Nature Index January 23, 2020
One of the most difficult things in research is to pick, prioritize, and pursue the right research projects. The life of a researcher is in many ways centered on managing and implementing a portfolio of different projects on an ongoing basis. One of the tools is the Project management triangle, which says that all projects have three constraints (scope, time, and costs), which ultimately determine the quality of the project. If you change one of these elements, it will have consequences for the other elements. Once you’ve committed to a research project, it’s also important to note that conflicts between the constraints may arise during the implementation phase. The most important insight is that personal resources are limited and therefore trade-offs must be made each day. If you fail to make those difficult decisions, you risk burning yourself out and can jeopardize the quality of your work. Projects and personal productivity are too important to be misaligned or mismanaged…read more.
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