[iorrus]

IMO this is exactly not how to do a PhD which should be about exploring a topic and becoming an expert over time. A meandering path concentrated around self directed learning.

If you want clear deliverables and a set path to follow, just get a job in industry.

[falcor84]

>If you want clear deliverables and a set path to follow, just get a job in industry.

I find this to be an extremely over-generous view of what industry work is like.

But my actual point is that whether you are in academia or industry, you should prefer a position where you have some real control over the deliverables, rather than being a puppet on the strings of a boss or advisor.

[iorrus]

Yes, it's true that industry is not like this all the time. I've done the PhD/Postdoc route now working as a data scientist in mega corp.

The value of a PhD IMO is the pain of forcing yourself to learn things independently, work on hard problems for long periods of time and develop expertise. I think following a set path laid out by a supervisor defeats alot of this as the hard work is being done for you, you're just following your supervisor's set agenda.

Industry simply doesn't allow for this long deep, mostly unproductive work. Things change constantly and projects move, adapt etc. However the goals are for the most part better defined with a clear outcome.

A post below put this well, academia is closer to a start up lifestyle.

[davidguetta]

Both are not exclusive and at least doing like OP enables avoiding the too common abuse of graduate students in some schools.