Build good practices instead of taking the time to clean things up
You will NEVER find the time! There will always more urgent and vital tasks than the tedious organizing files, commenting code.
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Progress management
It is important always to keep the big picture in mind. Even if you are doing tedious data cleaning work, you are one step closer towards something great.
To form the big picture and keep track on your progress, you should start a project by planning as the project lead. I discussed the importance of preparing in enhancing productivity and preventing procrastination in my other post .
To start, define the project objectives with measurable outcomes and specific deadlines. For example, a presentable paper draft in a year. To prepare for that, a conference presentation in six months, a paper proposal in one month, etc. After defining the big objectives, break them down into smaller tasks and even smaller jobs, then add them to your daily to-do lists. One great tool to keep track of progress and prioritize between projects is the Gantt Chart. Below is an excel template.
Separate raw and processed data
Separate cleaning and analysis scripts
So that you don’t have to go through the cleaning process again and start directly from your processed data.