Making your Project a Priority

I have just discovered something in the nick of time that I should have been working on over the last couple of weeks. I've been so busy that there was nothing visible in my reminder system to let me know I should also have been working on this other thing. That got me thinking, and maybe the same is happening with your project?

Other Things

Some of you may be in the fortunate position of only having your project to do. I suspect though that for most of you there will be many competing activities and tasks. You may be taking several modules or courses, and - towards the end of term - the assignments become like giants striding towards you. There may be group activities that demand attention. There might be a flurry of end-of-term lectures, seminars, workshops, laboratories, revision sessions etc. Some of you may be getting inundated with plans, ideas, commitments for travel in the holidays. For many university or college students there is a round of gatherings, parties, club nights leading up to the holidays.

What all of these things have in common is that:

• people are talking about them;
• they have emotion attached to them (fear or excitement);
• they are in your schedule or on your timetable;
• there is a fixed and unmovable deadline.

Remember Me

Meanwhile your project - which is probably one of the most important pieces of work that you have ever done on your course, and one which may be worth the most in terms of marks or credit - sits quietly in the background, whispering "Remember Me?".

Of course we remember; that's what makes us feel guilty about the project. But what can be done about it?

Well, firstly it's important to realise that sometimes you just have to concentrate on an imminent deadline. But the problem comes when your project suffers a continuous lack of attention and focus because there is always something more discussed, worrying, exciting, or urgent to be done.

The solution

You might have heard the expression "if you can't beat them, join them"? Well, the same can be applied to your project. If it's being constantly drowned out by the other tasks, maybe you need to elevate its status.

Let's revisit each of the reasons that the project is ignored in favour of other tasks:

• people are talking about them;
• then talk about your project. Find opportunities in your study group to ask each other how the project is going. Talk to your supervisor. Write things down.
• they have emotion attached to them (fear or excitement);
• then create some emotion about your project. Remind yourself why you chose it, and give yourself reasons to get excited. If you want some fear-  look at how many credits it's worth and see how much of the project has already passed.
• they are in your schedule or on your timetable;
• this is vital; you must find a way to get regular project work scheduled into your diary; or write it on your timetable. Keep to that commitment as if it was a meeting with someone else.
• there is a fixed and unmovable deadline;
• this is also true about your project. The problem is that the end deadline is relatively a long way off. This is why it's important to create interim deadlines for all the major phases of your project. Put these in your diary and put reminders in the preceding weeks, e.g. "2 weeks to initial report", "3 weeks to first design phase complete".

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Full details of these topics (including details on how to successfully plan a project) are found in the book - Chapter 20, available on the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Setting Objectives

In the previous blog post we looked at the importance of setting a Title and some major Aims. Today we look at Objectives and why they are a vital part of project planning.

What are Objectives?

Last time I said this:

It's important to understand the difference between Aims and Objectives, as many people seem to use those terms interchangeably. Aims are what you are aiming for. They are a description of the end-point of the project. Objectives are the detailed steps you plan to take to get there.

So, the Title and the Aims help you to focus on the purpose of your project, whereas Objectives are more of an Action Plan.

Top-level Objectives

At the start of the project, you should try to map out the major steps that you will have to carry out in order for you to achieve the project aims. As an analogy, imagine you were trying to cross a river. Your Aim is to reach the other side. Your Objectives are the series of stepping stones that you have to navigate step by step. (To push the analogy a bit further, you might first want to do some research by looking around to see if there are any other river-crossing methods that might get you there safer and drier, such as a short walk to a bridge, or hiring a boat.)

What should my first Objectives look like?

Please don't stress about getting these 'perfect'. It is much more important that you just get something down on paper, and that as soon as you can you share these with other people (such as your supervisor or peer group).

Why not start off by simply making an ordered bullet-point list of all the things that come to mind when you look at your Aims and think "What needs to be done to make this happen?".

In the previous blog post we had an example project:

... with the title 'A musical instrument for people with restricted movement', Aims: To understand the needs of specific individuals who struggle to play musical instruments, and to design and build an electronic-based instrument that allows the user to play notes and chords reliably in real time.

Your first set of objectives in this case might look something like this:

• Identify local contacts for working with specific people with movement difficulty who would benefit from a customised instrument
• Research other electronic musical instruments for similar purposes
• Learn musical programming language <be as specific as you can here>
• Devise circuit diagram and components for building interface
• Build instrument
• Test in lab
• Work with contact to get user feedback.

That's just a quick starting point, but you'll see that it's already become an ordered list of activities for you to do, rather than some general aims. These will need to be broken down into detailed tasks, and put into your planner, etc. but for now you have started the process, and have got something to work with.

Try it with your own project, and get some feedback from others as soon as you can.

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Full details of these topics (including how to brainstorm and develop your Objectives) are found in the book - Chapter 17, available on the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Title, Aims and Objectives

A surprisingly important part of getting going with your project is the development of your Title, Aims and Objectives. Time invested in thinking through each of these statements about your project is rewarded by a better understanding of your own work, and increased ease of communication to others. Today we look at Title and Aims.

Title

One of the first things you should discuss with your supervisor is the title of the project. Even though you might be able to change this right up to the submission of the final report, it acts as a valuable source of focus and discussion. Your title should say, in as few words as possible, what is the topic of your project. Some examples might be:

• A musical instrument for people with restricted movement
• Investigation into the use of tablet-based interfaces for non-visual operation
• Studying the effect of computer games on the mood of teenagers.

The form of words, and the grammar used, is up to you and your supervisor. But in these few words try to sum up the main focus of the project. Try coming up with a title, then challenge it. Does this actually cover what I'm planning to do? Does it restrict my plans too much? Equally is the title too vague or wide so that it could cover all sorts of things that I'm not planning to do?

Review your title on a regular basis. Try it out on other people and ask them if they understand it.

Aims

It's important to understand the difference between Aims and Objectives, as many people seem to use those terms interchangeably. Aims are what you are aiming for. They are a description of the end-point of the project. Objectives are the detailed steps you plan to take to get there.

To come up with your Aims, try thinking through what you will have achieved at the end of the project if it's been a success. Ask yourself what you think will be true about the world because of your project, that isn't true now.

So for the project with the title 'A musical instrument for people with restricted movement', you might come up with something like:

Aims: To understand the needs of specific individuals who struggle to play musical instruments, and to design and build an electronic-based instrument that allows the user to play notes and chords reliably in real time.

You'll notice that it's much longer than the title, and goes into more detail. There is also more context and information about what the project might actually entail.

For now, if you haven't done so already, try to come up with a title and some aims. Some people find it helpful to come up with two alternative aims: one for if the project is a wild success, and the other which represents the bare minimum required to carry out the project. Chances are that the real project will be somewhere between the two.

Objectives

We'll look at Objectives in a future blog, as they form much of the basis of really good project management.

Full details of these topics (including how to develop the Title and Aims for your project, and more about how they are used in planning) are found in the book - Chapter 17, available on the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Getting Started on your Project (6 things to do)

To those of you doing student projects, it's probably just begun, or about to begin for you, as it's the start of the Autumn Term.

In my Department the project choices have just been allocated.

But what to do first or next?

Here are 6 things you can do immediately to make the project become 'real' for you.

1. Read my previous blog post about Getting a Head Start.

2. Arrange to meet up with your Project Supervisor. Some supervisors may have contacted you already. But don't wait for this. Show keenness and begin the process of being proactive and 'owning' your project by sending an introductory email and asking for a meeting. In that first meeting you should be discussing things such as:

• Fixing times for regular supervision meetings
• The main aim of the project
• Recommended reading from your supervisor
• Next actions to take on the project.

3. Setting up a team. I arrange students into small groups of similar project topics, so that they have a network of people for mutual support and sharing of ideas throughout the project. I realise that this is unusual, and not everyone will do this for you, so why not try to set one up for yourself? We'll return to this idea at various intervals in the blog.

4. Set your main deadlines. Establish what are the key points in the project where you need to hand something in. Get these in your diary. But don't stop there. All good projects have lots of sub-deadlines that you can use to motivate yourself and track your progress. You could also discuss these in your supervision meeting.

5. Establish when & where you will work. Don't leave your project to 'do in the gaps'. Experience shows that there aren't many gaps and the project can end up just never getting done. Plan your ideal working times, and schedule these in your diary and keep to them like you would an appointment for a meeting.

6. Start taking notes. You will be dealing with so much information - things to read; things you think about; ideas you pick up from others; minutes of meetings; plans etc - that you need to have a reliable and instantly accessible way of taking notes. I'll cover this in a bit more detail in a future blog, but invest in a notebook or look into electronic ways of taking notes (e.g. Evernote, Google Keep or OneNote).

More available in the book. I've tried to encapsulate years of experience from student and supervisees into the book's 360 pages, and students who have worked through it have found it to be a very useful guide, not just to this current project but to their future work projects as well. It goes into a lot more detail about everything we cover in the blog, and more.

Details of all these things are found in the book - Chapters 3 & 4, some of which are readable in the free sample available on the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

by Andy Hunt

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI