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7/27/2019 MIT PhD Project
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Project Management for PhDs
Carlos A. S. Silva
Engineering Systems
1Project Management for PhDs
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Motivation
• Candidates idea about the topic is not clear
• Supervisors “coaching” is not sufficient
• The result is:
–
– Less results than expected
Project Management approach to PhD management
may improve the results
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Motivation
3Project Management for PhDs
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Overview
• Project Management
– Introduction – Scope / Time / Quality
• “ ”
– Project Manager
– PhD Management Plan
• Communication
• Plan Example
• Conclusions
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Project Management
General introduction
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Project Definition & Characteristics
• Temporary endeavor
– definite beginning and
end
• Unique Product/Service – definite and
quantifiable result
• Progressive – Developed in steps
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Project Definition & Characteristics
• Temporary endeavor
– definite beginning and
end
• Unique Product/Service – definite and
quantifiable result
• Progressive – Developed in steps
7
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Examples
•Manhattan Project (Good ) – 1942/1945
– $2 000 000 000
–
120 000 people
• Sidney Opera House (Bad )
–1959/1973
– $103 000 000 (15x)
8
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Gantt Chart is not Project Management!
• “…bar chart that
illustrates projectschedule”
• First developed by Karol
(harmonogram)
• Gantt developed severalcharts to measure work
and performance from1910-1920 (1917)
9
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PERT/CPM are only scheduling tools!
• Program Evaluation and
Review Technique – Developed by Booz Allen
for US Navy project
o ars n
• Critical Path Method
–
Developed by Dupontand Remignton Rand
(UNISYS) in 1950’s
10
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Project Management Definition
Application of…
– Knowledge
– Skills
– Tools
– Techniques
… to the project activitiesto attain project
objectives
11
est ract ces
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Project Management Tasks
• Planning, executing and controlling all the
tasks that guarantee the project’s success – Promote communication and alignment of
stakeholders
This is different from planning, executing and
controlling the tasks that guarantee the product’s
success
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Project Stakeholders
•
Someone whoseinterests may influence
positively or negatively
e pro ec : – Sponsor
– Team
– Client
– Management
– Family
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Project Life Cycle
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Management Process Groups
15Project Management for PhDs
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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
– Communicationmanagemen p an
– Risk management plan
– Schedule
– Costs
• Lessons Learned
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Scope Definition• Product Scope
– Characteristics and functions
•
ro ec cope – Work that has to be done to guarantee that the
product has the defined characteristics and
functions
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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
– Don’t overestimate
– Realize that the probability of failing time estimateis 50% (classic definition)
21Project Management for PhDs
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Quality• “…degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfill requirements” – Product Quality
•
– Project Quality
• Including clients requests
• Improving quality means increasing time
and/or cost and/or scope
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Project “PhD”
Project Management approach
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Defining PhD as a Project• Academic degree awarded to candidates that
develop original scientific research refereed byexperts on the same field
– Unique (original academic work)
Getting a PhD is a project by definition!
24Project Management for PhDs
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The PhD Stakeholders• University
•
Candidate• Supervisor
• Scientific Committee (CAT at IST)
• e ow can a es
• 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)
• Project Team: Candidate
– Fellow candidates
– Experts
26Project Management for PhDs
This role has to be
progressively played
by the candidate
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What if Supervisor doesn’t manage?
• Leadership is:
– Having an idea – Gathering people around the idea
– Assi n tasks to execute the idea
• Leadership can be exercised upwards
If Supervisor doesn’t manage, the candidate hasto play the PhD manager’s role
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
Initiating
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9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
Planning
29Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
30Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
Executing
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
31Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
Controlling
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
32Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
Closing
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
Typical PhD Work Plan
33Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
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The PhD Project Management1 – Develop
PhD charter
2 – Define
PhD scope
3 – Define
WBS
4 – Define
Activities
5 – Planning
Quality
6 – Planning
Communication
PhD Work Plan “Project Management” like
34Project Management for PhDs
9 – Scope
Verification
11– Quality
Control
10 – Schedule
Control
12 – PhD
Closure
8 – Information
Distribution
7 – Manage
Project
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PhD Management Processes
1
23
4
7
9
1
0
1
2
Project Management for PhDs 35
5
6 8
1
1
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1 – Develop PhD Charter• Product Deliverable
– Thesis Title → focus
• Need/Justification – Research question to be answered → motivation
• Time /Cost
• 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 researchquestion is answered
–
progress reports) – Define assumptions, constraints, boundaries
– The work required to create the deliverables
• Doesn’t 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
The time estimation cannot be done at this level!
Introduction Modeling Methodology I Methodology II Results Conclusions
Problem
Statement
Literature
Review
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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 Months Sequencing
Relations
A - Search journal papers (10) 1 -
B - Read journal papers 2 SS(A)
C - Writing 1 FF(A,B)
39Project Management for PhDs
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%”
–
– Standards compliment
– Quality metrics
“Results have to pass statistical tests (t-test)”
40Project Management for PhDs
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 arecommunication 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
“ ”
Know Create
• There are specific waysto get to each type:
– A: Facts, Quantity
–
B: Detail, Process – C: Empathy, References
– D: Global, Metaphor
Do Feel
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Mental Software• Portuguese Software:
– Collectiveness – Need for Control and
Safety
• American Software:
–
Individualists – Power delegation,
empowerment
–
Cultivate distance topower
– Feminine (no conflict)
– Plenty of Time
– Poor self—esteem
– Proximity to Power
– Conflict is positive
– Planning driven
– Rewards
– Open to changes
– Status (economic)
– Less formalism
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How to manage Portuguese• Be positive
• Severe with time
• Practice planning
•
Close relations• Direct feedback (performance)
• Few norms, but strict
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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!
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7 – Project Management
• Update:
– Scope Definition
– Schedule
Progress Reports
– p ate ua ty ann ng
– Update Communication Planning
• …based on the information from:
– Scope Verification
– Schedule Control
– Quality Control
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8 – Information distribution• Weekly meetings with the supervisors
• Semester progress reports• Local Seminars
•
CAT presentation• Conference papers
• Journal papers
• Dissertation
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9 – Scope Verification• Check if quality criteria required for the
deliverables are met• Obtaining the stakeholder formal acceptance
deliverables:
– Chapter acceptance by supervisor and co-
supervisors
– 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 estimationExercise 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 inQuality Planning
, ,
• 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
–
– Administrative procedures
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Plan Example
A fictitious example…
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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)
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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 planningIncludes Work Plan Example IV, V, VI
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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 aimto develop a new management tool for PhDs based on
Project Management techniques to improve scope, timeand quality of PhDs.”
• State-of-the-art – “Project Management is a body of knowledge that
describes the skills, tools and techniques considered to bethe best practice to manage the project activities in orderto attain projects objectives [PMI]”
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Work Plan Example (II)• Detailed description
– “In this work, I will develop a new management technique, based on ProjectManagement (PM) body of knowledge.
– Usually, PhD are managed based on the supervisors experience, there is noformal methodology.
– Some authors have already considered the PM for PhDs [LSE]. However, to thebest of my knowledge, in his work he describes the PM concepts, presents an
.
– In this work, I will present a formal methodology and compare its results withthe 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 currentmethodologies (1 year)
• References – [PMI] - www.pmi.org
– [LBS] - www.lse.ac.uk/collections/TLCPhD/projectManagement.htm
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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]
– –
– 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]
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Work Plan Example (IV)• Activities definition, sequencing and durantion
estimation – Phase I
•
• Case-study development: find supervisor with twocandidates /define candidates characteristics/choose
candidate with highest probability of failure under
current methodology
• Formalize current supervisor methodology /analyze
past examples (duration /scope)
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Work Plan Example (V)• Quality Planning
– Define quality criteria• PM approach cannot fail time and scope
–
• Number of failed milestones• Total weeks of delays [milestones]
• Number of issues pointed out by reviewers
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Work Plan Example (VI)• Communication Planning
–Weekly meeting with supervisor
– Delivery of documents to supervisor
–
– Submission of journal papers
– Delivery of thesis chapters to supervisor
– Delivery of dissertation to supervisor
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Conclusions
Implement this plan formally