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
Project Management for PhDs 12

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

Project Management for PhDs

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Project Management Processes

5 management groups 9 knowledge areas 44 processes (Project Management Institute)

Project Management for PhDs

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Project Major Documents

Project Charter
Product Deliverable Need/Justification Time /Cost Resources Project Manager Sponsor Main Stakeholders

Project Management for PhDs

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Project Major Documents

Preliminary Scope
Acceptance Criteria Project Deliverables Milestones Constraints Risks High Level work breakdown structure

Project Management for PhDs

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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)
Project Management for PhDs 21

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 !
Project Management for PhDs 25

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
Project Management for PhDs 26

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

Project Management for PhDs

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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!
Project Management for PhDs 36

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
Project Management for PhDs 37

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!

Project Management for PhDs 38

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 !

Project Management for PhDs 39

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!
Project Management for PhDs 40

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
Project Management for PhDs 48

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
Project Management for PhDs 49

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

Project Management for PhDs

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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