Fact is: research is a complex process. When done right, it is just art; when done poorly, it may have far-reaching consequences across multiple dimensions; it can bring one to a hideous spiral of psychological issues.

Right! Let’s get down to business.

We all have heard people talk about the importance of time management. Rarely this subject, like proper civil education, is discussed with greater detail or practice during formal training. I, for example, never had any “formal instruction” at the university on how to organize my time around work, let alone research. It took me ages to realize that the key not just to success, but also for a happier life, was not just time management, but also “focus management”. I learnt that it is to no avail to concentrate on time management without a proper understanding of what has to be managed using time. There is no amount of pomodoroPerhaps you have already found out about the Pomodoro technique. (🍅) capable to change this fact of nature!

So here’s my humble suggestion for the intelligent reader who doesn’t wish to fall prey to the hardships that clumsy research can impose: use Agile! That is it; you’ve read it right: agile, the project development methodology.

Let’s expose the truth: research is traditionally done in a waterfall approach where results are expected to be known only at the end of a chain of tasks. Chances are that you’ve used this method your whole academic life.

Laura Pirro wrote, a couple of years ago, a nice article for the career column on nature on how agile can transform the way we do research. She describes how the methodology can be used to improve results, collaboration and learning. All this, of course, is accompanied by improvements in the “happiness” of all research members involved - students and professors alike.

She recalls us that “In an agile project-management plan, an early, partial result, which can be improved on at a later stage, matters more than a perfect result reached only at the end of the project.". This is particularly valid in a research context, where initial results are useful to validate your bearing. Believe me when I say that you wouldn’t find it fun to discover that you have been tricked by the false hopes of a perfect result; the familiar waterfall approach will for sure let you down when you realize you need to change your original proposal (after all, research proposal do change, don’t they?!). Achieving results in a waterfall approach are as risky as investing in the Brazilian stock market during global pandemics. So, how do you use Agile for research then? Let’s see.

An agile experimental protocolIt really doesn’t matter if it is a PhD or a Master’s project. would involve defining a dedicated, limited, period of work (for example, 2–12 weeks), called a sprint, to work on a set of agreed-upon activities (a.k.a. tasks). Here are the steps of this protocol:from Laura’s article.

1. Splitting the work. Split up your work into several activities. Don’t worry about the number of such activitiesDivide and conquer to the rescue!. Just focus on defining atomic tasks (no task should have more than a reasonable number of objectives with clear acceptance criteria), each of which is characterized by a tangible result to be obtained. You can look upon the web how to properly execute this step of an agile framework.

2. Sprint planning. “Meet your supervisor and any other stakeholders (for example, a postdoc, co-supervisors, industrial partner, etc.) in a short meeting (around 30 minutes) to define the goal of your sprint (for example, [which tasks - experiments - to do]) and its duration (four weeks, for instance). Everybody has to agree on these two points - goal and time - so that expectations are aligned. On this occasion, the sprint-review meeting (see step 5) can be scheduled."

3. Sprint execution. Time to work. Here’s where you should put your maximum effort to produce the planned goalsYou can eat as many pomodori (🍅, 🍅, …, 🍅) as you wish if it helps you to get the job done!.

4. Weekly scrum. “Meet your supervisor [and any other stakeholders] […], but ideally every week. This meeting has to be short and efficient […]. Only three questions need to be addressed: what was done the previous week to contribute to the goal? (For example, which experiments were performed?) What will be done next week to contribute to the goal? (For example, what experiments will be performed next?) And, are there any impediments? (For example, is the set-up working properly? Are all the materials needed available?)"

5. Sprint review, retrospective and planning. “At the end of the sprint, meet all of the stakeholders to discuss results and whether those are in line with expectations (review). Take some time to go into detail and do some analytical brainstorming together. Discuss the difficulties encountered, so that the next sprint is better than the previous one (retrospective). This is the phase for ‘impediment removal’, or problem-solving. Honesty and transparency are crucial. Agile is all about adapting to change: plans can change. Go back to step one and restart the planning, addressing the next layer of work in a new Sprint”.

The truth is: there is no magic formula for perfect research. But, there are tangible ones towards improving your chances of conducting excellent researchwithin what the word “perfect” stands for., while actually having fun (and tranquillity, and consequently happiness) during the process.

Good luck!

References

[1] Laura Pirro. How agile project management can work for your research. Accessed on 2021-11-01.