Fifth Thing: Project Management

When projects are managed well, it helps ensure that the target objective can be delivered on time and within allocated resources. Eleanor Colla describes how each phase of the project management can help you to successfully complete your research projects.

What is project management?

While we all manage projects (life!) all the time, there are instances where taking a more formalised approach is required. Project management is the use of specific knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to plan, develop, and implement a body of work with defined start and end goals and time periods.

The project lifecycle is often divided into defined phases to keep on track and reach targets.

Five phases of project management

Phase 1: Project initiation

Define the project on a broad level and create a project brief. A project brief is a short, high-level document that provides an overview of key information of the project and allows you to see the various components ‘at a glance’.

Phase 2: Project planning

Plan out the project in more detail including the scope, the budget, deadlines, the roles of different people involved in the project, the stakeholders interested in the project, a communications plan, and the goals and milestones that need to be achieved. Also note the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how you will measure the success of your overall project and the shorter milestones you will achieve throughout the project.

Phase 3: Project execution

Launch the project and begin getting into the flow of everything. This phase is what many see as ‘the project,’ however, as you can see, a lot of preparation should already have taken place. In this phase, you are working towards achieving milestones, keeping the team engaged, updating stakeholders, analysing risks, and continually reflecting on whether the project boundaries need to be updated.

Phase 4: Project monitoring & control

Phase 4 generally overlaps with Phase 3 as this is quite a reflective element of project management. Here you are monitoring and controlling the project to ensure that it is on track. Questions to ask yourself:

• Has the scope become too big?
• Are milestones being achieved?
• Are deadlines being met?
• Do you need to change how you are communicating with stakeholders?

Make adjustments as needed.

Phase 5: Project closure

The final stage of the project is focused on submitting the final deliverables of the project, considering whether this project can or has led to the formation of other work or projects, reflecting on lessons learned, and archiving the documents that were created to support the completion of the project. It is worth noting that some project closure is not due to the completion of the original project but rather, elements such as cancellation, termination, or transfer to a different area. Having formal project closure is still a worthwhile exercise in these situations.

Project management as applied to your research project

Project management principles can be applied to research as they can to other projects. Let’s have a look at the five phases in relation to the PhD process.

Phase 1 commences as you go through the process of enrolling to do a PhD, defining the broad topic, finding a supervisor, and so on. Once things begin to take shape, create a project brief to assist you with keeping track of the big picture: completing your PhD.

In Phase 2, you are defining the stages of your PhD:

• When will you do the literature review?
• How often will you meet with your supervisor(s)?
• What factors may influence or have an impact on your thesis progress? This could include, but is not limited to, relationships (supervisors, but also peers, family, and friends), responsibilities (e.g. carer), or commitments (e.g. work).
• When will you submit?

Map out the ‘little wins’ along the way – and how you will mark these achievements. Also think about the other skills you can develop along the way, for example by attending Digital Skills Training, and participating in Visualise Your Thesis (unimelb log-in required) and Three Minute Thesis (unimelb log-in required).

Phase 3 sees you reading, researching, experimenting, writing, and generally being a graduate researcher.

By Phase 4 you are reflecting on your graduate research experience. What is working and what needs to change? Do you need to update your project plan? How is communicating with your supervisor going? Are you on track for confirmation of candidature? Are you remembering to celebrate the smaller wins and accomplishments you are making along the way?

As you approach Phase 5, you may feel like never thinking about your PhD again. However, try and take some time to reflect on the process, what you have learnt, what you would do differently, and how you have developed as a researcher and a person. The final phase may also include closing accounts relating to your PhD, updating your Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) to include details of your thesis, returning your student laptop, and other related administrative tasks.

Tools

There are a number of tools which can assist you throughout the different phases of conducting a project. Some of these are:

• Gantt Charts for tracking dependencies and deliverables
• Pomodoro methods for short time management
• Eisenhower Matrix for analysis what is of importance and when
• Stakeholder Analysis approaches for identifying and communication with stakeholders
• Risk Analysis approaches for identifying and minimising risks to the project

Further resources

• Gantt chart tool Team Gantt has a free plan option for personal projects
• Asana is a project management tool that offers a free basic plan
• Thesis Whisperer blog post: How can you treat your PhD like a project?
• Thesis Whisperer blog post: The project finishing mindset

University of Melbourne student and staff resources

• Task and project management apps comparison
• Task and project management lunch and learn
• Project and program management lunch and learn

About the author

Eleanor is a librarian who assists researchers from all career stages and disciplines further their knowledge and use of information and digital literacy skills which allows them to be better researchers. She holds a Masters of Information Management (RMIT University), a Foundational Accreditation in Research Management (ARMS), and an Accreditation in Project Management (Vative Green Belt). This allows her to approach projects in various, well-managed ways.

Cite this Thing

You are free to use and reuse the content on this post with attribution to the author. The citation for this Thing is:

Colla, Eleanor (2024). Fifth Thing: Project Management. The University of Melbourne. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.26188/25287436

 

Featured image credit: Photo by Alvaro Reyes on Unsplash