December 2009

Enjoy your holidays. It’s time to take a break from fast approaching deadlines.

Here are a few tips for managing research project deadlines in 2010:

There is never enough time
There is always a play off between finding the answer to the research question, and finding, and presenting the information in the time available.

Managing expectations of time
Experience helps in estimating how long a research project will take. Good news – you will be better at this in 2010 than you were in 2009.

Know your resources
Commercial online resources, web sites, search interfaces, research charges, specialists to call on, are always changing. As much as possible, keep up to date with developments in your field of expertise.

Break the project down to tasks
Projects are the sum of many tasks. Break the project down to tasks, and allocate realistic time frames to each task.

Avoid delay
Set clear timeframes and guidelines for people who need to provide information, or perform a task within your project. Follow up regularly, and check to see how they are going.

Deal with delay
Some delay is inevitable in large research projects. Try to anticipate where delay may occur, and have some alternatives in place, such as alternative information providers.

Take a break
A fresh mind will help you to avoid making errors that will put your project behind time.