Now that I have advised a few research projects, I've begun to notice similarities, common errors, and inflection points. For the benefit of my students, here's a quick summary of how I approach projects. Naturally, this is specific to my research, and might not apply to any other advisor. Projects I divide my students' research into "projects". Usually a project begins with some vague idea, like "balance multiple garbage collectors" or "synthesize math function implementations" or "optimize ...
