FINAL PROJECT (CE3216) PLANNING & TIME MANAGEMENT Dr DEEPAK T.J. SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.
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Transcript of FINAL PROJECT (CE3216) PLANNING & TIME MANAGEMENT Dr DEEPAK T.J. SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.
FINAL PROJECTFINAL PROJECT(CE3216)(CE3216)
PLANNING & TIME MANAGEMENTPLANNING & TIME MANAGEMENT
Dr DEEPAK T.J.Dr DEEPAK T.J.
SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERINGSCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
The Importance of PlanningThe Importance of Planning
• The Research Process will require that a number of tasks are completed
• These tasks will need to be completed within a given time
• This will inevitably require that planning is undertaken, both to think about how and when the tasks will be carried out
Breakdown of TasksBreakdown of Tasks
• Rather than look at the time and the report as a whole, it helps to break this down into a number of smaller tasks
• A typical task breakdown might be as follows:a) Decide on a topic
b) Investigate the work of others
c) Critique the work of others
d) Carry out own investigations
e) Analyse findings
f) Discuss own and/or others findings
g) Present work in report
Time Framework for Final Year Time Framework for Final Year ProjectsProjects
• There is a time framework for completing both the entire project and for completing various individual tasks
• This framework is set out in the Project Module Specification, which defines the following ‘milestones’ for full time students:
Semester ASemester A
Week 3:• Submit your project title and your designated
supervisor
Week 5:• Submit a program of work (FP-A) to your project
supervisor
Semester ASemester A
Week 12:• Hand in your Research Proposal to SOCE
Week 13:• Submit a program of work (FP-B) to your project
supervisor
Week 14• You must make a 15 minutes oral presentation
based on your Research Proposal to a small group of lecturers and students
Semester BSemester B
Week 2:• You will receive feedback from your supervisor
on the submissions you have made so far• By this point you should have made significant
progress on your project
Week 10:• Submit a draft copy of the Research Report to
your supervisor in both paper and electronic formats
Semester BSemester B
Week 12:• Final completed project submitted to SOCE
Week 14:• 20 to 30 minute viva with your supervisor and a
second assessor/s
Organising the Order in which you Organising the Order in which you carry out the Taskscarry out the Tasks
Having established the list of tasks to be completed, they will generally fall into one of two categories:
a) Tasks which can be carried out independently of progress on other tasks
b) Tasks which can only be undertaken once some other task has been completed
Organising the Order in which you Organising the Order in which you carry out the Taskscarry out the Tasks
• This will be the case for any type of project undertaken, including engineering construction.
• For example, if you are building a house you have to complete the walls and the superstructure before you can construct the roof.
• Where a task depends on another task in this way, the relationship is called a “dependency”
The Importance of DependenciesThe Importance of Dependencies
• Tasks which are dependent on other tasks will have the greatest influence on the final programme for your project
• If you do not take adequate account of this:– It is possible that you will end up with a
programme that cannot be completed on time
• For this reason, you also need to identify such items as early as possible:– DON’T wait until the last minute to start planning
your project
Task DefinitionTask Definition
Returning to the original list of tasks, we can now look at a slightly different, and perhaps more helpful, definition of what is required at each stage:
a) Decide on a topic - Define the Topic
b) Investigate the work of others - Literature Review
c) Critique the work of others - Preliminary Analysis
d) Carry out own investigations - Laboratory Testing
e) Analyse findings - Analysis of Test Results
f) Discuss own and others findings - Develop Theory
g) Present work in report or paper - Writing Up
This will then allow us to look at some timings, particularly in terms of the dependencies that may need to be considered…………
Refining the Project DefinitionRefining the Project Definition
• Although you will have defined the project prior to commencing the literature review, this definition is likely to have been quite broad.
• Once you have completed the first pass of the literature review, you will need to refine the definition of the project.
• Consequently, the detail of the project may change even after it has effectively begun and time must be allowed for reviewing this
Writing the IntroductionWriting the Introduction• This could in theory be written quite early on.• However, one of the main purposes of the
introduction is to inform the writer of the structure of the report – what s/he can expect to find in each chapter.
• As a result, the Introduction cannot be written properly without knowing the general format and contents of the report.
• Consequently, it may not be the first part of the report to be written and may also need to be revised as the content and structure of the report develops.
Writing the AbstractWriting the Abstract
• This summarises the findings of the report and consequently cannot be written until the whole of the report is finished.
• Despite the fact that this comes at the start of the report, it will usually not be written until a final draft of the report is complete.
Completing and Writing up the Completing and Writing up the Literature ReviewLiterature Review
• The literature survey will be of primary importance in determining the information that you will need to obtain by laboratory investigation or data collection
• For this reason, a particular effort will need to be expended on the literature survey at the start of the project
Completing and Writing up the Completing and Writing up the Literature ReviewLiterature Review
• Despite the fact that the literature review is usually one of the first parts of the project to be “completed”, the researcher should continue to keep up to date with the literature throughout the project in case some new theory or theories are developed which will have an effect on the research findings.
• Consequently, the Literature Review can be written up early on, but may need to be revised as the research progresses
Completing and Writing up the Completing and Writing up the Literature ReviewLiterature Review
• It is possible that the research may be quite advanced when the researcher finds or becomes aware of a source which invalidates the basis of the research (i.e. means that the research has no value). It would, however, be very unlucky for this to happen
Time Planning in Data CollectionTime Planning in Data Collection
• Time planning is vital in collecting data in order to ensure that:
a) You have enough time to collect sufficient data to complete your report
b) That you have sufficient time to analyse the data once it has been collected
Time Planning – Lab TestsTime Planning – Lab Tests
When carrying out your laboratory tests, you must allow time for:
a) Purchasing and/or constructing test equipment
b) Collecting and/or constructing test samples
c) Carrying out preliminary testing
d) Carrying out the required testing once the preliminary testing has been completed and a final test method has been established
Lab Tests – ResourcesLab Tests – Resources
It is essential that you consider resources when you are planning laboratory tests. These will include:
a) Financial resources
b) Laboratory equipment
c) Samples to be tested
d) Time
Lab Tests – Resource LimitationsLab Tests – Resource Limitations
In order to complete your tests, you must ensure that adequate resources are available to complete the required number of tests. For example:
a) If you intend to carry out 10 consolidation tests that take 1 months each to complete and there is only one oedometer available, you will obviously have a problem with resources
b) If there is a resource problem of this type, you will need to change your test programme
Lab Tests – Resource LimitationsLab Tests – Resource Limitations
In order to complete your tests, you must ensure that adequate resources are available to complete the required number of tests. For example:
c) If it is not possible to change your test programme so that you can collect an adequate amount of data in the time available, the you MUST change your project so that adequate data can be obtained, even if this means changing the subject being researched
Time Planning for Lab Tests Time Planning for Lab Tests (An Example)(An Example)
You plan to carry out compressive strength testing of concrete with tests carried out at ages of 3, 7, 30 and 90 days. What factors do you think will be
important in planning your test programme?
Planning a Lab Test Programme Planning a Lab Test Programme (Number of Tests)(Number of Tests)
The number of tests required will depend both on the number of independent variables being considered and the number of different values of each independent variable to be tested. Put simply:
Total No of Tests = (No. values variable A) x (No. values variable B) x ……..
Planning a Lab Test Programme Planning a Lab Test Programme (Number of Tests)(Number of Tests)
Hence, in order to find the total time required for testing, you need to obtain an estimate of the time taken to carry out a single test (allowing for all preparation, cleaning up after test, preliminary analysis etc.) and multiply this by the total number of tests
Putting it all togetherPutting it all together• It is important to produce a program for your research
project• This needs to allow for all of the main activities
identified here• For each activity, you will need to identify what you
are intending to do and how long it will take• Once these individual elements have been decided
on, you will need to produce and overall programme.• It is suggested that one of the most convenient ways
to present the programme will be in the form of a bar chart.
An Example ProgrammeAn Example Programme• The following represents a simple bar chart programme
for a 20 week research project• There are two important things to note here:
a) Firstly, although the programme itself appears fairly simple, there will be a considerable amount of background information which has been used in its development
b) Secondly, the programme is a ‘live’ document and needs to be revised and updated as the project proceeds.