Project Management for PhDs
Carlos A. S. Silva Engineering Systems
Project Management for PhDs
Motivation
Candidates idea about the topic is not clear Supervisors coaching is not sufficient The result is:
PhD taking longer than required Less results than expected
Project Management approach to PhD management may improve the results
Project Management for PhDs
Motivation
Project Management for PhDs
Overview
Project Management
Introduction Scope / Time / Quality
Project PhD
Project Manager PhD Management Plan
Communication
Plan Example Conclusions
Project Management for PhDs 4
Project Management
General introduction
Project Definition & Characteristics
Temporary endeavor
definite beginning and end
Unique Product/Service
definite and quantifiable result
Progressive
Developed in steps
Project Definition & Characteristics
Temporary endeavor
definite beginning and end
Unique Product/Service
definite and quantifiable result
Progressive
Developed in steps
Examples
Manhattan Project (Good)
1942/1945 $2 000 000 000 120 000 people
Sidney Opera House (Bad)
1959/1973 $103 000 000 (15x)
Gantt Chart is not Project Management!
bar chart that illustrates project schedule First developed by Karol Adamiecki in 1896 (harmonogram) Gantt developed several charts to measure work and performance from 1910-1920 (1917)
PERT/CPM are only scheduling tools!
Program Evaluation and Review Technique
Developed by Booz Allen for US Navy project Polaris in 1958
Critical Path Method
Developed by Dupont and Remignton Rand (UNISYS) in 1950s
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Project Management Definition
Application of
Knowledge Skills Tools Techniques
Best Practices
to the project activities to attain project objectives
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Project Management Tasks
Planning, executing and controlling all the tasks that guarantee the projects success
Promote communication and alignment of objectives and efforts between all the stakeholders This is different from planning, executing and controlling the tasks that guarantee the products success
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Project Stakeholders
Someone whose interests may influence positively or negatively the project:
Sponsor Team Client Management Family
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Project Life Cycle
Project Management for PhDs
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Management Process Groups
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Project Management Processes
5 management groups 9 knowledge areas 44 processes (Project Management Institute)
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Project Major Documents
Project Charter
Product Deliverable Need/Justification Time /Cost Resources Project Manager Sponsor Main Stakeholders
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Project Major Documents
Preliminary Scope
Acceptance Criteria Project Deliverables Milestones Constraints Risks High Level work breakdown structure
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Project Major Documents
Management Plan
Scope management plan Communication management plan Risk management plan Schedule Costs
Lessons Learned
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Scope Definition
Product Scope
Characteristics and functions
Project Scope
Work that has to be done to guarantee that the product has the defined characteristics and functions
Project Management for PhDs
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Time Planning
Define work packages
Measurable in deliverables Connected to Milestones
Define activities/tasks
Units of work measurable in time/cost/resources Dont overestimate Realize that the probability of failing time estimate is 50% (classic definition)
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Quality
degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements
Product Quality
Meet clients requirements
Project Quality
Including clients requests
Improving quality means increasing time and/or cost and/or scope
Project PhD
Project Management approach
Defining PhD as a Project
Academic degree awarded to candidates that develop original scientific research refereed by experts on the same field
Temporary endeavor (3-4 years) Unique (original academic work) Getting a PhD is a project by definition!
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The PhD Stakeholders
University Candidate Supervisor Scientific Committee (CAT at IST) Fellow candidates Scientific experts in the field (papers) Project Partners (faculty, universities)
All of them will, at some point, influence both positively or negatively the PhD work !
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The PhD Project Roles
Sponsor: University (MIT-Portugal,FCT) Project Manager: Supervisor
Define work plan
Scope Time Quality requirements
Manage milestones (papers, dissertation)
This role has to be progressively played by the candidate
Project Team: Candidate
Fellow candidates Experts
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What if Supervisor doesnt manage?
Leadership is:
Having an idea Gathering people around the idea Assign tasks to execute the idea
Leadership can be exercised upwards If Supervisor doesnt manage, the candidate has to play the PhD managers role
The PhD Project Management
Initiating 1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality Planning 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
Executing 8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
Controlling 11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control Closing 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
Typical PhD Work Plan 1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
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The PhD Project Management
PhD Work Plan Project Management like 1 Develop PhD charter 2 Define PhD scope 3 Define WBS 4 Define Activities 5 Planning Quality 6 Planning Communication
7 Manage Project
8 Information Distribution
9 Scope Verification
10 Schedule Control
11 Quality Control 12 PhD Closure
Project Management for PhDs
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PhD Management Processes
1 2 3 4 7 9
1 0 1 1 1 2
5 6 8
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1 Develop PhD Charter
Product Deliverable
Thesis Title focus
Need/Justification
Research question to be answered motivation
Time /Cost Resources Project Manager
Supervisor
Sponsor
University / Industry partner / Research project
Main Stakeholders
References the ones you would like to referee your work This should be fix throughout the project!
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2 Define PhD Scope
Scope describes the necessary work that will be done to ensure that the research question is answered
Deliverables (journal papers, dissertation, progress reports) Define assumptions, constraints, boundaries The work required to create the deliverables
Doesnt have to be completely defined till the end
Roll wave planning
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3 WBS definition
Deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work
Dissertation
Introduction
Modeling
Methodology I
Methodology II
Results
Conclusions
Problem Statement
Literature Review
The time estimation cannot be done at this level!
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4 Activities definition, sequencing and duration estimating
Activity is the smallest unit that can be estimated
from the WBS decomposition
Sequencing the activities:
Finish-Finish, Start-Start, Start-Finish, Finish-Start
Duration estimating as accurate as possible
Bottom-up estimation (decompose until estimation is possible and then sum up)
Literature Review A - Search journal papers (10) B - Read journal papers C - Writing Months 1 2 1 Sequencing Relations SS(A) FF(A,B)
Only here is possible to design a Gantt chart !
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5 Quality Planning
Degree to which the research activities fulfill the requirements:
Methodology that improves performance in 10% Definition of acceptance criteria Standards compliment Quality metrics Results have to pass statistical tests (t-test)
Important step for results evaluation!
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6 Communication Planning
Determine the information and communication needs of the stakeholders
Different persons Different cultures Rule of thumb says 90% of projects problems are communication problems
Are 90% of PhD problems communication problems?
Supervisor /candidate relationship issues? Bad communication with the reviewers?
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Communication in Teams (Ned Herrmann Model)
60% of people have 2 of the profiles Communication is harder on diagonals There are specific ways to get to each type:
A: Facts, Quantity B: Detail, Process C: Empathy, References D: Global, Metaphor
Know
Create
Do
Feel
Mental Software
Portuguese Software:
Collectiveness Need for Control and Safety Cultivate distance to power Feminine (no conflict) Plenty of Time Poor selfesteem
American Software:
Individualists Power delegation, empowerment Proximity to Power Conflict is positive Planning driven Rewards Open to changes Status (economic) Less formalism
How to manage Portuguese
Be positive Severe with time Practice planning Close relations Direct feedback (performance) Few norms, but strict
Leadership
Autocratic Crises Affiliative Change Participative Plan Formalist Control Mobilizer Execute Reference Feedback Trainer Initiating
Different types of leadership have to be used according to the situation!
7 Project Management
Update:
Scope Definition Schedule Update Quality Planning Update Communication Planning
Progress Reports
based on the information from:
Scope Verification Schedule Control Quality Control
8 Information distribution
Weekly meetings with the supervisors Semester progress reports Local Seminars CAT presentation Conference papers Journal papers Dissertation
9 Scope Verification
Check if quality criteria required for the deliverables are met Obtaining the stakeholder formal acceptance of the completed scope and associated deliverables:
Chapter acceptance by supervisor and cosupervisors Journal paper submission /acceptance
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10 Schedule Control
Determine current status of PhD
Weekly meetings using
performance reports and schedule baseline
Update WBS, Activities estimation
Exercise this often, this is an iterative process
Implement corrective actions if necessary
Reduce scope or increase time
From this point on, quality is compromised
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11 Quality Control
Monitoring specific results to determine whether they comply with criteria defined in Quality Planning
Analyze progress reports, papers, chapters
Determine the cause and effects of possible errors and failures
Implement corrective actions if necessary
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12 Close PhD
Finalize the PhD
Compilation of final thesis Verification of final thesis Dissertation discussion Administrative procedures
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Plan Example
A fictitious example
FCT work plan template
Title Summary (max 150 words) State-of-the-art (max 500 words) Objectives (max 300 words) Detailed description (max 1000 words)
Tasks Chronogram
References (max 20)
From FCT to PM PhD plan
The FCT template basically covers the:
Project Charter (title, summary, objectives) Scope Definition (objectives, state-of-the-art, detailed description) WBS Definition (detailed description)
Includes Work Plan Example I, II, III
The candidate and the supervisor should go further with:
Activity definition, sequencing and duration estimation Quality planning Communication planning
Includes Work Plan Example IV, V, VI
Work Plan Example (I)
Title
Project Management for PhDs
Summary
PhDs are projects that usually take longer than planned and present less results than expected. In this work I aim to develop a new management tool for PhDs based on Project Management techniques to improve scope, time and quality of PhDs.
State-of-the-art
Project Management is a body of knowledge that describes the skills, tools and techniques considered to be the best practice to manage the project activities in order to attain projects objectives [PMI]
Work Plan Example (II)
Detailed description
In this work, I will develop a new management technique, based on Project Management (PM) body of knowledge. Usually, PhD are managed based on the supervisors experience, there is no formal methodology. Some authors have already considered the PM for PhDs [LSE]. However, to the best of my knowledge, in his work he describes the PM concepts, presents an example but has not formalized the methodology. In this work, I will present a formal methodology and compare its results with the current management methodologies The work plan is the following:
1st phase Literature Review /Case study development/Current methodologies implementation (1 year) 2nd phase Development of the PM methodology for PhDs (1 year) 3rd phase - Implementation of methodology and comparison with current methodologies (1 year)
References
[PMI] - www.pmi.org [LBS] - www.lse.ac.uk/collections/TLCPhD/projectManagement.htm
Work Plan Example (IV)
Milestones definition
Literature Review - document (thesis chapter) [3 months] Formalize current methodology document (thesis chapter) [9 months] Journal paper I [12 months]
Describe current methodology and performance
Performance report I [12 months] Develop new methodology document (thesis chapter) [21 months] Journal paper II [24 months]
Describe new methodology
Performance report II [24 months] Describe case study analysis document (thesis chapter) [27 months] Describe case study results document (thesis chapter) [33 months] Journal paper III [36 months]
Compare both methodologies
Dissertation (thesis compilation) [36 months] Performance report III [36 months]
Work Plan Example (IV)
Activities definition, sequencing and durantion estimation
Phase I
Literature review: search papers /read papers/ writing Case-study development: find supervisor with two candidates /define candidates characteristics/choose candidate with highest probability of failure under current methodology Formalize current supervisor methodology /analyze past examples (duration /scope)
Work Plan Example (V)
Quality Planning
Define quality criteria
PM approach cannot fail time and scope
Define metrics
Number of failed milestones Total weeks of delays [milestones] Number of issues pointed out by reviewers
Work Plan Example (VI)
Communication Planning
Weekly meeting with supervisor Delivery of documents to supervisor Delivery of journal papers to supervisor Submission of journal papers Delivery of thesis chapters to supervisor Delivery of dissertation to supervisor
Conclusions
Implement this plan formally
