Excellence Everywhere - National University of Ireland, Galway

My project is to get a grant funded within ayear-and-a-half.Thinking from the goal backwards, you can putdown what steps will make that dream a reality.You might say:I will need to:n Submit the grant with preliminary data(11 months).n Submit a paper for publication (6 months).n Integrate data and start writing a manuscript(5 months).n Complete the initial set of experiments(1-5 months).The sections below outline the tools that can helpyou plan each step of this multipart effort. One ofthe most important benefits of project managementis that it helps you accurately anticipate how muchtime a project will take and what resources youwill need. Even if some back-of-the-envelopethinking convinces you that a project is worthpursuing and that you can generate preliminarydata for your grant in five months, you will needto plan each step more carefully to answer thefollowing questions:n How long will the project really take?n Do we really have the people to do this?n Do we really have the funds to do it?n Can we get it done in time?Think of these questions as tools for your ownuse. You are not trying to convince a funder orimpress an influential scientist—you are realisticallyconsidering what you will be able to get done,given other demands on your time and resources,in the next week, month, year, and beyond.Q u e s t i o nq&aDo the strict definitions you impose when you set up a project management systemlimit scientific creativity?answerNot necessarily. All projects, including highly innovative ones, rely on defined resources. Projectmanagement helps you take stock of resources before you start working. If a creative idea comes along,you will have a better idea of how much money, materials, and “spare hands” you have to follow theidea through, or which sub-projects you might delay to free up the resources you need. Knowing what youhave available helps you bring your best ideas to completion, rather than leaving them foundering whenyou run out of some critical resource. Regardless of the scientific goals of a project, project managementhelps you determine whether your ideas can be implemented with the resources at hand and how bestto approach these ideas. If you realize ahead of time that you do not have the resources you need, you willknow you need to get them.project management83