1. Master of Science – Introductory Semester Lecturer: Lars Peter Jensen
Project Organised Problem Based Learning (POPBL) 2: Project Management and scientific writing
Master of Science – Introductory Semester
Lecturer: Lars Peter Jensen

2. Project Management Agenda: About projects and management of people
Management of time
Report Writing
Group exercise

3. About projects and management of people
Contents:
Defining a project
The project settings and goal
Code of conduct/team charter

4. Project What ? A unique task Have a lot of complex activities
Needs several people with different skills
Have a final goal/objective
Limited resources (time, money, people)
Have to deliver a result at a given time:
As a minimum a written report

5. Project goal and settings
E7 - Intro

6. Agree on the goal, or you won’t reach it!
OR GET ON A
DESERT WALK
E7 - Intro

7. Be aware of your differences
YOU ARE
STUPID !
WE DON’T KNOW
E7 - Intro

8. Project Management
Includes :
Management of people
Management of time

9. Team charter or code of conduct
Why ?
Create common expectations
Secure clear agreements
What?
Contract with supervisor
Group contracts:
Task strategies
Process strategies
It might be a good idea to make a kind of formal contract with the students to create …

10. Code of conduct – A tool for managing people
Expectations and ambitions ?
Meetings – How often ? – What if somebody is late ?
Organizing meetings , chairman, referee, use of blackboard ?
Division of labor ?
What kind of response do you give within the group ?
To what extent will we socialize together, and when ?

11. Contract with supervisor
DRAFT Contract between project group XX and supervisor NN
What I am willing to do (if you want me to)
Help… Meet… Discuss…. Read….
What I prefer not to do
Meet…. Read….
What I expect of you
write a memo, send the memo, chair meetings etc.

12. Code of conduct example
It might be a good idea to make a kind of formal contract with the students to create …
E7 - Intro

13. Management of time Contents: Introduction Activity diagram
How long time do we need for a given activity? - how to make a qualified guess
The Gantt chart
Project monitoring

14. E7 - Intro

15. E7 - Intro

16. E7 - Intro

17. Management of time Is management of (often unpredictable) change via
project planning and
project monitoring
Project planning – what is it?
50 % thinking ahead
25 % communication
25 % milestones

18. Project Planning - What is the content?
A model of the project, including all activities = tasks, that together constitute the complete project
How can the model be used?
To experiment with, without actually carrying out the timing and scheduling of activities of the project
As a yardstick against which to measure progress and monitor the project
As a basis for a regular review and update process, e.g. Plan the remaining part of the project

19. Planning in different levels
Overview (long term) level:
Big tasks, few milestones – gives you overview
Activity level:
Where you are right now
Detailed activity plan with many smaller tasks
Deadlines
Daily level:
What are we going to do today

20. P1 Planning
1st Semester 2000 – P0 Project – Group – TETRA System

21. Design of Control Strategy Implement the Strategy
P1 Period
Planning
Motor selection
Battery selection
Design of Control Strategy
Weekly report
Simulation
Implement the Strategy
Module report
Supervisor meeting
Test
Practical Work
P1 Report No
Yes

22. Choose motor and supply Control Stategy Design implement the strategy
P1 Period
Time schedule
Choose motor and supply
Control Stategy Design
Programming
the controller and
implement the strategy
Practical Work and
Documentation
8th. Oct th. Oct 15th. Nov th.Dec

23. Break
Adams trust building exercise

24. Control strategy design2X
Analysing controllers
Modelling the motor
Matlab simulation of motor
Matlab simulation of
Control system and motor
Choose
strategy
OK? No
Yes 3X 2X X 2X
TOTAL: 10X

25. How to find X ? What is X then ? We need 10 X
There is 6 members of the group
There are 15 half project day until finish of activity
What is X then ?
X = 15/10 [½project day] = 1½ [½project day] ?
X = (15/10)x6 [½man day] = 9 [½man day]

26. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

27. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

28. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

29. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

30. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

31. Analysing controllers 2X
Tasks
Week 43
Week 44
Week 45
Week 46 19
20/10 21
27/10 28
3/11 4 9
10/11 11 12
Analysing controllers X
Modelling the motor X
Matlab simulation of motor X
Choose control strategy X
Matlab simulation of control strategy and motor X

32. Gannt chart (Timescedule)
E7 - Intro

33. Project Monitoring Why has some activities taken to long time?
Can we compensate for the delay by working harder?
Is it possible to reorganize the work schedule
If we are to cut out some activities, which one?
What are the consequences of each of these choices?

34. Report writing Before writing (the group):
Preparation: receiver, message, outline
Brainstorm: e.g.. Post-it
Writing (individually):
Go for it : write without criticism – one headline at a time (in arbitrary order)
Structure – structure the writing, creating overview and consistency
Edit – make the writing easy to read
After writing (the group or others)
Review

35. Report writing Two essential ingredients of academic writing
Organization
Title, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgement, references, (appendix)
appropriate language within the organization

36. Report writing
Title – the fewest possible words that adequately describe the content of the paper
Abstract
state the principle objectives and scope of the investigation
describe the methodology employed
Summarize the results
State the principal conclusions

37. Report writing Introduction
Present the nature and scope of the problem investigated
Review of the pertinent literature
Methods of investigation
Principle results of the investigation
Definition of any specialized terms or abbreviations

38. Report writing Materials and methods Results
Exact technical specifications and quantities,
source or methods of preparation
Details of methods
Do not put any results
Results
‘big picture’ - describe the methodology employed
Data – representative instead of repetitive data
Meaningful statistics

39. Report writing Discussions
Present the principles, relationships, and generalizations shown by the results
Point out any exceptions or any lack of correlation, and define unsettled points
Show how your results and interpretations agree (or contrast) with previously published work
Discuss the theoretical implications of your work as well as any possible practical applications
State your conclusions clearly
Summarize your evidence for each conclusion

40. Report writing References and quotations
The Chicago (Harvard) method (Jensen, 2001a:21)
By numbers (Vancouver method) [2]
Literature is the listed alphabetic (1) or numbered (2). We have to know all possible information's to be able to find the quoted source:
Books: Author(s), year, title, publisher, ISBN or ISSN no.
Journals: As above + name of journal, number and date
Internet: URL and date for downloading
Persons: Name, title, company
Appendix

41. Appropriate Language Simple Precise Concrete Neutral Sensible Logical
Understandable

42. Peer review Why ? To evaluate the work
To find mistakes and to identify if something is missing
To check whether it is understandable
To point out which parts of the document are really good (excellent)

43. Peer review How and When ? Written or oral At a group meeting
After everybody have read the writing and have prepared individual comments to it

44. Peer review Valuable criticism
Be kind – be motivating for the group member, avoiding offending
Be concrete – providing alternatives and suggestions
Be constructive – aiming at improvement
Be critical – professionally but not personally

45. Peer review
Elements
Misspelling, misprint and other corrections in the proofs. (might be noted directly in the document)
Logical errors, misunderstandings, poor formulations, technical mistakes etc. that makes the understanding difficult or impossible for the reader.
Good points, well structured, clear overview, interesting angle, well documented, clear illustrations etc.

46. Exercises in groups: Make a code of conduct for your group.
Make a top level plan for your project.
Make a detailed plan at the activity level where you are right now, using post-it’s to make an activity diagram.
Plan how to monitor your time schedule.

47. Code of conduct – questions to ask
Task strategies
What is the purpose, process, and timing of meetings?
What does ’on time’ mean?
What is the priority of time?
What are the importance and priority of deadlines?
Is it more important to achieve time deadlines, or to delay for higher quality?
What do we do about missing commitments?
To what extent do roles and responsibilities need to be formalized and written?
Who needs to attend, when?
What is the role of the leader? Of team members?
How will the task be divided up and the integrated?
What work can be done together or apart?
How will information be passed? To whom? When? Formally or informally? Within the team or outside?
How, where and when do we make decisions? Consensus, majority rule, compromise?

48. Code of conduct – questions to ask
Process strategies
How will we manage relationships – dive right into business versus take time to socialize?
To what extent will we socialize together, and when?
What is trust and how is it earned?
How formal or informal will we be?
What language(s) will we use?
How will differences in language fluency be managed?
To what extent does participation reflect potential contributions?
Who dominates?
Who listens to whom?
Who talks to whom?
How are interruptions managed?
How is conflict managed? Forcing, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, compromising?
How is negotiation viewed? Win/lose, or win/win?
How is feedback provided? Face to face, third party, direct?