So far, i keep track of my to-dos in my head and collaboration is mainly done via email. i wonder whether project management could improve my performance and i am curious whether anyone can share his experience with project management in academic research. i would be especially interested in specific software helping me to structure & document my projects. thanks a lot, felix
Hi Felix,
based on my work experience I would recommend to
- definitely use PM techniques for projects
- track other day-to-day tasks in to-do lists based on spreadsheets
- support collaboration with a document management system
Project management (PM) techniques will help you to finish your projects on time, in budget and scope. For large projects you may want to use a specific project management software like MS Project. However, most of the good practices in PM can be done using simple tools you may have at your disposal anyway. For example:
- work break-down can be visualized on flip charts, mind maps or using design tools. For very complex projects you may prefer to use a database or PM software
- project plans can be charted with a spreadsheet e.g. free LibreOffice Calc
- risk & opportunity registers can be kept with the same spreadsheet tool
- a spreadsheet tool will also help with effort estimation, project control, staffing, etc.
Keeping track of your TO-DOs in a spreadsheet will increase your efficiency. It will help you to set priorities, keep deadlines, group tasks that are done more efficiently when bundled, attach a price tag if necessary, remind you to follow up on tasks delegated to others, etc.
Collaboration will be taken to another level when supported by a document management system e.g. Livelink (OpenText). These tools provide a document repository you can structure according to project needs e.g. your work break down structure. They support collaborative work on documents by check-out/-in functionality. They help you keep track of how project results evolve by versioning.
Hi Felix,
I had a similar post a couple of weeks back about the same issue. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/kbufhv8
It seems like there are better--and open-source or freely available--project management software out there that doesn't involve spreadsheets. In my post, I point to some resources I've found. I've spent the last week setting up my To-do lists and tracking new ideas about each project using Asana, which was developed by one of the co-founders of Facebook. It is actively being developed and the team is pretty cool about project improvements. It also has an add-in (Harvest) for time-tracking, though I haven't played with this.
I'm trying to avoid pay-for-service tools mainly because I have collaborators who probably don't want to shell out money to adopt my own system. So, for me, it's important to find a solution that is free and stable. This is a hard find, but Asana seems to offer at least a good infrastructure. They have a spectacular track record in getting venture capital money, so it looks like they will be stable for a long time. Other than that, it seems like very simple Wiki-based project management software might be the best option.
I combine this with ProjectTemplate project organization in R--with code written in Tinn-R. It would be good to have a tagging tool for multiple file types (video, sound, docs, etc.) so you could organize data for individual projects in different folders. Not sure of a tool to do this.
Anyway, here's the URL for Asana: www.asana.com
Yes, I agree with Justin, despite the fact I haven't used Getting Things Done (GTD) in a formal manner. Many of the Wiki-based PM approaches use the GTD framework (e.g. Tiddlywiki, etc.) Good reminder about this framework, Justin. Do you have favorite software for GTD/GSD, Justin?
Nowadays, I am using a free software called GPWeb, available for download in the brazilian public software portal. http://www.softwarepublico.gov.br/ver-comunidade?community_id=31574974
I strongly agree with Kauba.
I too try to use MS project. It gives me the critical path and the network. It is also nice to have the schedule in place. But as explained earlier, what is very important is to how to break the project in to activities and find the predecessors. Once you have done it then half work is done. Also, budget preparation becomes very easy task. I have used in my two year project some activities with number of subactivities. For research project, when I conducted the training programmes it was very useful to break them and identify the resources for each of them. My project team members were given the tasks to be completed along with the list of contacts, materials to be purchased and they just follow the instructions. It was very useful.
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