Info point: Project management and the diploma thesis Discuss in class. What do you think are the main challenges of writing your diploma thesis? Work in pairs. Look at the terms in the word cloud on the right. What is the best sequence to represent the process of writing a diploma thesis? Compare your ideas in class and make necessary changes to your list. 19 a b c Listen to the following tips on why project management is useful for conducting a research project. Make a list of key points and compare them in class. Read the information on useful project management tools. Then go online and research more information. Can you find examples to show in class? 20 a 42 3we3w9 b One way to manage your research project effectively is by using a tool to create a clear and visual timeline of your project. 1. Gantt Chart A Gantt chart uses horizontal bars to visualise the timeline of a project, and shows the chronological order of your experiments and tasks. Ideally, your timeline for the diploma project will start at the first planning steps and end with the presentation during your final exam. Each horizontal bar on a Gantt chart represents a task in your research project, and the length of the bar shows the length of time the task should take. You first need to identify all your major tasks, i.e. all the research objectives in your project, and then break them down into subtasks, which are your research experiments for each research objective. You can then draw a horizontal bar for the length of time of each subtask, starting at the time you plan to begin the task. Make sure you pay attention to the chronology of your tasks as some experiments or activities can only start after the completion of others. Done well, this chart will provide an effective way to track progress, plan multiple steps in the project, and map out workloads. 2. High-Level Process Map A high-level process map is a map containing several key steps for each task in a research project. This map is a relatively simple flowchart, but it helps visualise all processes in a research project. Once you have identified all processes in the project, add the start and the end of each process. Use symbols to represent each unique step, and write the details in the symbol in the form of simple instructions. The common symbols used are boxes to represent different steps, diamonds to represent important decisions and flow arrows to connect boxes and diamonds. 3. Work Breakdown Structure A work breakdown structure is a chart containing a list of tasks and subtasks in a research project. This chart has a tree-like structure with the main branches containing the tasks and smaller branches containing smaller tasks. This structure helps to divide a big research project into smaller and achievable tasks to make it more manageable. To create a work breakdown structure, you can follow your high-level process map, which shows all tasks in the project. You are now going into more detail and divide each task into three levels: big, medium, and small tasks. Outline and arrange the tree-like structure into three sections based on the three levels of tasks. The result is a detailed break-down of all tasks into individual steps, which you can easily tick off once they are completed. Compare and discuss your findings in class. c 126 Language skills Extras Explore 9 Technology and science Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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