on the feasibility/interest chart, one paragraph, into notes/craft/W00.md |
| R3 | Wilson G. et al., "Good enough practices in scientific computing", PLOS Computational Biology 13(6):e1005510, 2017. DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005510 · preprint: arxiv.org/abs/1609.00037 | Sections "Data management" and "Project organization" only | 20 | Justifies, in one sitting, every folder you create today (data/raw read-only and never committed, reports/figures regenerated) |
Copy the two directory checklists into the README skeletons of batchlens and fermlit |
| R4 | The Turing Way handbook — book.the-turing-way.org | "Guide for Reproducible Research" → the overview chapter only; browse the table of contents | 15 (optional) | Your week-4 DOI release and week-36 JOSS submission are graded against exactly these habits | Two checklists saved to PARKING.md, not acted on yet |
0303
Watch (YouTube)
03
Watch (YouTube)
Durations are approximate. Pick one of V1/V2, not both.
| # | Channel · title | ~Length | Link | When | Produce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V1 | Barbara Oakley · "Learning how to learn" (TEDxOaklandUniversity) | ~18 min | youtube.com/watch?v=O96fE1E-rf8 | Sunday, before writing post 0 | One line in notes/craft/W00.md: which ritual in Part 0.3 is your diffuse-mode slot |
| V2 | Richard Hamming · "You and Your Research" (recorded talk, 6 June 1995) | ~1 h 15 | youtube.com/watch?v=a1zDuOPkMSw | Only if you prefer voice to text — it replaces R1, it does not add to it. Play at 1.25× while packing the cockpit | Same output as R1 |
| V3 | Learning How to Learn (Oakley & Sejnowski), Coursera, free audit — coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn | ~40 min | Week 1 lessons: focused vs diffuse mode and chunking | Optional substitute for V1 if you want the full treatment | Nothing. Do not enrol in the whole course |
0404
Deeper — Saturday sandbox only, never instead of the above
04
Deeper — Saturday sandbox only, never instead of the above
- Sandve G. et al., "Ten Simple Rules for Reproducible Computational Research", PLOS Comp. Biol. 9(10):e1003285, 2013 — DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003285. This is week 04's reading; reading it early is allowed, re-reading it in week 04 is still required.
- Elliot Hershberg, Century of Biology newsletter — one essay, for where biotech is heading. (verify) search the title; no fixed URL recorded.
- carpentries-lab/good-enough-practices — the lesson version of R3, if you would rather do it than read it.
0505
Link check log — 2026-09-15
05
Link check log — 2026-09-15
- Verified reachable via search index today: R1 (both mirrors), R2 (DOI + Weizmann PDF), R3 (DOI + arXiv), V1, V2.
- Not independently re-checked today, inherited from the v6 shelf: R4, V3, Century of Biology. Marked (verify) where no stable URL exists.
- Record actual access date and the sections you really read in
evidence.md. If a link has moved, search the exact title, log the substitution, and do not silently swap in a different source.
0606
NotebookLM kit sources for `LABLOOP-W00`
06
NotebookLM kit sources for `LABLOOP-W00`
Load, in this order: (1) this file; (2) the Week 00 chapter from the v6 master; (3) Part 0 of the v6 master; (4) R1 transcript; (5) R2 PDF; (6) R3 article page; (7) V1 video URL; (8) your LinkedIn About draft.
Focus line: Focus: how an experienced program manager should structure 40 weeks of learning with ADHD-friendly rituals, and what "important problems" means for a newcomer to biotech.
Custom question: Using Hamming and Alon, critique my thesis choice (FermLit) as an "important and feasible problem" for someone with 10 hours a week. Be specific.