Project Management for Research Scientist

I, as applied research scientist, see that all research is fundamentally creative, and often unpredictable. As often as not, the course the research takes is unexpected. A principle researcher (PR) central challenge is to keep the research afloat while stimulating and supporting the highest levels of creative insight and technical innovation. Few researchers are trained to do this; with most, it comes only from experience. Some never learn to manage their research projects effectively, and this puts them at a considerable disadvantage compared to their colleagues.
Small research programs have their predictable aspects; indeed, they must be viable business entities to survive and thrive. This means assuring a sufficient flow of funds to draw and keep superior staff, as well as to obtain and maintain the required facilities and equipment. Furthermore, like shareholders of a corporation, the stakeholders in a research--funding organizations, host institutions, taxpayers, and so on---demand a exhibition of the value they get for the dollar they spend. This is especially important for the PR when the time comes to seek a grant renewal--or tenure.
The answer is effective management. I need to manage my research projects the same way I do my science: boldly but methodically, with the right balance of purposefulness and opportunism. Project management provides the tools I need to systematize the management of my research, to make sure the risks I take are calculated. Best of all, I am likely to find that taking a structured approach to managing research nurtures, rather than inhibits, creativity.
Project management is simply guiding a project from inception to successful completion, making coordinated use of processes and systems to guide and encourage people to successfully perform a project's work.
The three key steps of project management are:
Planning--clarifying:
· Desired project outcomes
· Stakeholders: who will be affected by, are needed to support, or will be interested in the project outcome?
· Activities that have to be performed to complete the project
· Dates on which each project activity will start and end
· Budgets for all required project resources (including, but not limited to, money)
· Significant project risks and how they will be managed
Organizing--specifying roles and responsibilities for project personnel
Controlling the performance of project work--including:
· Organizing, focusing, and continually motivating project personnel
· Tracking and comparing project work and results against the plan
· Considering and making changes to plans when tracking suggests a change is called for
· Keeping everyone informed of project accomplishments, issues, and changes
· Continuously tracking and dealing with evolving project risk
Organization information systems can be used to support project planning and control, including the maintenance of records of:
· The dates on which activities are started and completed and milestones are reached
· The amount of work effort expended by people on project activities
· The funds expended on project activities
Put another way: Project management expands the concept of "budgeting" to cover not just monetary resources, but other resources such as time and personnel.
Encouraging people to perform up to their maximum potential means:
· Helping each person to appreciate:
o The value to him or herself and to the organization of the project in general and of his or her assignment, in particular
o The feasibility of successfully accomplishing the project objectives
· Regularly providing project personnel information about how their actual performance and accomplishments compare to what is planned
· Acknowledging people's contributions to overall project success Project plans, expenditure reports and team meetings will not, in and of themselves, guarantee project success. The greatest chances for success are achieved when project information is used to align, guide and motivate team members, and when these team members, in turn, use this information to guide their work. A project rarely sticks to a predetermined course. Projects flow and evolve; project management is a way of making sure that the key players remain motivated, and that their objectives remain aligned.