What should be the project management for students in the research / development field?

by Syed Tauseen Tariq Ali

What is important in creating an excellent tool is "to cooperate with many people to work on a single task", said Rachit Nigam, a researcher at Cornell University who studies computer architecture and programming abstraction. By tackling one problem with a large number of people, our vision will be expanded and we will be able to head towards more ambitious ideas. Meanwhile, although efficient management is required for team members to be consistent all the time, there are many people who feel stressed in this management task .... By doing so, Mr. Nigam got a doctorate from his own experience I am summarizing how to manage the students of the course.

Project Management for PhD Students | Rachit Nigam
https://rachitnigam.com/post/project-management/

As one way to tackle management, Mr. Nigam first points out "doing some concrete questions." An example of this question is as follows.

◆ What is the main route of communication?
◆ How often do you have a meeting and how do you prepare before the meeting?
◆ Where do you manage the code? What kind of things should members know about?
◆ How do you manage ToDo items?
◆ Should collisions be solved?

The answer to this question will change according to the progress of the project. For example, if the project is in the early stages, it does not matter how and where to manage the code, but if the project matures, involves other projects, involves deployment, You should be cautious. With the preface of "In my case", Mr. Nigam talks about the following management points.

◆ What is the main route of communication?

by suju

For this question, the answer "mail" or "chat application" is common. However, when choosing one, it is necessary to understand the merits and demerits of both.

Mail is easy to find conversation thread, but it is disadvantageous that it takes time and effort to confirm when holding multiple projects. On the other hand, the chat application makes it easier and faster to communicate with the team, but it makes it difficult to deliver conversations by separating threads.

However, it is not a difficult decision so far, as the main route of communication will be decided naturally by the preference of team members.

The thing I would like to remember is that even if major communication is exchanged via e-mail or chat, we should try to talk to people face to face. It is difficult to accurately communicate emotions with text based media, and it often happens that casual comments are misread as "offensive."

◆ Meeting

A meeting is a place for all team members to share all kinds of information, and preparation to some extent is necessary. Mr. Nigam recommends at least two meetings each week, one of the meetings is the main meeting including the advisor and the other is that the meeting is done only by the student.

· Main meeting - Three students should prepare at the main meeting.
(1) Short summary of weekly updates
(2) Technical issues facing the assigned task
(3) Questions caused by assigned tasks About what I felt

And at the end of the main meeting it is recommended to leave:
(1) At least one task assigned in that week. To make it possible for people around you to read it, leave the contents as explained with paper etc.
(2) Sorting out to find answers to questions

Many students struggle to prioritize tasks. Since students conducting research often do not have plans to effectively utilize time, "Assigning tasks on a weekly basis" will allow you to concentrate on important tasks.

· Student Meetings - Non-formal student meetings are a place to deepen the discussion on relatively small problems facing task completion.

◆ Code base

by StockSnap

If you are developing software code, you need to upload it to the repository before the administrator can evaluate the code and update the version of the project. This kind of action called "check-in" is useful because other members of the team will be able to see and comment on the code. It should be noted that place to save such important information should be minimized.

Because Mr. Nigam uses git and Github , it seems that the code is based on Github according to the above caveat. And in using Github, Mr. Nigam says "It is important that the project leader understands all aspects of the code base" and "Using branch and pull request functions" etc.

◆ To Do List

by Alexas_Fotos

In addition to facilitating task creation and facilitating discussion, ToDo list makes it easier to understand who is using it. Mr. Nigam's team members are free to create a To Do list, and at that time, he seems to divide the task into the following three categories.

· Tracker - Tracker is a collection of small problems logically derived from one thing. Although it is small as a problem, it makes it difficult to understand the whole picture of the project if it exists. It is said that the tag of "tracker" can be wearing to the reading list and the task of low priority.

· Proposal - Tracker is the core presence of To Do list. "Proposal" tag is used to discuss system functions, implementation sketches, big bugs, etc.

· Miscellaneous tags "Miscellaneous things" are tags that can be worn in doubt and report on small bugs. This tag is used frequently, and in many cases you can get an answer instantly.

Dispute resolution

by skeeze

As research projects are ambitious and students tend to overwork, so many people will feel stressed. If team members are feeling excessive pressure or feeling disgusted with other people's personal actions, you may think of talking directly to the parties or asking one of the teams to mediate . This is a difficult task, but rather than neglecting things by neglecting things, casual talks about team thoughts and stress will have better results in the long run.

◆ Conclusion There are various things in team management, but Nigam likes a more casual way. In the field of research, team members all come up with new ideas, sometimes pursuing the idea of "being crowded." Mr. Nigam recommends a management method that does not deprive "enjoyment" of research and programming.