The good plan
”If we do everything ourselves, we don’t need help from TAP” is a widespread myth. But it is completely wrong and should be buried next to ”the Boss is always right” and “Mum’s food is the best”.
On a regular basis, promising scientists turn up in the laboratory or the field with fantastic ideas and many good plans. That is very fine, especially if you have already had a chat with lab technicians or technicians about the details. In AGRO our priority is to have a substantial technical staff to make things work. This has obvious benefits. Our equipment (outdoors and indoors) is serviced, calibrated, etc., and the quality and extent of our analysis and trial work is at a high level. In addition, the technicians are our memory with extensive trial experience – a gold mine which it is obligatory to take advantage of. So therefore (back to the myth): always involve technicians from lab or field in your trial planning – even if you had in mind to do it yourself. From experience, things always crop up which you hadn’t thought of yourself: alignment of a realistic extent of sampling plus an overview of other trials which as regards time may collide in relation to equipment, staffing, etc., etc.
“The good plan” is about preparing for the experimental work in the best possible way, and involving technicians is the most important element. The earlier, the better.
When I meet former PhD students from AGRO (of which there are many by now), they first point to the fantastic help which they received from the technicians.
So, bury the myth and use “The good plan”.