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