Grüzie World,
My name is Jack and I recently earned a PhD in biomedical engineering. Now I have evolved into a post-doc and suddenly am a project manager. Honestly, I had no idea what to do. I took the road of many PhD students and proceeded to do a ton of planning and research without any actual results. Then I thought back to my own research experience.
I worked in an exciting lab with two friends also pursuing degrees and had two fantastic advisors. I worked on a topic (brain-machine interfaces) I am passionate about. Our research was successful. Despite all those good things, I was always behind and working constantly. There had to be a better way.
Wikipedia explained traditional project management to me and I was intrigued. What could be easier than following a plan every day? Would I have time to make these plans? No. Could I predict well enough to plan long term? No. If 80% of research fails, there doesn't seem to be any point in long-term planning...
The other option was Agile project management, specifically Scrum. It is adaptive and always produces the most valuable results at any particular time. But it is rooted in software development and wasn't a clean fit (newer article on Agile App development). I had a large team of >20 and a small team of 2 (ideal team size ~7). Both teams have members on different continents (ideal team co-located). I also play many roles in both teams and am typically limited in time and/or influence. This could never work...
I turned to a good friend who had explained Agile to me years ago. We talked about his experiences and my goals. He told me not to follow the letter of the law, but to focus on the spirit. So with a supportive boss, expert counsel, and most importantly a bright and enthusiastic student the experiment in Agile Research begins!
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