project management on a research project

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• v.20; 2019 Oct 25

Managing Ideas, People, and Projects: Organizational Tools and Strategies for Researchers

Samuel pascal levin.

1 Beverly, MA 01915, USA

Michael Levin

2 Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Suite 4600, 200 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155-4243, USA

Primary Investigators at all levels of their career face a range of challenges related to optimizing their activity within the constraints of deadlines and productive research. These range from enhancing creative thought and keeping track of ideas to organizing and prioritizing the activity of the members of the group. Numerous tools now exist that facilitate the storage and retrieval of information necessary for running a laboratory to advance specific project goals within associated timelines. Here we discuss strategies and tools/software that, together or individually, can be used as is or adapted to any size scientific laboratory. Specific software products, suggested use cases, and examples are shown across the life cycle from idea to publication. Strategies for managing the organization of, and access to, digital information and planning structures can greatly facilitate the efficiency and impact of an active scientific enterprise. The principles and workflow described here are applicable to many different fields.

Graphical Abstract

Information Systems; Knowledge Management

Introduction

Researchers, at all stages of their careers, are facing an ever-increasing deluge of information and deadlines. Additional difficulties arise when one is the Principal Investigator (PI) of those researchers: as group size and scope of inquiry increases, the challenges of managing people and projects and the interlocking timelines, finances, and information pertaining to those projects present a continuous challenge. In the immediate term, there are experiments to do, papers and grants to write, and presentations to construct, in addition to teaching and departmental duties. At the same time, however, the PI must make strategic decisions that will impact the future direction(s) of the laboratory and its personnel. The integration of deep creative thought together with the practical steps of implementing a research plan and running a laboratory on a day-to-day basis is one of the great challenges of the modern scientific enterprise. Especially difficult is the fact that attention needs to span many orders of scale, from decisions about which problems should be pursued by the group in the coming years and how to tackle those problems to putting out regular “fires” associated with the minutiae of managing people and limited resources toward the committed goals.

The planning of changes in research emphasis, hiring, grant-writing, etc. likewise occur over several different timescales. The optimization of resources and talent toward impactful goals requires the ability to organize, store, and rapidly access information that is integrated with project planning structures. Interestingly, unlike other fields such as business, there are few well-known, generally accepted guidelines for best practices available to researchers. Here we lay out a conceptual taxonomy of the life cycle of a project, from brainstorming ideas through to a final deliverable product. We recommend methods and software/tools to facilitate management of concurrent research activities across the timeline. The goal is to optimize the organization, storage, and access to the necessary information in each phase, and, crucially, to facilitate the interconnections between static information, action plans, and work product across all phases. We believe that the earlier in the career of a researcher such tools are implemented and customized, the more positive impact they will exert on the productivity of their enterprise.

This overview is intended for anyone who is conducting research or academic scholarship. It consists of a number of strategies and software recommendations that can be used together or independently (adapted to suit a given individual's or group's needs). Some of the specific software packages mentioned are only usable on Apple devices, but similar counterparts exist in the Windows and Linux ecosystems; these are indicated in Table 1 (definitions of special terms are given in Table 2 ). These strategies were developed (and have been continuously updated) over the last 20 years based on the experiences of the Levin group and those of various collaborators and other productive researchers. Although very specific software and platforms are indicated, to facilitate the immediate and practical adoption by researchers at all levels, the important thing is the strategies illustrated by the examples. As software and hardware inevitably change over the next few years, the fundamental principles can be readily adapted to newer products.

Software Packages and Alternatives

A Glossary of Special Terms

Basic Principles

Although there is a huge variety of different types of scientific enterprises, most of them contain one or more activities that can be roughly subsumed by the conceptual progression shown in Figure 1 . This life cycle progresses from brainstorming and ideation through planning, execution of research, and then creation of work products. Each stage requires unique activities and tools, and it is crucial to establish a pipeline and best practices that enable the results of each phase to effectively facilitate the next phase. All of the recommendations given below are designed to support the following basic principles:

• • Information should be easy to find and access, so as to enable the user to have to remember as little as possible—this keeps the mind free to generate new, creative ideas. We believe that when people get comfortable with not having to remember any details and are completely secure in the knowledge that the information has been offloaded to a dependable system and will be there when they need it, a deeper, improved level of thinking can be achieved.
• • Information should be both organized hierarchically (accessible by drill-down search through a rational structure) and searchable by keywords.
• • Information should be reachable from anywhere in the world (but secure and access restricted). Choose software that includes a cell phone/tablet platform client.
• • No information should ever be lost—the systems are such that additional information does not clog up or reduce efficiency of use and backup strategies ensure disaster robustness; therefore, it is possible to save everything.
• • Software tools optimized for specific management tasks should be used; select those tools based on interoperability, features, and the ability to export into common formats (such as XML) in case it becomes expedient someday to switch to a newer product.
• • One's digital world should be organized into several interlocking categories, which utilize different tools: activity (to-dos, projects, research goals) and knowledge (static information).
• • One's activity should be hierarchically organized according to a temporal scale, ranging from immediate goals all the way to career achievement objectives and core mission.
• • Storage of planning data should allow integration of plans with the information needed to implement them (using links to files and data in the various tools).
• • There should be no stored paper—everything should be obtained and stored in a digital form (or immediately digitized, using one of the tools described later in this document).
• • The information management tasks described herein should not occupy so much time as to take away from actual research. When implemented correctly, they result in a net increase in productivity.

The Life Cycle of Research Activity

Various projects occupy different places along a typical timeline. The life cycle extends from creative ideation to gathering information, to formulating a plan, to the execution for the plan, and then to producing a work product such as a grant or paper based on the results. Many of these phases necessitate feedback to a prior phase, shown in thinner arrows (for example, information discovered during a literature search or attempts to formalize the work plan may require novel brainstorming). This diagram shows the product (end result) of each phase and typical tools used to accomplish them.

These basic principles can be used as the skeleton around which specific strategies and new software products can be deployed. Whenever possible, these can be implemented via external administration services (i.e., by a dedicated project manager or administrator inside the group), but this is not always compatible with budgetary constraints, in which case they can readily be deployed by each principal investigator. The PIs also have to decide whether they plan to suggest (or insist) that other people in the group also use these strategies, and perhaps monitor their execution. In our experience, it is most essential for anyone leading a complex project or several to adopt these methods (typically, a faculty member or senior staff scientist), whereas people tightly focused on one project and with limited concurrent tasks involving others (e.g., Ph.D. students) are not essential to move toward the entire system (although, for example, the backup systems should absolutely be ensured to be implemented among all knowledge workers in the group). The following are some of the methods that have proven most effective in our own experience.

Information Technology Infrastructure

Several key elements should be pillars of your Information Technology (IT) infrastructure ( Figure 2 ). You should be familiar enough with computer technology that you can implement these yourself, as it is rare for an institutional IT department to be able to offer this level of assistance. Your primary disk should be a large (currently, ∼2TB) SSD drive or, better, a disk card (such as the 2TB SSD NVMe PCIe) for fast access and minimal waiting time. Your computer should be so fast that you spend no time (except in the case of calculations or data processing) waiting for anything—your typing and mouse movement should be the rate-limiting step. If you find yourself waiting for windows or files to open, obtain a better machine.

Schematic of Data Flow and Storage

Three types of information: data (facts and datasets), action plans (schedules and to-do lists), and work product (documents) all interact with each other in defining a region of work space for a given research project. All of this should be hosted on a single PC (personal computer). It is accessed by a set of regular backups of several types, as well as by the user who can interact with raw files through the file system or with organized data through a variety of client applications that organize information, schedules, and email. See Table 2 for definitions of special terms.

One key element is backups—redundant copies of your data. Disks fail—it is not a question of whether your laptop or hard drive will die, but when. Storage space is inexpensive and researchers' time is precious: team members should not tolerate time lost due to computer snafus. The backup and accessibility system should be such that data are immediately recoverable following any sort of disaster; it only has to be set up once, and it only takes one disaster to realize the value of paranoia about data. This extends also to laboratory inventory systems—it is useful to keep (and back up) lists of significant equipment and reagents in the laboratory, in case they are needed for the insurance process in case of loss or damage.

The main drive should be big enough to keep all key information (not primary laboratory data, such as images or video) in one volume—this is to facilitate cloning. You should have an extra internal drive (which can be a regular disk) of the same size or bigger. Use something like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to set up a nightly clone operation. When the main disk fails (e.g., the night before a big grant is due), boot from the clone and your exact, functioning system is ready to go. For Macs, another internal drive set up as a Time Machine enables keeping versions of files as they change. You should also have an external drive, which is likewise a Time Machine or a clone: you can quickly unplug it and take it with you, if the laboratory has to be evacuated (fire alarm or chemical emergency) or if something happens to your computer and you need to use one elsewhere. Set a calendar reminder once a month to check that the Time Machine is accessible and can be searched and that your clone is actually updated and bootable. A Passport-type portable drive is ideal when traveling to conferences: if something happens to the laptop, you can boot a fresh (or borrowed) machine from the portable drive and continue working. For people who routinely install software or operating system updates, I also recommend getting one disk that is a clone of the entire system and applications and then set it to nightly clone the data only , leaving the operating system files unchanged. This guarantees that you have a usable system with the latest data files (useful in case an update or a new piece of software renders the system unstable or unbootable and it overwrites the regular clone before you notice the problem). Consider off-site storage. CrashPlan Pro is a reasonable choice for backing up laboratory data to the cloud. One solution for a single person's digital content is to have two extra external hard drives. One gets a clone of your office computer, and one is a clone of your home computer, and then you swap—bring the office one home and the home one to your office. Update them regularly, and keep them swapped, so that should a disaster strike one location, all of the data are available. Finally, pay careful attention (via timed reminders) to how your laboratory machines and your people's machines are being backed up; a lot of young researchers, especially those who have not been through a disaster yet, do not make backups. One solution is to have a system like CrashPlan Pro installed on everyone's machines to do automatic backup.

Another key element is accessibility of information. Everyone should be working on files (i.e., Microsoft Word documents) that are inside a Dropbox or Box folder; whatever you are working on this month, the files should be inside a folder synchronized by one of these services. That way, if anything happens to your machine, you can access your files from anywhere in the world. It is critical that whatever service is chosen, it is one that s ynchronizes a local copy of the data that live on your local machine (not simply keeps files in the cloud) —that way, you have what you need even if the internet is down or connectivity is poor. Tools that help connect to your resources while on the road include a VPN (especially useful for secure connections while traveling), SFTP (to transfer files; turn on the SFTP, not FTP, service on your office machine), and Remote Desktop (or VNC). All of these exist for cell phone or tablet devices, as well as for laptops, enabling access to anything from anywhere. All files (including scans of paper documents) should be processed by OCR (optical character recognition) software to render their contents searchable. This can be done in batch (on a schedule), by Adobe Acrobat's OCR function, which can be pointed to an entire folder of PDFs, for example, and left to run overnight. The result, especially with Apple's Spotlight feature, is that one can easily retrieve information that might be written inside a scanned document.

Here, we focus on work product and the thought process, not management of the raw data as it emerges from equipment and experimental apparatus. However, mention should be made of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs), which are becoming an important aspect of research. ELNs are a rapidly developing field, because they face a number of challenges. A laboratory that abandons paper notebooks entirely has to provide computer interfaces anywhere in the facility where data might be generated; having screens, keyboards, and mice at every microscope or other apparatus station, for example, can be expensive, and it is not trivial to find an ergonomically equivalent digital substitute for writing things down in a notebook as ideas or data appear. On the other hand, keeping both paper notebooks for immediate recording, and ELNs for organized official storage, raises problems of wasted effort during the (perhaps incomplete) transfer of information from paper to the digital version. ELNs are also an essential tool to prevent loss of institutional knowledge as team members move up to independent positions. ELN usage will evolve over time as input devices improve and best practices are developed to minimize the overhead of entering meta-data. However, regardless of how primary data are acquired, the researcher will need specific strategies for transitioning experimental findings into research product in the context of a complex set of personal, institutional, and scientific goals and constraints.

Facilitating Creativity

The pipeline begins with ideas, which must be cultivated and then harnessed for subsequent implementation ( Altshuller, 1984 ). This step consists of two components: identifying salient new information and arranging it in a way that facilitates novel ideas, associations, hypotheses, and strategic plans for making impact.

For the first step, we suggest an automated weekly PubCrawler search, which allows Boolean searches of the literature. Good searches to save include ones focusing on specific keywords of interest, as well as names of specific people whose work one wants to follow. The resulting weekly email of new papers matching specific criteria complements manual searches done via ISI's Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The papers of interest should be immediately imported into a reference manager, such as Endnote, along with useful Keywords and text in the Notes field of each one that will facilitate locating them later. Additional tools include DevonAgent and DevonSphere, which enable smart searches of web and local resources, respectively.

Brainstorming can take place on paper or digitally (see later discussion). We have noticed that the rate of influx of new ideas is increased by habituating to never losing a new idea. This can be accomplished by establishing a voicemail contact in your cell phone leading to your own office voicemail (which allows voice recordings of idea fragments while driving or on the road, hands-free) and/or setting up Endnote or a similar server-synchronized application to record (and ideally transcribe) notes. It has been our experience that the more one records ideas arising in a non-work setting, the more often they will pop up automatically. For notes or schematics written on paper during dedicated brainstorming, one tool that ensures that nothing is lost is an electronic pen. For example, the Livescribe products are well integrated with Evernote and ensure that no matter where you are, anything you write down becomes captured in a form accessible from anywhere and are safe no matter what happens to the original notebook in which they were written.

Enhancing scientific thought, creative brainstorming, and strategic planning is facilitated by the creation of mind maps: visual representations of spatial structure of links between concepts, or the mapping of planned activity onto goals of different timescales. There are many available mind map software packages, including MindNode; their goal is to enable one to quickly set down relationships between concepts with a minimum of time spent on formatting. Examples are shown in Figures 3 A and 3B. The process of creating these mind maps (which can then be put on one's website or discussed with the laboratory members) helps refine fuzzy thinking and clarifies the relationships between concepts or activities. Mind mappers are an excellent tool because their light, freeform nature allows unimpeded brainstorming and fluid changes of idea structure but at the same time forces one to explicitly test out specific arrangements of plans or ideas.

Mind Mapping

(A and B) The task of schematizing concepts and ideas spatially based on their hierarchical relationships with each other is a powerful technique for organizing the creative thought process. Examples include (A), which shows how the different projects in our laboratory relate to each other. Importantly, it can also reveal disbalances or gaps in coverage of specific topics, as well as help identify novel relationships between sub-projects by placing them on axes (B) or even identify novel hypotheses suggested by symmetry.

(C) Relationships between the central nervous system (CNS) and regeneration, cancer, and embryogenesis. The connecting lines in black show typical projects (relationships) already being pursued by our laboratory, and the lack of a project in the space between CNS and embryogenesis suggests a straightforward hypothesis and project to examine the role of the brain in embryonic patterning.

It is important to note that mind maps can serve a function beyond explicit organization. In a good mapped structure, one can look for symmetries (revealing relationships that are otherwise not obvious) between the concepts involved. An obvious geometric pattern with a missing link or node can help one think about what could possibly go there, and often identifies new relationships or items that had not been considered ( Figure 3 C), in much the same way that gaps in the periodic table of the elements helped identify novel elements.

Organizing Information and Knowledge

The input and output of the feedback process between brainstorming and literature mining is information. Static information not only consists of the facts, images, documents, and other material needed to support a train of thought but also includes anything needed to support the various projects and activities. It should be accessible in three ways, as it will be active during all phases of the work cycle. Files should be arranged on your disk in a logical hierarchical structure appropriate to the work. Everything should also be searchable and indexed by Spotlight. Finally, some information should be stored as entries in a data management system, like Evernote or DevonThink, which have convenient client applications that make the data accessible from any device.

Notes in these systems should include useful lists and how-to's, including, for example:

• • Names and addresses of experts for specific topics
• • Emergency protocols for laboratory or animal habitats
• • Common recipes/methods
• • Lists and outlines of papers/grants on the docket
• • Information on students, computers, courses, etc.
• • Laboratory policies
• • Materials and advice for students, new group members, etc.
• • Lists of editors, and preferred media contacts
• • Lists of Materials Transfer Agreements (MTAs), contract texts, info on IP
• • Favorite questions for prospective laboratory members

Each note can have attachments, which include manuals, materials safety sheets, etc. DevonThink needs a little more setup but is more robust and also allows keeping the server on one's own machine (nothing gets uploaded to company servers, unlike with Evernote, which might be a factor for sensitive data). Scientific papers should be kept in a reference manager, whereas books (such as epub files and PDFs of books and manuscripts) can be stored in a Calibre library.

Email: A Distinct Kind of Information

A special case of static information is email, including especially informative and/or actionable emails from team members, external collaborators, reviewers, and funders. Because the influx of email is ever-increasing, it is important to (1) establish a good infrastructure for its management and (2) establish policies for responding to emails and using them to facilitate research. The first step is to ensure that one only sees useful emails, by training a good Bayesian spam filter such as SpamSieve. We suggest a triage system in which, at specific times of day (so that it does not interfere with other work), the Inbox is checked and each email is (1) forwarded to someone better suited to handling it, (2) responded quickly for urgent things that need a simple answer, or (3) started as a Draft email for those that require a thoughtful reply. Once a day or a couple of times per week, when circumstances permit focused thought, the Draft folder should be revisited and those emails answered. We suggest a “0 Inbox” policy whereby at the end of a day, the Inbox is basically empty, with everything either delegated, answered, or set to answer later.

We also suggest creating subfolders in the main account (keeping them on the mail server, not local to a computer, so that they can be searched and accessed from anywhere) as follows:

• • Collaborators (emails stating what they are going to do or updating on recent status)
• • Grants in play (emails from funding agencies confirming receipt)
• • Papers in play (emails from journals confirming receipt)
• • Waiting for information (emails from people for whom you are waiting for information)
• • Waiting for miscellaneous (emails from people who you expect to do something)
• • Waiting for reagents (emails from people confirming that they will be sending you a physical object)

Incoming emails belonging to those categories (for example, an email from an NIH program officer acknowledging a grant submission, a collaborator who emailed a plan of what they will do next, or someone who promised to answer a specific question) should be sorted from the Inbox to the relevant folder. Every couple of weeks (according to a calendar reminder), those folders should be checked, and those items that have since been dealt with can be saved to a Saved Messages folder archive, whereas those that remain can be Replied to as a reminder to prod the relevant person.

In addition, as most researchers now exchange a lot of information via email, the email trail preserves a record of relationships among colleagues and collaborators. It can be extremely useful, even years later, to be able to go back and see who said what to whom, what was the last conversation in a collaboration that stalled, who sent that special protocol or reagent and needs to be acknowledged, etc. It is imperative that you know where your email is being stored, by whom, and their policy on retention, storage space limits, search, backup, etc. Most university IT departments keep a mail server with limited storage space and will delete your old emails (even more so if you move institutions). One way to keep a permanent record with complete control is with an application called MailSteward Pro. This is a front-end client for a freely available MySQL server, which can run on any machine in your laboratory. It will import your mail and store unlimited quantities indefinitely. Unlike a mail server, this is a real database system and is not as susceptible to data corruption or loss as many other methods.

A suggested strategy is as follows. Keep every single email, sent and received. Every month (set a timed reminder), have MailSteward Pro import them into the MySQL database. Once a year, prune them from the mail server (or let IT do it on their own schedule). This allows rapid search (and then reply) from inside a mail client for anything that is less than one year old (most searches), but anything older can be found in the very versatile MailStewardPro Boolean search function. Over time, in addition to finding specific emails, this allows some informative data mining. Results of searches via MailStewardPro can be imported into Excel to, for example, identify the people with whom you most frequently communicate or make histograms of the frequency of specific keywords as a function of time throughout your career.

With ideas, mind maps, and the necessary information in hand, one can consider what aspects of the current operations plan can be changed to incorporate plans for new, impactful activity.

Organizing Tasks and Planning

A very useful strategy involves breaking down everything according to the timescales of decision-making, such as in the Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy ( Figure 4 ) ( Allen, 2015 ). Activities range from immediate (daily) tasks to intermediate goals all the way to career-scale (or life-long) mission statements. As with mind maps, being explicit about these categories not only force one to think hard about important aspects of their work, but also facilitate the transmission of this information to others on the team. The different categories are to be revisited and revised at different rates, according to their position on the hierarchy. This enables you to make sure that effort and resources are being spent according to priorities.

Scales of Activity Planning

Activities should be assigned to a level of planning with a temporal scale, based on how often the goals of that level get re-evaluated. This ranges from core values, which can span an entire career or lifetime, all the way to tactics that guide day-to-day activities. Each level should be re-evaluated at a reasonable time frame to ensure that its goals are still consistent with the bigger picture of the level(s) above it and to help re-define the plans for the levels below it.

We also strongly recommend a yearly personal scientific retreat. This is not meant to be a vacation to “forget about work” but rather an opportunity for freedom from everyday minutiae to revisit, evaluate, and potentially revise future activity (priorities, action items) for the next few years. Every few years, take more time to re-map even higher levels on the pyramid hierarchy; consider what the group has been doing—do you like the intellectual space your group now occupies? Are your efforts having the kind of impact you realistically want to make? A formal diagram helps clarify the conceptual vision and identify gaps and opportunities. Once a correct level of activity has been identified, it is time to plan specific activities.

A very good tool for this purpose, which enables hierarchical storage of tasks and subtasks and their scheduling, is OmniFocus ( Figure 5 ). OmniFocus also enables inclusion of files (or links to files or links to Evernote notes of information) together with each Action. It additionally allows each action to be marked as “Done” once it is complete, providing not only a current action plan but a history of every past activity. Another interesting aspect is the fact that one can link individual actions with specific contexts: visualizing the database from the perspective of contexts enables efficient focus of attention on those tasks that are relevant in a specific scenario. OmniFocus allows setting reminders for specific actions and can be used for adding a time component to the activity.

Project Planning

This figure shows a screenshot of the OmniFocus application, illustrating the nested hierarchy of projects and sub-projects, arranged into larger groups.

The best way to manage time relative to activity (and to manage the people responsible for each activity) is to construct Gantt charts ( Figure 6 ), which can be used to plan out project timelines and help keep grant and contract deliverables on time. A critical feature is that it makes dependencies explicit, so that it is clear which items have to be solved/done before something else can be accomplished. Gantt charts are essential for complex, multi-person, and/or multi-step projects with strict deadlines (such as grant deliverables and progress reports). Software such as OmniPlanner can also be used to link resources (equipment, consumables, living material, etc.) with specific actions and timelines. Updating and evaluation of a Gantt chart for a specific project should take place on a time frame appropriate to the length of the next immediate phase; weekly or biweekly is typical.

Timeline Planning

This figure shows a screenshot of a typical Gantt chart, in OmniPlan software, illustrating the timelines of different project steps, their dependencies, and specific milestones (such as a due date for a site visit or grant submission). Note that Gantt software automatically moves the end date for each item if its subtasks' timing changes, enabling one to see a dynamically correct up-to-date temporal map of the project that adjusts for the real-world contingencies of research.

In addition to the comprehensive work plan in OmniFocus or similar, it is helpful to use a Calendar (which synchronizes to a server, such as Microsoft Office calendar with Exchange server). For yourself, make a task every day called “Monday tasks,” etc., which contains all the individual things to be accomplished (which do not warrant their own calendar reminder). First thing in the morning, one can take a look at the day's tasks to see what needs to be done. Whatever does not get done that day is to be copied onto another day's tasks. For each of the people on your team, make a timed reminder (weekly, for example, for those with whom you meet once a week) containing the immediate next steps for them to do and the next thing they are supposed to produce for your meeting. Have it with you when you meet, and give them a copy, updating the next occurrence as needed based on what was decided at the meeting to do next. This scheme makes it easy for you to remember precisely what needs to be covered in the discussion, serves as a record of the project and what you walked about with whom at any given day (which can be consulted years later, to reconstruct events if needed), and is useful to synchronize everyone on the same page (if the team member gets a copy of it after the meeting).

Writing: The Work Products

Writing, to disseminate results and analysis, is a central activity for scientists. One of the OmniFocus library's sections should contain lists of upcoming grants to write, primary papers that are being worked on, and reviews/hypothesis papers planned. Microsoft Word is the most popular tool for writing papers—its major advantage is compatibility with others, for collaborative manuscripts (its Track Changes feature is also very well implemented, enabling collaboration as a master document is passed from one co-author to another). But Scrivener should be seriously considered—it is an excellent tool that facilitates complex projects and documents because it enables WYSIWYG text editing in the context of a hierarchical structure, which allows you to simultaneously work on a detailed piece of text while seeing the whole outline of the project ( Figure 7 ).

Writing Complex Materials

This figure shows a screenshot from the Scrivener software. The panel on the left facilitates logical and hierarchical organization of a complex writing project (by showing where in the overall structure any given text would fit), while the editing pane on the right allows the user to focus on writing a specific subsection without having to scroll through (but still being able to see) the major categories within which it must fit.

It is critical to learn to use a reference manager—there are numerous ones, including, for example, Endnote, which will make it much easier to collaborate with others on papers with many citations. One specific tip to make collaboration easier is to ask all of the co-authors to set the reference manager to use PMID Accession Number in the temporary citations in the text instead of the arbitrary record number it uses by default. That way, a document can have its bibliography formatted by any of the co-authors even if they have completely different libraries. Although some prefer collaborative editing of a Google Doc file, we have found a “master document” system useful, in which a file is passed around among collaborators by email but only one can make (Tracked) edits at a time (i.e., one person has the master doc and everyone makes edits on top of that).

One task most scientists regularly undertake is writing reviews of a specific subfield (or Whitepapers). It is often difficult, when one has an assignment to write, to remember all of the important papers that were seen in the last few years that bear on the topic. One method to remedy this is to keep standing document files, one for each topic that one might plausibly want to cover and update them regularly. Whenever a good paper is found, immediately enter it into the reference manager (with good keywords) and put a sentence or two about its main point (with the citation) into the relevant document. Whenever you decide to write the review, you will already have a file with the necessary material that only remains to be organized, allowing you to focus on conceptual integration and not combing through literature.

The life cycle of research can be viewed through the lens of the tools used at different stages. First there are the conceptual ideas; many are interconnected, and a mind mapper is used to flesh out the structure of ideas, topics, and concepts; make it explicit; and share it within the team and with external collaborators. Then there is the knowledge—facts, data, documents, protocols, pieces of information that relate to the various concepts. Kept in a combination of Endnote (for papers), Evernote (for information fragments and lists), and file system files (for documents), everything is linked and cross-referenced to facilitate the projects. Activities are action items, based on the mind map, of what to do, who is doing what, and for which purpose/grant. OmniFocus stores the subtasks within tasks within goals for the PI and everyone in the laboratory. During meetings with team members, these lists and calendar entries are used to synchronize objectives with everyone and keep the activity optimized toward the next step goals. The product—discovery and synthesis—is embodied in publications via a word processor and reference manager. A calendar structure is used to manage the trajectory from idea to publication or grant.

The tools are currently good enough to enable individual components in this pipeline. Because new tools are continuously developed and improved, we recommend a yearly overview and analysis of how well the tools are working (e.g., which component of the management plan takes the most time or is the most difficult to make invisible relative to the actual thinking and writing), coupled to a web search for new software and updated versions of existing programs within each of the categories discussed earlier.

A major opportunity exists for software companies in the creation of integrated new tools that provide all the tools in a single integrated system. In future years, a single platform will surely appear that will enable the user to visualize the same research structure from the perspective of an idea mind map, a schedule, a list of action items, or a knowledge system to be queried. Subsequent development may even include Artificial Intelligence tools for knowledge mining, to help the researcher extract novel relationships among the content. These will also need to dovetail with ELN platforms, to enable a more seamless integration of project management with primary data. These may eventually become part of the suite of tools being developed for improving larger group dynamics (e.g., Microsoft Teams). One challenge in such endeavors is ensuring the compatibility of formats and management procedures across groups and collaborators, which can be mitigated by explicitly discussing choice of software and process, at the beginning of any serious collaboration.

Regardless of the specific software products used, a researcher needs to put systems in place for managing information, plans, schedules, and work products. These digital objects need to be maximally accessible and backed up, to optimize productivity. A core principle is to have these systems be so robust and lightweight as to serve as an “external brain” ( Menary, 2010 )—to maximize creativity and deep thought by making sure all the details are recorded and available when needed. Although the above discussion focused on the needs of a single researcher (perhaps running a team), future work will address the unique needs of collaborative projects with more lateral interactions by significant numbers of participants.

Acknowledgments

We thank Joshua Finkelstein for helpful comments on a draft of the manuscript. M.L. gratefully acknowledges support by an Allen Discovery Center award from the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (12171) and the Barton Family Foundation.

• Allen D. Revised edition. Penguin Books; 2015. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity. [ Google Scholar ]
• Altshuller G.S. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers; 1984. Creativity as an Exact Science: The Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems. [ Google Scholar ]
• Menary R. MIT Press; 2010. The Extended Mind. [ Google Scholar ]

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How to use a project management approach to help run research projects

Jon Gunnell explains how to adopt the PRINCE2 project management method to help overcome the many challenges of running a multi-year research project

Jon Gunnell

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.css-1txxx8u{overflow:hidden;max-height:81px;text-indent:0px;} It’s time: how to get your department off X

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Academics face numerous pressures on their time even before managing the process of, for example, a five-year research project that needs to deliver real-world benefits.

Such a project at the University of Sheffield’s School of Law – titled Fortitude and funded by the European Research Council – aims to improve the “legal capability” of children in the UK. The project’s ultimate goal is to create gamified learning for children aged from three to 15 that will help them deal with legal issues they encounter in their everyday lives. For example, how does a child engage with a shop assistant who gives them incorrect change?

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It is crucial – and difficult – for an academic team to ensure that a project like this is managed effectively and delivers its objectives. Managing research involves responsibility for other academics who, while accustomed to working independently, may be less familiar with delivering the outputs a project needs – and within a specific deadline. Plus, there may be a requirement to translate theoretical materials into something meaningful in the “real world” – in our case, devising gamified learning that children will use.

Adopting a project management approach in an academic setting – such as the PRINCE2 method , originally devised by the UK government to improve public sector project success and now used worldwide – can address the challenges of running a multi-year research project and avoid overwhelming academic teams.

Project management: the right discipline for managing research projects

A project – according to the PRINCE2 project management method – is defined as ‘‘a temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case’’.

Having a method to manage this entity means you have a safe and robust framework to operate in. It also helps ensure creativity and effective communication between team members. This is important because, without it, people tend to work in isolation. With a project management structure – including regular team meetings where people discuss problems and identify solutions – a team collaborates and tasks become actions and outputs.

The value of using a best practice method

Best practice project management methods such as PRINCE2 are the result of experts combining knowledge, experience and proven techniques gained from running various projects around the world.

Therefore, by either hiring a qualified project manager to run an academic research project, or training a relevant team member in the method, your project will be run according to clear principles:

− Defined project roles and responsibilities, which means people have clarity and there is less risk of just muddling through.

− A focus on deliverables (products or outputs), which ensures that everyone knows what the project aims to deliver.

− A business case to ensure that the project remains viable during its lifetime.

− Assurance, troubleshooting and audits to keep things on track.

− Learning and continuous improvement to avoid repeating mistakes and enhance quality.

− The ability to work with both an “agile” delivery approach (an evolving way of working involving regular testing and feedback) and a traditional “waterfall” project approach (linear and based on a plan agreed up front). For example, while our overall project approach is waterfall, briefing gaming companies to develop digital games for children is better handled with agile. But in either case, project management provides structure and control.

The key elements in PRINCE2 that help the research management process

There are numerous ways of working outlined in PRINCE2 that can support the management of a research project. These include:

1. The project plan

Having a project plan from the outset helps identify what a long-term project will look like, but with flexibility, as things might change. It also means that everyone involved can see the key milestones throughout the project.

2. Business case

Developing and revisiting a business case ensures that the project either remains viable or otherwise closes. In our project, this involved completing the European Research Council Grant Agreement: a document that brings together all the information necessary to obtain funding for the research project. On an annual basis, we also need to provide financial and scientific reports that outline what’s been spent, what’s been achieved and what’s planned.

3. Project benefits

Identifying benefits acknowledges that a successful project should change something for the better. In a research management context, that could mean discovering something groundbreaking.

4. Specifying business requirements

Identifies what the project requires for success and helps when tendering for suppliers. In our case, we’re now going out to tender with gaming companies to produce digital or physical games for children based on our research. Therefore, we have produced a specification document for the requirements.

5. Identifying risks

Pinpointing risks means anticipating what could impede the project and allows a project manager to find ways of minimising the risks and keeping stakeholders informed. For our project, we have a risk log that captures factors such as teachers’ strikes, which might mean school participants are unavailable at a crucial point. This helps us to replan an activity and keep the project on schedule.

6. Engaging stakeholders

Knowing who the project stakeholders are, mapping them according to their importance and agreeing how to interact with them ensures that they remain engaged throughout. For us, that can include internal stakeholders, such as the head of department in the university and external stakeholders, such as schools, who can support the project – and knowing how often we need to engage with them.

7. Developing a communication plan

Having different methods and channels to communicate with stakeholders is vital to demonstrate the work you’re doing and to share results and learnings. For example, we’ve communicated research findings and successes of the project periodically when attending external conferences and academic events at the university.

8. Regular, formal reporting

Delivering regular reports to a research project’s funding body might cover the latest research findings and how you are managing the budget. Without such reports, your funding could be at risk.

9. Documenting lessons learned

This helps the project team to reflect on different activities and how they could be improved next time. Questioning and capturing what’s gone well, what hasn’t and what you would do differently is also important for future projects.

How a project management method improves project outcomes

A project’s purpose is to deliver something new that will benefit an organisation or department. In other words, provide a positive outcome. In our case, having a project management method in place has helped us to deliver:

− An ethics approach for the project that meets both the University of Sheffield’s and the European Research Council’s requirements.

− A child-centred framework to measure legal capability, developed through research with children from a number of our partner schools.

− A GDPR approach that meets the requirements of the university and ensures the security of all personal data.

− A project website, which we have used as our key channel of communication for both project participants and stakeholders.

Replicating the value of project management in your institution

By including a project manager at the bid stage of a research project, the academic team can get dedicated support for the development of a project plan, which could then accompany their funding bid. And by sharing lessons learned and experiences gained across an institution, this can become the basis for developing and embedding best practice project management within any future projects.

Jon Gunnell is project manager at the University of Sheffield School of Law, UK.

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Project Management for Research

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Graduate research is a complicated process, which many undergraduate students aspire to undertake. The complexity of the process can lead to failures for even the most brilliant students. Success at the graduate research level requires not only a high level of intellectual ability but also a high level of project management skills. Unfortunately, many graduate students have trouble planning and implementing their research.

Project Management for Research: A Guide for Graduate Students reflects the needs of today’s graduate students. All graduate students need mentoring and management guidance that has little to do with their actual classroom performance. Graduate students do a better job with their research programs if a self-paced guide is available to them. This book provides such a guide. It covers topics ranging from how to select an appropriate research problem to how to schedule and execute research tasks. The authors take a project management approach to planning and implementing graduate research in any discipline. They use a conversational tone to address the individual graduate student.

This book helps graduate students and advisors answer most of the basic questions of conducting and presenting graduate research, thereby alleviating frustration on the part of both student and advisor. It presents specific guidelines and examples throughout the text along with more detailed examples in reader-friendly appendices at the end. By being more organized and prepared to handle basic research management functions, graduate students, along with their advisors, will have more time for actual intellectual mentoring and knowledge transfer, resulting in a more rewarding research experience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part one | 22  pages, an introduction and overview to project management for research, chapter one | 11  pages, defining project management for research, chapter two | 8  pages, personal aspects of graduate education, part two | 19  pages, preplanning and exploration: what do you plan to do, chapter three | 6  pages, three choosing your research topic, chapter four | 4  pages, choosing your advisor and committee, chapter five | 7  pages, research question, part three | 29  pages, planning: making a schedule and getting organized, chapter six | 16  pages, chapter seven | 11  pages, organization, part four | 35  pages, project execution and control, chapter eight | 11  pages, time management, chapter nine | 11  pages, on the personal aspects of research, chapter ten | 9  pages, managing your research advisor, part five | 17  pages, project phase-out: when is research complete, chapter eleven | 15  pages, communicating your work.

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Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

Research Project Management: 5 Project Management Tips for Researchers

Effective planning and a management of resources are essential prerequisites required for proper research project management and the successful completion of research projects. However, one of the biggest challenges researchers face while accomplishing these tasks is that these projects usually have varying lengths and unpredictable outcomes, so the research management techniques need to be redeveloped with every new project.

As a scientist, one is more inclined toward understanding the science and, hence, the leadership and organizational skills required for research project management need to be consciously acquired along the way. Furthermore, the ‘scientist mindset’ of adapting to unpredictability by making rapid changes in existing protocols can clash heavily with the ‘manager mindset’ of ensuring these changes align with the availability of resources. 1  Therefore, it’s understandable that many young researchers struggle with how to manage research projects, especially during the initial stages of their academic journey, often finding it difficult to incorporate such research management techniques.

If you are among those wondering how to manage your research projects effectively, this article will provide you with some useful tips to help you improve your research project management skills. But before having a closer look at these, let us have a short recap of the different aspects that are often associated with the successful management of any project.

Every new project ideally begins with preparation of a roadmap or a personal guide, which can be modified as required for the entire duration of the project. Here are some key steps that can help in better preparation of a roadmap for research project management. 2

Initiation and planning- The first step for research project management is typically defined as the initiation stage. In this stage, the feasibility of the project is assessed with respect to the different experiments to be performed and the availability of resources required for their completion. If any part of the project needs collaborative effort to be completed, an important research management technique would be to identify the relevant people required at this stage itself. The initiation stage is followed by the planning stage, which includes the preparation of necessary protocols, allocation of resources, and informing personnel involved about their specific roles and responsibilities.

Risk management- After the initiation and planning stage is complete, the next step in research project management is to identify potential roadblocks that may occur during the implementation of the roadmap and devise strategies to resolve them. This may include revisiting insufficiently standardized protocols and reconsidering the use of techniques depending on the limited availability of resources. Risk identification and mitigation planning saves time and ensures a smooth workflow and is, therefore, an essential component for effective research project management.

In spite of a perfectly planned project roadmap on paper, many researchers struggle to execute these research management techniques. This can be frustrating and demotivating for researchers, but there are some simple solutions that can be implemented to overcome these struggles and ensure successful research project management.

• Identify your core issue

If you’re struggling with implementing the roadmap in the desired manner, the first step or research management technique is to identify the core issue. For some researchers, the problems could range from a technical error that needs troubleshooting or a miscalculation while acknowledging the risks involved while preparing the roadmap. Identifying the core issue that is blocking the execution and finding solutions for it is an important aspect of improving your research project management skills.

• Simplify your timelines

To ensure a smooth workflow under any circumstances, a great research management technique would be to break down your envisioned timeline (especially when they involve new protocols) into smaller timelines with more attainable goals. This will allow you to revisit the ‘original’ roadmap on a more regular basis and ensure the better management of the funds and resources available.

• Refrain from perfectionism

Research is ‘work in progress’ and the outcome of any experiment may not always be the one that you envisioned in the roadmap. So how to manage such research projects? It is helpful to lower any expectations regarding a ‘perfect’ outcome; accepting ‘negative’ results and the learnings that come along with it is a critical research management technique. When one does not chase perfectionism, it becomes easier to accept and adapt to unpredictability, eventually leading to effective research project management and the successful completion of the project. 3

• Engage in regular communication with stakeholders

An important, yet underrated component of effective research project management is engaging in regular communication with all the relevant stakeholders. Whether it is the personnel involved directly in your project such as your advisor, peers, technicians or indirect stakeholders such as the funding agencies, it is important to keep the communication lines open at all times. Short meetings scheduled at defined intervals for the entire duration of the project is a good research management technique to discuss progress, pace, and troubleshooting strategies would help bring everyone on the same page regarding the outcome of the project.

• Maintain a record sheet for effective allocation of funds

If your project is funded by organizations that have stringent protocols regarding budget consumption, you need to pay extra attention to how you are using the funds. Using digital tools to maintain a record sheet as part of your research project management reduces your work load and makes it easier and convenient to share your spends with stakeholders whenever the need arises.

Lastly, before embarking upon any project, it is always important to get an external perspective on different aspects that are involved in the project. Discussing the roadmap with someone who is not directly involved in your project provides an objective overview and helps in better identification of loopholes, making it an important aspect of effective research project management.

We hope these research project management tips were useful and relevant in answering how to manage a research project, and will help you strengthen your research management techniques.

• Project Management for Scientists, Part 1: An Overview. https://www.science.org/content/article/project-management-scientists-part-1-overview.
• Project Management Tips for Researchers. ASM.org https://asm.org/Articles/2019/January/Project-Management-Tips-for-Researchers.
• 10 Project Management Tips for Non-Project Managers. Northeastern University Graduate Programs https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/project-management-tips/ (2019).

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Project management for user research: the plan.

November 20, 2016 2016-11-20

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In This Article:

Why plans matter, what to include in your research plan, important planning considerations, what to include in your final research plan, what to deliver.

Creating a project plan structures your thinking around the research activity. Plans keep stakeholders involved and informed, while reducing the need for calls and meetings. Documenting your research-project planning can help prevent misunderstandings, unwanted method variation, and unnecessary rework.

A research-project plan is a living document that is shared and updated as needed. After your study, edit the plan to serve as the record of your research method. Plans take the work away from your limited memory and provide a convenient place to keep track of the many documents generated by each project.

The benefits of checklists are well known to people doing complex tasks, such as surgical staff and pilots. Busy people in distracting situations often forget to do something important, despite having many years of experience with a procedure. This checklist is meant to ensure that you don’t overlook any important elements when planning research studies .

In the beginning, your research project plan should include not only the information needed during the actual study sessions, but also various information that the team may make use of beforehand. Most plans should cover:

• Purpose of the plan
• Information about what you will be conducting research on, such as basics about the product, method, and rationale
• Purpose and goals of the research study
• User tasks, metrics, and usability goals, such as maximum time on task and other success criteria (if applicable)
• User profiles (characteristics of target participants for the research)
• Screening questionnaire and recruitment plan (if applicable)
• Expectations about deliverables and timing
• Expectations and roles
• To-do lists
• Note-taking and question-asking guidelines for observers, including how to collaborate in effective data gathering without biasing the sessions
• Facilitator script with questions for participants, including user scenarios (if applicable) and consent forms
• Location information and contact details
• Test setup, including equipment and supplies
• Get stakeholders’ signoff on plans, so everyone understands what’s in scope and how you will meet the research goals . Provide written goals, user profiles, tasks, and participant scenarios as soon as possible, so any concerns and questions can be discussed well in advance.
• Research participants can sometimes be controversial, so keep stakeholders informed periodically by sharing the details of the recruits as they are scheduled. But don’t include participants’ names and identifying information in plans — use numbers (P1, P2, etc.) instead to preserve their privacy. If screening criteria need to be adjusted during recruitment, having this shared understanding can make rapid changes easier to accomplish.
• First, consider the schedule for research sessions, building in time for pilot session(s), lunches, and debrief and regroup time between participants, so you can have solid appointment times for recruitment.
• Choose the location where you will conduct the research. Gather logistic information (such as maps, nearest hotels, and travel contacts) to help the research team have a great experience.
• Arrange any needed onsite support , such as IT staff, equipment, chairs, desks, tables, catering, beverages, and snacks.
• Decide how to compensate study participants. If you will pay them directly at the time of the study, plan to obtain the needed cash, gift certificates, or checks.
• If you have observers , consider how many you can accommodate and how they can best help with data capture.
• Make a checklist of items needed for a user study.
• Share contacts , including everyone’s mobile phone numbers for urgent issues.
• Consider information sharing : when and how to disseminate information during and after the study.
• Consent forms are required for all participants in order to inform them of the purpose of the study and get their agreement in a way that protects everyone legally. The exact wording may require approval in advance by stakeholders and any businesses you may visit for the research. Include at a minimum: what the study involves, who is conducting the research, why you’re doing it, the date, any incentive paid (phrase this part to double as a receipt), which information will be collected and how (including recording details), and which information will be shared with whom (including any NDA requirement).
• Provide tips for observers . Coach people in what to look for, how to take good notes, and how best to participate without interrupting. Set expectations about what to do and not do, and explain why that’s important to the research. Print observer guidelines to help everyone stay on track.
• Plan data capture, analysis, and reporting . Consider carefully how you will analyze the data and report it. Then plan a data-capturing method (and a fallback method) that meets your needs. Consider the abilities of the observers, the situation, and concerns of your participants. Plan to keep data confidential, and identify who will be responsible for protecting it appropriately.
• Make a Plan B . What could possibly go wrong? Don’t assume that you’ll be able to record audio or video, even if that’s the plan. Plan around not being able to print, get text messages, or use your devices. Decide what to do if anyone runs late or cancels at the last minute.
• Thank the participant.
• Introduce yourself and explain why you are doing the study.
• Set expectations for how the session will proceed.
• Get consent from the participant in writing.
• If applicable, give the participant the compensation for the study.
• Go over any instructions and, if you’re using a think-aloud method , read the think-aloud instructions to the participants and maybe show them a quick demo of what’s expected . Alternatively, ask people to read the instructions to you, and then ask if they have any questions about the process.
• Depending on the type of research you’re doing, you may want to ask some questions at the beginning of the session. For example, you might want to ask open-ended questions about the person’s role, experience with the task domain, industry, product, competitors, and so on. It might be helpful to ask what participants expect and what they hope for when using a system like yours.
• Depending on your research, you might be asking structured interview questions or watching people do tasks. Your script should contain planned wording for you to read as needed, so that you won’t accidentally introduce variations that might bias the answers.
• It’s often necessary to change wording, or to add or remove questions in the script between sessions. Some situations could require you to invent probing questions on the spot, as well, when interesting things occur. Set expectations with stakeholders that some variation will occur.
• If your research will have a hands-on component, ask participants to read scenarios (one at a time) and show you how they would do the activities, while you watch quietly and take notes.
• Optional: After each scenario is complete, you might want to ask people to rate how easy or difficult it was for them. The Single Ease Question is designed for this purpose. The best reason to use rating questions in qualitative research is to ask, “Why did you give it that rating?” afterward, so be sure to ask that each time too. You might also want to compare ratings over many research projects having the same scenarios. People are notoriously inconsistent at assigning numbers to ease of use, however, so you may find that the numbers or the reasons people state for their rating are at odds with what you observed in the session. Even so, the rationale for the rating may point to top-of-mind concerns.
• What did you like the most and the least about [X], and why?
• How do you normally do [Y activity] today; what’s easy and difficult about that? What could make that easier to do?
• Do you have any questions for me?
• Leave time for any observer questions and answers.
• Consider asking for permission to follow up with an additional question later. Ask people to contact you if they think of something else they want to tell you. You could also ask if the participant would like to be contacted for future research projects. If you used an outside recruiter , however, you should talk with the recruiter about that, not the participant.

The final version of your project plan should serve as a record of the research at the level of detail required to replicate the study in the future. Start with the plan you used for the study and remove unneeded detail or add new sections as needed. Be sure to update anything that changed, such as script and scenario wording.

Include information about:

• Team and product basics
• Research purpose, method, and goals
• User profiles and anonymized participant profiles
• Checklists, schedule, script, documents, and forms
• Anything that might be helpful to know about the location and travel
• Any tested prototypes, any photos, screenshots, or other important artifacts from the research study
• Deliverables list (file names, formats, responsible person, location), for the raw data, recordings, and report, if any
• Preliminary findings list
• Bug list (for the developers)
• Report, slide deck, or end prototype
• Recordings and other raw data
• Final research plan

Research-project plans are essential tools that help keep stakeholders informed. Planning helps you to remember what to do and to keep track of where you are in the research process. Each research project is a little different, so plans differ in structure and content. Make a research-plan template that you can modify as needed to save time in the future.

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Project Management Strategies for Research Team Members

Webinar series on the principles of project management

For more information:

• Understand the foundational principles of project management.
• Explore how project management principles and strategies can influence your work with colleagues and stakeholders on various projects.

Managing projects is a detailed and systematic process. Yet, the applications of this process vary across disciplines and teams. This webinar series will introduce how to troubleshoot, forecast, and problem solve using project management in various contexts while considering how these elements impact the work of teams. Each of the four independent sessions will be led by David Vincenti, PMP, a certified project management professional. This series will identify the principles of project management and how to apply templates and skills to your work and experiences in team settings. The last session will feature a panel of guest speakers who utilize successful project management strategies in their respective roles and professions. Those without official training in this area will gain skills and confidence in project management during this series.

Boundary-Crossing Skills for Research Careers

This session explores approaches to developing a broad range of competencies integral to establishing and maintaining a successful research career. The series delves into the following competencies: team science, mentorship, project management, communication, leadership, and funding research. For more information and to access other resources and webinars in the series, please visit  Boundary-Crossing Skills for Research Careers.

Meet the Presenter

Vincenti has presented to academic and professional audiences on project management, professional development, and other topics, and has been recognized for his work with career planning for early-career technical professionals. He holds degrees in materials engineering and technology management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Meet the Panelists

Sarita Patil, MD:  Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Assistant Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital

Jane Shim, BA : Clinical Research Coordinator, Food Allergy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital

Neal Smith, MSc : Senior Computational Biologist, Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital

Yamini Virkud, MD, MA, MPH : Pediatric Allergist/Immunologist and Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Session dates

Session 1: Defining the Work November 1, 2022 | 12:00pm ET This session introduces basic project management principles. You will learn the definition of a project, how to manage project scope, and how to draft the baseline of a project while considering how projects can be connected.

Session 2: Creating the Plan November 3, 2022 | 12:00pm ET In this session, you will learn to apply project planning terms and understand how to break a project into manageable parts, sequence tasks, and manage time while considering how these components affect your work and the work of your team members.

Session 3: Finalizing the Plan November 8, 2022 | 12:00pm ET In this session, you will explore project management principles further by calculating risks, managing a process, reviewing a project plan, and forecasting the execution and completion of a project while considering how these elements impact your work and the work of your team members.

Session 4: Panel Discussion November 10, 2022 | 12:00pm ET This culminating session features a panel discussion with four successful project management practitioners. The panelists will share their experiences in their respective roles and professions, and discuss how they engage in project management work within team settings.

Time commitment

50-minute sessions on Zoom

This series is designed for team members in the clinical and translational (c/t ) workforce who are familiar with project management but have no formal training. Attendees are welcome to attend on their own or with their team members.

We believe that the research community is strengthened by understanding how a number of factors including gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, religion, national origin, language, disability, and age shape the environment in which we live and work, affect each of our personal identities, and impacts all areas of human health.

Eligibility

There are no eligibility requirements. Prior session attendees have included: PhD, MD, postdocs, junior faculty, and medical students.

Registration is currently closed. Please check back for future opportunities.

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Perspectives on research in project management: the nine schools

• Theoretical Articles
• Published: 16 January 2013
• Volume 1 , pages 3–28, ( 2013 )

Cite this article

• J. Rodney Turner 1 , 4 ,
• Frank Anbari 2 &
• Christophe Bredillet 3  

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This paper demonstrates that project management is a developing field of academic study in management, of considerable diversity and richness, which can make a valuable contribution to the development of management knowledge, as well as being of considerable economic importance. The paper reviews the substantial progress and trends of research in the subject, which has been grouped into nine major schools of thought: optimization, modelling, governance, behaviour, success, decision, process, contingency, and marketing. The paper addresses interactions between the different schools and with other related management fields, and provides insights into current and potential research in each and across these schools.

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Introduction

For the past 60 years, organizations have increasingly been using projects and programs to achieve their strategic objectives (Morris and Jamieson 2004 ), while dealing with increasing complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity affecting organizations and the socio-economic environment within which they operate (Gareis 2005 ). Through projects, resources and competencies are mobilized to bring about strategic change, and thereby create competitive advantage and other sources of value.

Until the mid-1980s, interest in project management was limited to engineering, construction, defense, and information technology. More recently interest has diversified into many other areas of management activity. Currently, more than 20 % of global economic activity takes place as projects, and in some emerging economies it exceeds 30 %. World Bank ( 2008 ) data indicate that 22 % of the world’s $55 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) is gross capital formation, which is almost entirely project-based. In India it is 39 % and in China it is 43 %. Gross capital formation is defined as “outlays on additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories. Fixed assets include land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchase; and the construction of roads, railways, and the like, including schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings, and commercial and industrial buildings. Inventories are stocks of goods held by firms to meet temporary or unexpected fluctuations in production or sales and work in progress… Net acquisitions of valuables are also considered capital formation.” (World Bank 2008 ). In many public and private organizations some operating expenditures are also project-based. Project management makes an important and significant contribution to value creation globally.

Developing relevant competence at all levels, individual, team, organization, and society is key to better performance (Gareis and Huemann 2007 ). Grabher ( 2004a ) discusses the processes of creating and sedimenting knowledge at the interfaces between projects, organizations, communities, networks, and the socio-economic environment within which projects operate. He proposes the notion of project ecologies and their constitutive layers of the core team, the firm, the epistemic community, and personal networks. He contrasts two opposing logics of project-based learning by juxtaposing learning that is geared towards moving from ‘one-off’ to repeatable solutions with the discontinuous learning that is driven by originality and creativity. He proposes a differentiation of social and communicative logics, wherein “ communality signifies lasting and intense ties, sociality signifies intense and yet ephemeral relations and connectivity indicates transient and weak networks.” (Grabher 2004b ).

Educational programs in project management have grown rapidly during the last three decades to support the need for competence (Atkinson 2006 ; Umpleby and Anbari 2004 ). The number of academic project management programs leading to degrees in project management increased greatly from 1990 onwards. This growth is evident in the US, Europe, Australia, Japan and other parts of the world. Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) with programs in project management in the US include: Boston University–Metropolitan College, Colorado Technical University, DeVry University, Drexel University, Eastern Michigan University, Northeastern University, Stevens Institute of Technology, The George Washington University, University of Alaska, University of Management and Technology, University of Maryland–A. J. Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland University College, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Wisconsin–Platteville, Western Carolina University, and several others. Project management programs are offered internationally by several IHEs including the University of Quebec at Montreal, University of Technology at Sydney, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Limerick–Kemmy Business School, School of Knowledge Economy and Management–SKEMA (which resulted from the merger of two French business schools, CERAM Business School and ESC Lille), and several others. In the last 3 years the Chinese Ministry of Education has supported the creation of 120 masters degree programs in project management to support their rapid economic development. To support this global development it is necessary for project management to develop as a rigorous academic field of study in management. This is essential so that the rapid economic development that is so dependent on project management can be underpinned by sound theory and not just case histories and opinions of doubtful rigour.

Modern project management started as an offshoot of Operations Research, with the adoption of optimization tools developed in that field, and some members of the community have continued to present it as such. However, authors of this paper wish to demonstrate that project management has now grown into a mature academic discipline of some diversity and complexity. At least nine schools of thought in project management can be identified, and project management is increasingly drawing on and making contributions to research in other fields of management, as the authors aim to demonstrate in this paper. In this way, project management is becoming substantially different from Operations Management, which continues to emphasize the application of optimization tools to the analysis of production processes (Slack et al. 2006 ).

The paper is based on an extensive review of academic research literature on project management that reflects the evidence advanced by leading thinkers and researches in the field. The literature is organized into nine major schools of thought on the basis of the key premise that drives each one. The intent of separating these schools of thought is to gain insight into current and potential research, within a manageable number of research themes without over-simplification of the richness of the underlying thought. However, the overlap and interactions between project management schools is also discussed.

Project management as a recognizable field of study

Audet ( 1986 ) defines a knowledge field as:

… the space occupied by the whole of the people who claim to produce knowledge in this field, and this space is also a system of relationships between these people competing to gain control over the definition of the conditions and the rules of production of knowledge.

We use this definition to structure our discussion of project management as a knowledge field, while recognizing that other elements can be used to augment and enhance this definition based on other perspectives on how knowledge is gained in other fields (North 1987 ), and different approaches to the classification of a knowledge field (Mintzberg 1990 ), including empirical, rational, historic, and pragmatic methods (Hjørland 1998 ).

With project management making such a significant contribution to the global economy, developing relevant competence at all levels, individual, team, organization, and society is seen as a key for better performance (Gareis and Huemann 2007 ). Knowledge is needed to develop competence (Crawford 2007 ), and that knowledge should be based on sound, academically rigorous research.

In the early days of modern project management in the 1950s, the development of knowledge was led by the users. The US military made significant early contributions to the new discipline, developing such concepts as the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the Cost and Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC) (which evolved into Earned Value Management, EVM), and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), (see Morris 1997 ). Construction companies and their clients also made significant early contributions. For instance, DuPont developed the Critical Path Method (CPM) from a technique devised in the field of Operations Research. The baton was picked up by the growing computer industry in the 1960s (see Brooks 1995 ).

In the 1980s, leadership of the development of knowledge was taken over by the professional associations: The Project Management Institute (PMI ® ), based outside Philadelphia, the UK’s Association for Project Management (APM), the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and the International Project Management Association (IPMA). They needed to develop bodies of knowledge to support their certification programs. The focus of this work continued to be very user oriented, and so did not always adhere to recognized standards of academic rigour.

It is only over the last 15 to 20 years that universities and other academic research institutions have begun to provide leadership. The first academic research conference in project management, the biennial IRNOP conference (International Research Network for Organizing by Projects), was initiated in 1994. PMI ® started holding its biennial research conference in 2000, and the annual EURAM conference has had a project management track since its inception in 2001.

So we see that project management is a relatively young field of study as an academic discipline. Initially advanced study in project management in universities was located in schools of engineering or construction, and then in schools of computing, and so was viewed as a technical subject. More recently project management has also been incorporated into schools of business or management, and so is now gaining recognition as a branch of management. To our knowledge, the first doctorates in the field were done in engineering and construction in the late 1960s at the University of Manchester, Faculty of Technology (degrees conferred in 1971 and 1972), and the first doctorates in the field in schools of business in the UK were done during the 1980s at Henley Management College and the Cranfield School of Management. Europe has led the way in the growth of project management as an academic subject in management. The first doctorate in the field in a school of business in the US was done in the late 1980s at Drexel University, Department of Decision Sciences (degree conferred in 1993). At a recent meeting of a government sponsored research network in the UK (Winter et al. 2006 ), there were more researchers from business schools than schools of engineering, construction, and computing combined.

As a young discipline, the epistemological foundation of the field is still in its early stages of development. Meredith ( 2002 ) indicated that development of a theory of project management is important to progress in the field. Söderlund ( 2004 ) highlighted the wider interest in project management from other academic disciplines, the increasing need for discussing research on the subject, and the usefulness of examining project management and project organization from several perspectives. He discussed emerging perspectives within the field and presented questions that project research needs to discuss to further knowledge about project management. He argued that these questions include: why project organizations exist, how they behave and why they differ, what is the value added by the project management unit, and what determines the success or failure of project organizations. Turner ( 2006a , b , c , d ) outlined a theory of project management based on work he did in the early 1990s (see Turner 2009 , first edition published in 1993). Sauer and Reich ( 2007 ) agreed that such a theory was necessary as a basis for sound research in the subject, but suggested that Turner’s approach was very normative, and that alternatives were possible. Cicmil et al. ( 2006 ) suggested that to develop a sound theoretical basis for project management, the very nature of projects needs to be examined, and fundamental questions addressing the different underlying theoretical perspectives emerging from and supporting the project management field are yet to be explored. Walker et al. ( 2008 ) highlighted the value of reflective academic research to project management practitioners and suggested that a reflective learning approach to research can drive practical results through the commitment of academic and industry partners. Artto et al. ( 2009 ) conducted a comparative bibliometric study and showed that projects have product development as their dominant theory basis, whereas programs take an open system view, seek change in permanent organizations, and have organizational theories, strategy, product development, manufacturing and change as their theoretical bases.

With the academic community now providing leadership to the development of knowledge in the field, greater academic rigour is being applied, meaning project management is now more deserving of recognition as an academic subject, and the admission of the International Journal of Project Management to the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is an important step in that process. Project management is drawing on other management disciplines and making contributions to them (Kwak and Anbari 2008 ), and we believe that all fields of management will be richer for that growing interchange. Against this background, several schools of project management thought have developed reflecting different trends, and the influence of other management disciplines. We now outline these major schools of thought and review progress, trends, and potential research in each of them.

Project management schools of thought

Project management is a relatively young academic discipline, but with the help of other fields of management, it has quickly evolved into a field of some diversity and richness. It has been common to assume that projects and project management are fairly homogeneous (Project Management Institute 2008 ; Association for Project Management 2006 ; International Project Management Association 2006 ). However, there is a growing belief that projects are different, their success can be judged in different ways, and they can require different competency profiles for their successful management (Crawford et al. 2005 , 2006 ; Shenhar and Dvir 1996 ; Turner and Müller 2006 ). Building on prior work, we can recognize several perspectives of project management. Anbari ( 1985 ) identified five schools of thought. Söderlund ( 2002 ) through a literature search and Bredillet ( 2004a ) through a co-word analysis each identified seven similar schools. We can now identify at least nine schools, and most research in project management can be said to fall into one of them. Table  1 shows the nine schools, and how they compare to the five schools of Anbari ( 1985 ), and the seven of Söderlund ( 2002 ) and Bredillet ( 2004a ). In fact all nine schools were previously identified by the other three authors. Compared to Söderlund and Bredillet we have added the Process School and split the Optimization School into the Optimization and Modelling Schools to reflect the modelling of multiple parameters and the use of soft systems modelling. Anbari ( 1985 ) called the Process School the Systems School, and his Management Science School covered the Optimization, Modelling and Decision Schools. He did not identify the Success or Marketing Schools. Table  1 also compares the nine schools to conventional fields of management study and to the management disciplines identified by Kwak and Anbari ( 2008 ) in their study of project management research published in top management and business journals. Table  2 shows the key idea associated with each school and the metaphor we have adopted to reflect it. The nine schools are depicted in Fig.  1 in the order in which the school came to prominence.

The Nine Schools of Project Management Research

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition of the word “school” amongst several others:

School: a group of people sharing common ideas or methods; a specified style, approach or method; the imitators, disciples or followers of a philosopher, artist, etc.

That is what we mean by the word school. A group of researchers investigating and developing common methods, tools and techniques (for practitioners to use), often with one or more lead researchers providing the vision in that area. We strongly believe that the word “school” reflects what we mean here.

The optimization school: the project as a machine

Modern project management has its roots in the field of Operations Research of the 1940s and 1950s (Morris 1997 ). During and immediately after World War II, there was an explosion in the development of optimization theory, particularly in the US and the UK (Gass and Assad 2005 ). Optimization tools such as network scheduling techniques including the Critical Path Methods (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) reflect the genesis of modern project management in the management science/decision sciences field. Bar (Gantt) charts, developed in the early 1900s by Henry Gantt for production scheduling, and network scheduling techniques were adopted during the 1950s (Archibald and Villoria 1967 ). Subsequent developments included the resource allocation and leveling heuristics, project crashing, resource constrained scheduling, Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT), Critical Chain, Theory of Constraints, Monte Carlo Simulation of project networks and cost estimates, and variations of these methods.

The main premise of this school is to define the objective(s) of the project, break the project into smaller components, ensure careful planning, scheduling, estimating, and execution of project tasks, and strive for cost and time efficiency throughout the project to achieve the optimum outcome. This school is very Taylorian in its approach. It treats the project as a system or a machine, once mathematically defined and analyzed will perform in predictable ways.

An important contribution is the textbook by Cleland and King ( 1983 , first published in 1968), in which the authors set out a theory of project management based on the view that the project is a system to be optimized. This textbook had a substantial influence on the early development of the field, and became a dominant view. The textbook by Kerzner ( 2009 , first published in 1979) can be considered the main textbook for this school. Its title reflects what the school is about: the use of a systems approach to planning and controlling the project, to model and optimize its outcome. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide) (Project Management Institute 2008 , originally published in 1996) is currently considered the de facto global standard for project management, and has done much to shape the subject globally (its predecessor publication (1987) was entitled Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) of the Project Management Institute ). Several elements of the PMBOK ® Guide derive from this school, particularly the management of scope, time, and cost.

A current, prominent area of research in the optimization school is the EVM method and its extensions (Anbari 2003 ). We expect research to continue into the extensions of EVM such as forecasting project completion time, the earned schedule method, integration of planning and control of various project parameters, in particular scope, time, cost, quality, and risk, as well as the relationship of project management to the operational life cycle of the completed project.

Both fields of Operations Management and Project Management continued to develop their mathematical arsenals to improve decision making in operations, projects, and supply chain management, as well as incorporate contributions from other management disciplines. The field of Operations Management did not move substantially beyond the Optimization School (Slack et al. 2006 ), but in the field of project management this was found to be insufficient. The need to model multiple parameters, growing calls to include organizational and behavioural factors, and limitations of most optimization algorithms, led to the adoption of soft systems modelling to reflect the significant social element in projects. Project management has now advanced along a number of different avenues, which we review.

The modelling school: the project as a mirror

Project management thought progressed from optimization of one or two objectives (such as time and cost) to modelling the total project management system and the interactions among its components (Williams 2002 ). Thus the optimization school, based on a hard systems approach evolved into the modelling school, in which project management is broken into its main elements for study and understanding, and these elements integrated to obtain a full view of the total system. This is akin to Descartes’ reductionism approach of dividing a complex problem into its parts, solving each part, and then integrating back to solve the entire problem.

Anbari ( 1985 ) discussed elements of the project management system and their interactions, and postulated the quadruple objectives/constraints of project management: scope, time, cost, and quality. Turner ( 2009 , first published 1993) independently added project organization to give five project objectives. Anbari et al. ( 2008 ) suggested two sets of constraints: the primary triple constraints (scope, time, and cost) and the secondary triple constraints (meeting customer expectations, final quality, and mitigation of risks). Eisner ( 2008 ) stressed the importance of using a systems approach in projects and highlighted the relationship between Systems Engineering and project management. Williams ( 2002 ) postulated that “it is generally held that the complexity of projects is also increasing” (p. 4), and suggested that the compounding causes of complexity in projects are the increasing complexity of products being developed and tightening of timescales. He provided a comprehensive approach to developing models to understand the behaviour of complex projects. Techniques used in modelling are based on the System Dynamics approach developed by Forrester ( 1961 ) and applied to a wide variety of situations (Sterman 2000 ). While fundamentally similar to discrete event simulation, System Dynamics modelling focuses on the understanding of feedback and feed-forward relationships. Williams and others showed that projects can contain complex causal chains of “hard” and “soft” effects that can form into reinforcing feedback loops, and at times applying accepted project management theory can make these loops worse. For example, adding resource, which CPM predicts would expedite the project, could exacerbate the problems that are causing the delay and result in further delays. This calls for the application of more sophisticated modelling tools (Williams 2005 ).

The Modelling School later encompassed soft-systems methodology and sense-making with the aim of addressing organizational, behavioural, political, and other issues affecting projects and the complex environments within which they operate. Whereas the focus of hard systems is optimization, the focus of soft systems is clarification and making sense of the project and its environment. The soft systems methodology (SSM) was originally proposed by Checkland ( 1972 ) to resolve unstructured management, planning, and public policy problems that often have unclear or contradictory multi-objectives. Thus, SSM extends the ideas of optimization to modelling of real-world messy problems. SSM does not assume a systemic view of such problems but uses ideas of systems analysis to help form the process of inquiry (Gass and Assad 2005 ). Yeo ( 1993 ) linked project management to SSM, and Neal ( 1995 ) suggested using the soft systems approach for managing project change. Winter and Checkland ( 2003 ) examined the main differences between hard systems and soft systems thinking through a comparison of their different perspectives on the practice of project management. Crawford and Pollack ( 2004 ) identified dimensions of hardness and softness of projects based on differences in the philosophical basis of that dichotomy.

Alderman et al. ( 2005 ) drew upon sense-making literature to address the management of complex long-term service-led engineering projects and suggested such an approach may help untangle project management challenges in a new way. Atkinson et al. ( 2006 ) maintained that “common project management practice does not address many fundamental sources of uncertainty, particularly in ‘soft’ projects where flexibility and tolerance of vagueness are necessary” (p. 687), and suggested that to manage sources of uncertainty more sophisticated efforts are needed encompassing aspects of organizational culture and learning. Winter ( 2006 ) highlighted the importance of problem structuring during the front-end of projects and the potential role that SSM can play. Pollack ( 2007 ) indicated that there is a growing acceptance of the soft paradigm, and suggested that a paradigmatic expansion to include soft systems thinking could provide increased opportunities for researchers and practitioners. Integrating into models the interactions among people and their relationships, communications, and power relationships, could add even more power to the tools of the Modelling School (Williams 2007 ).

It can be argued that hard systems include simulation, which provides a way of reflecting how a system evolves according to the influence and level of the initial conditions of its parameters. As such, hard systems are about sense-making as well. However, models are managed and analyzed by people who have to observe and judge to gain data to populate their models. The models that we have discussed in this section try to incorporate some consideration of the causes of attitudes and biases, and thus start to capture the socially constructed nature of “reality” in a project (Bredillet 2004b ). Thus, the Modelling School is about acting and understanding, a mirror to reflect the project and shape our understanding of it. Research in this area will continue into integrating hard systems and soft systems methodologies for modelling the total project management system, including optimization of multiple objectives under multiple constraints, and consideration of various forces in the internal and external project environments, as well as formulation and adoption of lessons learned from previous and ongoing projects to enhance the total system and the approaches used for modelling it.

The governance school: the project as a legal entity

The governance school has had several bursts of activity. The first investigated the relationship between contract management and project management, and the second looked at the mechanisms of governance on a project and in a project-oriented organization. The contract sub-school takes one of two views of the project:

either it views the project as a legal entity in its own right, and describes how the relationship between the parties to that legal entity should be managed (Turner 2004 ), or

it views the project as an interface between two legal entities, the client and the contractor, and describes how that interface should be managed (Barnes 1983 ).

Researchers had been studying contract management on construction contracts for several decades before project management began to develop as a field. The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers first published its conditions of contract in the 1930s (Institution of Civil Engineers 1999 ). However, with the development of modern project management, researchers began specifically researching contract management from a project perspective (Barnes 1983 ), and the Institution of Civil Engineers ( 1995 ) developed its New Engineering Contract from a more specifically project management perspective.

The second burst of activity began by viewing the project as a temporary organization (Lundin and Söderholm 1995 ; Midler 1995 ; Turner and Müller 2003 ), and moved on to investigate the mechanisms of governance both of the project as a temporary organization (Turner 2006b ; Turner and Keegan 2001 ) and of the project-oriented parent organization (Association for Project Management 2004 ).

The concept of the project as a temporary organization was first propounded in Sweden in the mid 1990s. The Scandinavian literature (Lundin and Söderholm 1995 ; Midler 1995 ) focused on the temporary nature of the project organization and its various implications. Lundin and Söderholm ( 1995 ) point out that mainstream organizational theory is based on the assumption that organizations are (or should be) permanent entities and “theories on temporary organizational settings (projects) are much less prevalent” (p. 437). They stress the importance of developing a theory of the temporary organization, highlight the difference between the role of time in a temporary organization and its role in the permanent firm, and specify that ‘action’ as opposed to ‘decision’ is central to a theory of the temporary organization (p. 437). Turner and Müller ( 2003 ) added to the discussion by showing that the view of the project as a temporary organization leads to the concepts of principal-agency theory and governance. In a series of editorials in the International Journal of Project Management, Turner ( 2006a , b , c , d ) aimed to develop a theory of project management, and defined a project as “a temporary organization to which resources are assigned to do work to bring about beneficial change” (Turner 2006a , p. 1).

The focus of the project governance literature covers three areas:

The principal-agency relationship between client and contractor

Two parties are in a principal-agency relationship when one party, the principal, is dependent on the other, the agent, to do work on their behalf (Jensen 2000 ). The principal suffers two problems, which are at the heart of project management:

they do not always know why the agent takes the decisions they do (the adverse selection problem),

the agent can act opportunistically and will act to optimize their economic outcomes from the project and not the client’s (the moral hazard problem). The contractor will only optimize the client’s economic outcomes if they are aligned with the contractor’s, placing contract management at the heart of this school.

Harrison and Harrell ( 1993 ) showed that the principal-agency theory can explain the decision to continue a failing project when the agent has private information to make such a decision rational from the agent’s perspective despite its being irrational from the principal’s perspective.

Transaction costs associated with projects

Winch ( 1989 ) aimed to identify transaction costs associated with construction projects. Turner and Keegan ( 2001 ) analyzed transaction costs on projects, and what that suggested about mechanisms of governance, roles, and responsibilities. Turner and Simister ( 2001 ) and Turner ( 2004 ) showed how a transaction or agency cost analysis could be used to determine contract strategy, and showed that residual loss (Jensen 2000 ) is the main determining factor. Gerwin and Ferris ( 2004 ) analyzed transaction costs, potential for learning, and development of relations for future projects, in organizing strategic alliances for new product development projects. They determined the points at which it is more beneficial for partners to work with little or considerable interaction, and to have decision-making authority reside in a project manager or be consensual.

Mechanisms of governance of projects

Mechanisms of governance of the individual project are discussed by Turner and Keegan ( 2001 ). Mechanisms in the project-oriented parent organization are being investigated by a special interest group of the UK’s APM ( 2004 ). Rentz ( 2007 ) highlighted the governance gap between project operations and control bodies, suggested that it “applies to any development project, independent of its size, type, or geographic location ” (p. 222), and proposed a project governance model to support the institutionalization of ethical responsibility in nonprofit organizations. Garland ( 2009 ) described the logical steps necessary to establish and implement a project governance framework for a project or across an organization to support effective project decision-making, including the accountabilities and responsibilities of the main roles.

Current research in this area includes effective governance of projects, programs, and organizational portfolio (Jamieson and Morris 2007 ; Morris and Jamieson 2004 ), effective organization and functions of the project management office (PMO), project support office (PSO), and project management centre for excellence (PMCE) (Hobbs and Aubry 2007 ). Winch ( 2006 ) also proposes the need to investigate the governance of project coalitions. Research in this area may continue into project and program selection, portfolio refinement and management, the PMO, and the role of regulatory compliance in project management.

The behaviour school: the project as a social system

The behaviour school is closely associated with the governance school, and takes as its premise that the project as a temporary organization is a social system, and includes several areas focused on organizational behaviour (OB), team building and leadership, communication, and more recently human resource management (HRM).

Pioneering work in this school was done by Galbraith ( 1973 ) on designing complex organizations, and Youker ( 1977 ) on organizational alternatives for project management, in which we believe that Youker coined the term ‘projectized organization’ (p. 47). Other pioneering works include studies extending OB research to the project environment. These works include studies on conflict management in temporary organizational systems (Wilemon 1973 ) and managing conflict in project life cycles (Thamhain and Wilemon 1975 ). Subsequently Thamhain ( 2004 ) has extensively researched working in project teams, and more recently research has begun to investigate working in virtual project teams (Massey et al. 2003 ; DeLisle 2004 ).

In the 1980s, work was done on project start-up (Fangel 1987 ) both from a perspective of project planning and team formation and maintenance (Turner 2009 ). Project Managers have a reputation for being task focused rather than people focused (Turner and Müller 2006 ). A seminal work on bringing a people focus to project management was Graham ( 1989 ). In the early 1990s researchers became interested in the leadership skills of project managers (Briner et al. 1996 , first published in 1990; Pinto and Trailer 1998 ), and recently Müller and Turner ( 2007 ) demonstrated that different profiles of leadership are needed for different types of projects. Pinto ( 1996 ) researched power and politics in projects, and Müller and Turner ( 2005 ) investigated communication between the project manager and sponsor from an agency theory perspective. Pitsis et al. ( 2003 ) studied a significant portion of the Sydney 2000 Olympic infrastructure and concluded that the project was a success, and that problems that arose were largely focused on social rather than on technical issues. Other significant research includes examination of the influence of goals, accessibility, proximity and procedures on cross-functional cooperation and perceived project outcomes (Pinto et al. 1993 ), deployment of dynamic capabilities within the resource-based view of the firm to enhance new product development and other organizational processes (Eisenhardt and Martin 2000 ), team dynamics in Six Sigma projects (Eckes 2002 ), and cross-cultural issues in project management (Anbari et al. 2004 ).

Research has now shifted from strictly OB view on projects to HRM view. Huemann et al. ( 2007 ) and Turner et al. ( 2007 ) researched HRM on projects and in project-oriented organizations. They found that project-oriented firms need to adopt new HRM practices specific to the project and different HRM practices in the line when compared to traditional HRM theory.

Research continues into the workings of virtual project teams, and HRM in project-oriented organizations. Cross-cultural issues and potential synergistic and antagonistic effects on project teams are important areas for research, particularly in view of the growing diversity of project teams, globalization, and global sourcing of project work. Research can also address knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues in view of the temporary nature of project workers who, upon completion of the project, are released and dispersed throughout the organization or may leave the organization entirely and take their knowledge with them.

The success school: the project as a business objective

This school focuses on the success and failure of the project. Project success literature describes two major components of project success:

Project success factors . The elements of a project that can be influenced to increase the likelihood of success; the independent variables that make success more likely.

Project success criteria . The measures by which we judge the successful outcome of a project; the dependent variables which measure project success. These are the business objectives we wish to achieve from the project.

Wateridge ( 1995 ) suggests that the project manager should identify the success criteria for the project, from them determine appropriate success factors to deliver those criteria, and then choose an appropriate project management methodology. Jugdev and Müller ( 2005 ) published a comprehensive review of this school. There has been a shift in emphasis in the project success literature from the 1970s to the present day. Early on the focus for success criteria was achieving time, cost and performance objectives, and it was felt that the greatest contribution to success was in the planning and control of the project—this is in line with the optimization school. Now it is accepted that a much wider range of stakeholders have a view on project success, and a much wider range of factors from project initiation to project commissioning and ensuing operations have an impact on its perceived success—this is in line with the governance and process schools.

Considerable research has been conducted on the factors that affect the success and failure of projects and project management. The first statement in modern project management of what causes project success and failure was made in Andersen et al. ( 2004 , first Norwegian edition 1984), followed by Morris and Hough ( 1987 ), who studied several major projects from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in the UK to identify how people judged success and what elements contributed to success. Another seminal study was the work of Pinto and Slevin ( 1987 ), who examined critical factors for project success.

This area continues to provide fertile grounds for research. Recent studies have investigated the relationship between the success of new product development projects and balancing firmness and flexibility in the innovation process (Tatikonda and Rosenthal 2000 ), and further refined our understanding of success factors and success criteria (Cooke-Davies 2002 ; Turner and Müller 2005 ). Other research has examined the relationship between project success and the implementation of the PMO (Dai and Wells 2004 ), use of project management software (Bani-Ali et al. 2008 ), and project risk management practices (Voetsch et al. 2005 ). Other studies showed that teamwork quality is significantly associated with team performance, and assessed the effects of collaborative processes within and between teams on overall project performance, quality, budget, and schedule (Hoegl et al. 2004 ). Other works have addressed project management maturity (Kerzner 2001 , 2006 ), the relationship of capabilities to best practices and to project, program and portfolio outcomes (Project Management Institute 2003 ), and the relationships between project management and the Six Sigma method (Kwak et al. 2006 ). Recently, a major research study was completed to understand how project management is applied within organizations and the value it provides to the organizations that use it. This global, multi-year study, was sponsored partially by PMI ® and was conducted by an international team of 48 researchers. The study demonstrated unequivocally that project management delivers value to the organizations that implement it. “More than half of our case study organizations demonstrate tangible value being realized as a result of their project management implementation (p. 350)… Most organizations demonstrate intangible value as a result of their project management implementation (p. 351)… Almost every organization that participated in a case study within this research project received some degree of value whether tangible, intangible, or both as a result of their project management implementation. For many of those organizations, the level of value was quite high (p. 356).” (Thomas and Mullaly 2008 , p. 356). However, the study cautioned that for many organizations that received value from their project management implementation, there was no assurance that such value would be sustained. For such organizations, there is a question as to whether value would continue to grow or begin to decline. The causes of this “included attitudes that perceived project management as being ‘done’ and something that required no further investment, changes in the market or competitive conditions of the organization, changes in oversight and involvement by executives or parent organizations and loss of key resources that were originally responsible for the implementation.” (Thomas and Mullaly 2008 , p. 357). Research can continue to further refine our understanding of success factors, success criteria, stakeholder satisfaction with project outcomes, causes of failure of projects and programs, and approaches to ensure sustainability of the value of project management.

The decision school: the project as a computer

This school focuses on factors relevant to the initiation, approval, and funding of projects as well as factors relevant to project completion, termination, and conclusions about their success or failure. This approach addresses economic, cultural, and political rules that cause investments in projects. It encompasses issues considered in the application of SSM in project management, and considers the ambiguity surrounding decision-making in the pre-project fuzzy environment.

There are two focuses of this school. The first is on the decision-making processes in the early stages of projects. In particular, why certain decisions are made, and the impact this has on the overall project. Much of the research has focused on major project disasters, what led to them, and whether these disasters were avoidable (Morris and Hough 1987 ; Morris 1997 ). Flyvbjerg ( 2006 ) investigated optimism and political bias in the early decision making processes to explain the continued underestimating of project out-turns. The other focus of this school is on information processing in projects. Winch ( 1989 , 2002a , b ) takes the view that a project is a vehicle for processing information and reducing uncertainty in the process. This links to the process school, the project is a process for processing information, and to the success school, processing information enables us to make better decisions, which is a success factor. Winch ( 2002a , b ) links this view to the importance of decision-making and sense-making at end of stage reviews, and reducing uncertainty there. As such, this school of thought brings project management research a full circle to its optimization and decision making roots while considering various issues that affect organizational decisions.

Current research is addressing factors affecting initial estimates of cost and time required to accomplish project objectives to the level of expected quality, and methods for handling deliberately optimistic estimates and improving such estimates (Flyvbjerg 2006 ; Morris and Hough 1987 , Williams 2002 ), the relationship of the organization’s portfolio of projects and programs to its strategy (Artto et al. 2001 ), as well as factors affecting inclusion of projects and programs in the organization’s portfolio and the ongoing refinement of such portfolio (Morris and Jamieson 2004 ).

The process school: the project as an algorithm

This school became popular in the late 1980s, particularly in Europe. The premise is to define structured processes from the conceptual start of the project to achieving the end objectives. Turner ( 2009 ) suggests that project management is about converting vision into reality; you have a vision of some future state you wish to achieve, and project management is a structured process, a road map, which takes you from the start to the desired end state. Winch ( 2002a ) suggests that through this process we convert desire into memory. The project is like an algorithm that helps you solve the problem of how to get to that desired future state. Proponents include Turner ( 2009 ), Gareis ( 2005 ), and Meredith and Mantel ( 2006 , first published in 1985). The emphasis of Turner’s books is on defining the process to follow to achieve the project’s objectives. He also defines processes for managing scope, organization, quality, cost, time, risk, project life-cycle, and management life-cycle. Gareis argues for process management and bases the maturity and benchmarking models he developed (Gareis and Huemann 2007 ), including the project-oriented company and project-oriented society models, on defining processes for the elements of project management. Meredith and Mantel ( 2006 ) organize various project management processes around the project life cycle as the primary organizational guideline. As such, project life-cycle and management life-cycle belong to this school. Winch ( 1989 , 2002a , b ) advanced this school by taking an information processing approach to managing construction projects. Bendoly and Swink ( 2007 ) extended this approach to the effect of information on post-task sense-making and suggested that greater visibility of situational information impacts project outcomes by affecting the project manager’s actions and perceptions. Several elements of the PMBOK ® Guide derive from this school, particularly the concepts of project life-cycle, management processes, integration management, and the management of quality and risk. Turner ( 2006b ) also showed that the governance of projects implies the project and management life-cycles, and processes for managing the project functions (Turner 2006b , c , d ).

A current area of research is project categorization (Crawford et al. 2005 ; Shenhar and Dvir 1996 , 2004 ) which suggests different processes to be applied to different categories of projects. Research in this area can continue into the extensions of categorization systems of projects, and the effectiveness and refinements of processes used to manage various categories of projects in different environments, as well as project audits and post project reviews aimed at improvement of project management processes in the organization.

The contingency school: the project as a chameleon

This school recognizes the difference between different types of projects and project organizations, considers the approaches most suitable for various project settings, and adapts project management processes to the needs of the project. It stresses that every project is different, and so the management approach and leadership style adopted need to be adapted to the needs of the project. Significant early research included work on project typology (Shenhar and Dvir 1996 ; Turner and Cochrane 1993 ) and more recently on project categorization systems to ensure alignment of capability with strategy (Crawford et al. 2005 , 2006 ), and on the different competencies and leadership styles required to manage different types of projects (Müller and Turner 2007 ). Crawford et al. ( 2005 , 2006 ) showed that project categorization systems have two main elements:

the purposes for which the projects are categorized,

the attributes used to categorize projects.

Most organizations undertaking projects have two main reasons for categorizing projects:

to align projects with strategic intent, and so prioritize projects for assigning resources, that is to choose to do the correct projects,

to assign and develop appropriate capabilities to manage those projects selected, that is to do the chosen projects correctly.

This approach asserts that an organization’s ability to manage complex new projects is related to its ability to remember factors associated with past successes. It considers limitations on this ability due to classifications systems that have evolved over time, rather than being actively designed through a logical, organized categorization process. Further research in this school should clarify the project management approaches most suitable for different project settings and methods for adapting the organization’s existing approaches to various types of projects, and highlight interactions between success factors and criteria, project management approaches, and project categories.

The marketing school: the project as a billboard

This school focuses on the identification of stakeholders and client needs, stakeholder management (McElroy and Mills 2007 ), formation of project organizations, interactions between clients and contractors, and internal marketing of the project to the organization (Cova and Sale 2005 ; Foreman 1996 ). Research also addresses marketing the project to its customers (Pinto and Rouhainen 2001 ), and selling project management to senior executives (Thomas et al. 2002 ). This research addresses the disconnect between the tremendous growth in project management and its impact on increasing productivity and bottom line earnings, and the view of project management by some senior-level executives (and some academics in business schools) that it is not something of value to them.

Future research in this school may investigate the integration of strategic and tactical components of business success, address the linkages between strategic goals and project objectives, and investigate effective approaches for alignment of project management with the perspective of senior executives that focuses on strategic issues (Mintzberg 1990 ) and their common view of project management as an operational/tactical matter. Research can highlight the value of recognizing that everything an organization does is based on previously completed projects, and what it will do in the future is based on the projects it currently does. Research can also investigate customer relationship management in project management, as well as public and media relations in the context of the temporary project organization.

Interactions between project management schools of thought

The discussion above indicates that there is a fair amount of distinction yet overlap in research in various project management schools of thought. Our aim in separating them is to gain insight into current and potential research in each area, but we should not lose sight of their inevitable interactions. After all, all these schools are aiming to understand various perspectives of the same thing—project management:

Governance defines the objectives of the project, success criteria. Governance defines project review points along the process.

The success school defines what has to be marketed. The project has to be marketed to the organization, client(s), and governance council.

Success provides the vision for the process. The process provides a path for making decisions directly and through appropriate model(s). The process is a model of the project.

Success provides the objectives for optimization and the objectives for decision-making.

Governance influences the nature of OB and HRM in the project. Behaviour of the project team needs to be included in the models, and makes every project different. The nature of the project also influences how success will be judged. The nature of the project influences what has to be optimized and how it will be optimized.

Modelling helps us to optimize the project. Modelling helps us to make better decisions.

The decision school provides guidance for improved decision-making. Over time, better decisions at various levels support the success of projects, strengthen the competitive position of organizations, and ultimately enhance the well-being of society.

Conclusions

We have shown that modern project management is a relatively young academic discipline with its roots in Operations Research. After borrowing tools from that discipline and bar (Gantt) charts from Operations Management, project management research was mainly inward-looking for as much as 30 or 40 years. However, as Table  1 illustrates, the development of research in the nine schools led the project management research community to interact strongly with other areas of management. Project management has benefited from progress in research in many areas of management, and has adopted ideas developed in other management disciplines, to apply them to the management of complex projects conducted in a dynamic environment. Project management has thus grown beyond its origins in Operations Research and management science. Project management has also contributed to other fields of management. It is used in strategy, marketing, innovation, change, information, and technology management, amongst others. There is significant interest in project management in the field of information technology management, exploring the various factors affecting the success or failure of systems development projects.

We have summarized in Table  2 the key idea and the key variable or unit of analysis in each of the nine schools of project management research. We have discussed promising areas of productive research in each school, throughout the paper. These areas include:

EVM and its extensions to forecasting project completion time, the earned schedule method, integration of planning and control of various project parameters, in particular scope, time, cost, quality, and risk, and the relationship of project management to the operational life cycle of the completed project.

Integration of hard systems and soft systems methodologies for modelling the total project management system, including optimization of multiple objectives under multiple constraints, consideration of various forces in the internal and external project environments, as well as formulation and adoption of lessons learned from previous and ongoing projects to enhance the total system and the approaches used for modelling it.

Effective governance of projects, programs, and portfolios, project and program selection, portfolio refinement and management, effective organization and functions of the project management office (PMO), project support office (PSO), and project management centre for excellence (PMCE), governance of project coalitions, the role of regulatory compliance in project management, and ethical responsibility.

The workings of virtual project teams, HRM in project-oriented organizations, cross-cultural issues and their potential synergistic and antagonistic effects on project teams, knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues in view of the temporary nature of project workers.

Further refinements of our understanding of success factors, success criteria, stakeholder satisfaction with project outcomes, causes of failure of projects and programs, and approaches to ensure sustainability of the value of project management.

Factors affecting initial estimates of cost and time required to accomplish project objectives to the level of expected quality, and methods for handling and improving deliberately optimistic estimates, the relationship of the organization’s portfolio of projects and programs to its strategy, as well as factors affecting decisions related to the inclusion of projects and programs in the organization’s portfolio.

Extensions of categorization systems of projects, and the effectiveness and refinements of processes used to manage various categories of projects in different environments, as well as project audits and post project reviews aimed at improvement of project management processes in the organization.

Clarification of the project management approaches most suitable for different project settings and methods for adapting the organization’s existing approaches to various types of projects, as well as interactions between success factors and criteria, project management approaches, and project categories.

The integration of strategic and tactical components of business success, the linkages between strategic goals and project objectives, and effective approaches for alignment of project management with the perspective of senior executives that focuses on strategic issues, as well as customer relationship management in project management, and public and media relations in the context of the temporary project organization.

Clarification of the interactions between the nine schools of project management research and with other management disciplines.

Project management is an identifiable field of study. We illustrated its diversity and richness as evidenced by nine schools of thought. Project management continues to draw on and make contributions to other fields of management. We have outlined the research trends in the nine schools of project management thought, highlighted promising areas of productive research in each of them, and shown that they will continue to draw strongly on other areas. We also expect that they will continue to make contributions back in return.

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Turner, J.R., Anbari, F. & Bredillet, C. Perspectives on research in project management: the nine schools. Glob Bus Perspect 1 , 3–28 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40196-012-0001-4

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Issue Date : March 2013

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40196-012-0001-4

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Project Management Research Topics: Breaking New Ground

According to a study by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a significant 11.4% of business investments go to waste due to subpar project performance.

That’s why students need to study project management in college - to move the progress further and empower businesses to perform better. It is crucial for students as it equips them with essential skills, including organization, teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership, which are highly transferable and sought after in the professional world. It enhances their career prospects, teaches adaptability, and fosters a global perspective, preparing them for success in a diverse and rapidly evolving job market.

In this article, you will learn the definition of a project management research paper, discover 120 excellent topics and ideas, as well as receive pro tips regarding how to cope with such an assignment up to par. 

Definition of What is Project Management

Project management is the practice of planning, executing, controlling, and closing a specific project to achieve well-defined goals and meet specific success criteria. It involves efficiently allocating resources, including time, budget, and personnel, to ensure that a project is completed on time, within scope, and within budget while delivering the intended results or deliverables. 

Project management encompasses various methodologies, tools, and techniques to ensure that projects are successfully initiated, planned, executed, monitored, and completed in an organized and systematic manner.

Students can learn project management in colleges and universities, online courses, professional associations, specialized schools, and continuing education programs. Despite the type of institution, most students rely on an essay writing service to ensure their academic progress is positive.  

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What Is a Project Management Research Paper?

Project management research papers are academic documents that explore various aspects of project management as a field of study. These papers typically delve into specific topics, issues, or questions related to project management and aim to contribute new knowledge or insights to the discipline. Project management research papers often involve rigorous analysis, empirical research, and critical evaluation of existing theories or practices within the field.

Key elements of a project management research paper include:

• Research Question or Problem: Clearly defines the research question, problem, or topic the paper aims to address.
• Literature Review: A comprehensive review of existing literature, theories, and relevant studies related to the chosen topic.
• Methodology: Describing the research methods, such as surveys, case studies, interviews, or data analysis techniques.
• Data Collection and Analysis: If applicable, presenting and analyzing data to support the research findings.
• Discussion: An in-depth discussion of the research findings and their implications for the field of project management.
• Conclusion: Summarizing the key findings, their significance, and potential future research directions.

Project management research papers can cover various topics, from best practices in project management to emerging trends, challenges, and innovations in the field. They are a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners, offering insights that can inform project management practices and decision-making.

Project Management Research Topics Selection Tips

Selecting an appropriate topic for a project management research paper is crucial for the success of your research. Here are some tips to help you choose the right research topic:

• Start by considering your own interests and passion within the field of project management. 
• Choose a topic that has practical applications and can contribute to the discipline.
• Avoid overly broad topics. Instead, narrow down your focus to a specific aspect or issue within project management. 
• Seek guidance from your professors, academic advisors, or mentors. 
• Conduct a preliminary literature review to see what research has already been done in your area of interest. 
• Aim for originality by proposing a research topic or question that hasn't been extensively explored in the existing literature.
• Consider the feasibility of your research. Ensure your research is practical and achievable within your constraints.
• Clearly define your research questions or objectives. 
• Think about the practical applications of your research. 
• Ensure that your research topic and methodology adhere to ethical standards. 
• Think about the research methods you will use to investigate your topic. 
• Consider involving stakeholders from the industry, as their insights can provide practical relevance to your research.
• Keep in mind that your research may evolve as you delve deeper into the topic. 
• Be open to adapting your research questions and methodology if necessary.

By following these tips, you can select a project management research topic that is not only relevant and original but also feasible and well-aligned with your academic and career goals. Sounds challenging and time-consuming? Simply type ‘ write an essay for me ,’ and our experts will help you settle the matter. 

Best Project Management Research Topics and Ideas

Here is a list of the 50 best topics for a project management paper. These topics cover many project management areas, from traditional project management methodologies to emerging trends and challenges in the field. You can further refine and tailor these topics to match your specific research interests and objectives.

• Agile Project Management in Non-IT Industries.
• Risk Management Strategies for Large-Scale Projects.
• The Role of Leadership in Project Success.
• Sustainability Integration in Project Management.
• Challenges in Virtual Project Management.
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Project Management.
• Project Management Best Practices in Healthcare.
• Lean Project Management Principles.
• Project Portfolio Management in Multinational Corporations.
•  The Use of Blockchain in Project Management.
•  Cultural Diversity and Its Effects on Global Project Teams.
•  Managing Scope Creep in Project Management.
•  Project Management in Crisis Situations.
•  Agile vs. Waterfall: A Comparative Analysis.
•  Project Governance and Compliance.
•  Critical Success Factors in Public Sector Projects.
•  Benefits Realization Management in Project Management.
•  Agile Transformation in Traditional Organizations.
•  Project Management in the Digital Age.
•  Sustainable Project Procurement Practices.
•  The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Project Leadership.
•  Project Management in the Healthcare Industry.
•  Effective Communication in Virtual Project Teams.
•  Agile Project Management in Software Development.
•  The Impact of Project Management Offices (PMOs).
•  Project Management in the Construction Industry.
•  Project Risk Assessment and Mitigation.
•  IT Project Management Challenges and Solutions.
•  Project Management in Startups and Entrepreneurship.
•  Lean Six Sigma in Project Management.
•  Project Management Software Tools and Trends.
•  The Role of Change Management in Project Success.
•  Conflict Resolution in Project Teams.
•  Project Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
•  Scrum vs. Kanban: A Comparative Study. 
•  Managing Cross-Cultural Teams in International Projects.
•  The Future of Project Management: Trends and Forecasts.
•  Effective Resource Allocation in Project Management.
•  Project Procurement and Vendor Management.
•  Quality Assurance in Project Management.
•  Risk Assessment in IT Project Management.
•  Benefits and Challenges of Hybrid Project Management Models.
•  Agile Transformation in Large Organizations.
•  The Role of Data Analytics in Project Management.
•  Project Management for Non-Profit Organizations.
•  Continuous Improvement in Project Management.
•  The Impact of COVID-19 on Project Management Practices.
•  The Role of Project Management in Innovation.
•  Project Management in the Aerospace Industry.
•  The Influence of Project Management on Organizational Performance.

Simple Project Management Research Ideas

Here are 10 simple project management research ideas that can serve as a foundation for more in-depth research:

The Impact of Effective Communication on Project Success: Investigate how clear and efficient communication within project teams influences project outcomes.

Project Management Software Adoption and Its Effects: Examine the adoption of project management software tools and their impact on project efficiency and collaboration.

Factors Affecting Scope Creep in Project Management: Identify the key factors contributing to scope creep and explore strategies to prevent it.

The Role of Project Management Offices (PMOs) in Organizational Performance: Analyze the performance, improving project success rates and enhancing overall project management maturity.

Agile Project Management in Non-Software Industries: Study how Agile project management principles can be adapted and applied effectively in non-IT industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, or construction.

Project Risk Management Strategies: Investigate the best practices and strategies for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks in project management.

Stakeholder Engagement in Project Success: Explore the significance of stakeholder engagement and its impact on project outcomes, including scope, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Project Management in Small Businesses: Analyze the unique challenges and opportunities of project management in small businesses and startups, considering resource constraints and growth objectives.

Sustainability Practices in Project Management: Investigate how project managers can integrate sustainability principles into project planning and execution, with a focus on environmental and social responsibility.

Change Management in Project Transitions: Examine the role of change management in ensuring smooth transitions between project phases or methodologies, such as moving from Waterfall to Agile.

Interesting Project Management Research Paper Topics

These research paper topics offer opportunities to explore diverse aspects of project management, from leadership and ethics to emerging technologies and global project dynamics.

• The Impact of Effective Communication on Project Success.
• Project Management Software Adoption and Its Effects.
• Factors Affecting Scope Creep in Project Management.
• The Role of Project Management Offices (PMOs) in Organizational Performance.
• Agile Project Management in Non-Software Industries.
• Project Risk Management Strategies.
• Stakeholder Engagement in Project Success.
• Project Management in Small Businesses and Startups.
• Sustainability Practices in Project Management.
•  Change Management in Project Transitions.

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Research Project Topics in Business Management

Here are ten research project topics in business management. They encompass various aspects of business management, from leadership and diversity to sustainability and emerging trends in the business world.

• The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Motivation and Productivity.
• Strategies for Enhancing Workplace Diversity and Inclusion.
• The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership.
• Sustainable Business Practices and Their Effects on Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Innovation and Technology Adoption in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
• Financial Management Strategies for Small Businesses and Startups.
• Effective Marketing Strategies in the Digital Age.
• The Challenges and Opportunities of Global Expansion for Multinational Corporations.
• Supply Chain Management in a Post-Pandemic World: Resilience and Adaptability.
•  Consumer Behavior and Market Trends in E-Commerce.

Software Project Management Dissertation Topics

These dissertation topics cover a range of critical issues and strategies in software project management, from risk management to AI integration and agile methodologies.

• Effective Software Project Risk Management Strategies.
• Agile vs. Waterfall: Comparative Analysis in Software Project Management.
• Requirements Management in Software Development Projects.
• The Role of DevOps in Accelerating Software Project Delivery.
• Software Project Management Challenges in Distributed and Remote Teams.
• Quality Assurance and Testing Practices in Software Project Management.
• Managing Scope Changes and Requirements Volatility in Software Projects.
• Vendor Management in Outsourced Software Development Projects.
• Project Portfolio Management in Software Organizations.
•  The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Enhancing Software Project Management.

Remember that easy research paper topics might also be used to write a dissertation. Check them out as well!

Ten Construction Project Management Research Topics

Offering you ten research topics in construction project management, which delve into various aspects of construction project management, from sustainability and safety to technology adoption and stakeholder engagement.

• Optimizing Construction Project Scheduling and Time Management.
• Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Large-Scale Construction Projects.
• Green Building Practices and Sustainable Construction Management.
• The Role of Technology in Improving Construction Project Efficiency.
• Safety Management and Accident Prevention in Construction.
• Contract Management in Public Infrastructure Projects.
• Resource Allocation and Cost Control in Construction Project Management.
• The Impact of Lean Construction Principles on Project Delivery.
• Innovations in Prefabrication and Modular Construction Methods.
•  Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication in Complex Construction Projects.

Ten Outstanding Project Administration Ideas for Research Paper

Let’s gain insights into the key aspects and focus areas of each research paper topic in project administration. Researchers can further refine these 10 topics to address specific research questions and objectives. 

Innovative Strategies for Effective Project Communication and Collaboration: This topic explores innovative communication and collaboration methods that enhance project team coordination and overall project success. It may include the use of technology, virtual tools, or novel approaches to foster effective communication.

Integrating Sustainability into Project Management Practices: This research examines how project managers can incorporate sustainability principles into project planning, execution, and decision-making, contributing to environmentally and socially responsible project outcomes.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Project Leadership and Team Dynamics: This topic delves into the significance of emotional intelligence in project leadership, focusing on how emotional intelligence influences team dynamics, motivation, and project performance.

Agile Project Management in Non-Traditional Industries: Opportunities and Challenges: It explores adopting Agile project management methodologies outside the software development domain, discussing the opportunities and challenges of applying Agile in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, or construction.

Crisis Management and Resilience in Project Administration: This topic investigates crisis management strategies and the development of project resilience to navigate unexpected disruptions, disasters, and unexpected events affecting project progress.

The Impact of Change Management in Successful Project Implementation: It examines the critical role of change management in ensuring smooth transitions between project phases, methodologies, or organizational changes, contributing to project success.

Ethical Decision-Making in Project Management: Balancing Objectives and Integrity: This research delves into the ethical dilemmas and decision-making processes project managers face and explores frameworks for ethical behavior in project management.

Technology Integration and Digital Transformation in Project Administration: It discusses how the integration of technology, such as AI, IoT, and automation, is transforming project administration practices and improving efficiency and project outcomes.

Risk Management and Contingency Planning in Large-Scale Projects: This topic focuses on risk management strategies and the development of effective contingency plans to mitigate risks in complex, large-scale projects.

Project Governance and the Influence of Regulatory Compliance: It explores project governance structures, including the impact of regulatory compliance on project management, risk management, and decision-making processes. In case you need aid with complex senior year papers, consult capstone project writing services . 

Ten Healthcare Project Management Research Topics

These research topics address various aspects of healthcare project management, from facility construction and technology implementation to quality improvement and crisis management. Researchers can explore these topics to contribute to the improvement of healthcare project outcomes and patient care.

• Optimizing Healthcare Facility Construction and Renovation Projects.
• Effective Implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in Hospitals.
• Managing Change in Healthcare Organizations: A Project Management Perspective.
• Telemedicine Project Management and its Impact on Healthcare Delivery.
• Healthcare Project Risk Management: A Case Study Analysis.
• Patient-Centered Care Initiatives and Project Management Best Practices.
• Quality Improvement Projects in Healthcare: Challenges and Success Factors.
• Healthcare Supply Chain Management and Project Efficiency.
• The Role of Project Management in Healthcare Crisis Response (e.g., Pandemics).
•  Measuring the Impact of Lean Six Sigma in Healthcare Process Improvement Projects.

When you find a topic - what’s next? Check out this guide on how to research a topic !

Project management is a dynamic and ever-evolving discipline, offering a rich landscape for research and exploration. Whether you are a student seeking captivating project management research topics or a seasoned professional looking to address real-world challenges, our list of topics provides a valuable starting point. 

The key to successful research in project management lies in identifying a topic that aligns with your interests and objectives, allowing you to make meaningful contributions to the field while addressing the pressing issues of today and tomorrow. If you need support executing your research or project, you might consider the convenience of our online services. Simply request " do my project for me " and connect with experts ready to assist you in navigating the complexities of your project management tasks.

So, delve into these research topics, choose the one that resonates with your passion, and embark on a journey of discovery and advancement in the world of project management. If you feel stressed or overwhelmed with the workload at some point, pay for a research paper to gain a competitive edge and save valuable time. 

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Top 150 Project Management Dissertation Topics [Updated]

Project management is like the conductor of an orchestra, harmonizing various elements to achieve a masterpiece. Dissertation topics in this field are crucial as they delve into the heart of managing projects effectively. Whether you’re a budding project manager or a seasoned professional looking to deepen your understanding, choosing the right project management dissertation topic is paramount. Let’s embark on a journey to explore some intriguing project management dissertation topics that could spark your interest and contribute to this dynamic field.

How To Pick A Dissertation Topic?

Table of Contents

Picking what you’ll study for your big research project (dissertation) is a really important choice. Take your time and think about it carefully. Here are some steps to help you pick the right topic:

• Reflect on your interests: Consider topics that genuinely interest you and align with your passion and expertise. Your enthusiasm will sustain you through the research process.
• Review existing literature: Conduct a thorough review of literature in your field to identify gaps, unanswered questions, or emerging trends that could form the basis of your research.
• Consider practical relevance: Choose a topic that has practical relevance and real-world implications for your field, industry, or community. Aim to address pressing issues or challenges faced by practitioners or organizations.
• Consult with advisors and peers: Seek feedback from your academic advisors, mentors, or peers to get their perspectives on potential topics. They can give you good advice and assist you in making your ideas better.
• Narrow down your focus: Once you have a broad topic in mind, narrow it down to a specific research question or area of investigation. Make sure your topic is manageable within the scope of your dissertation and aligns with the available resources and timeline.
• Evaluate feasibility: Figure out if your topic is doable by checking if you can find enough information, if you have the right tools to study it, if it’s morally okay, and if there are any real-life limits that might get in the way. Ensure that you have access to the necessary resources and support to conduct your research effectively.
• Stay flexible: Stay ready to change or improve your topic as you learn more during your research and find out new things. Your dissertation topic might change as you go, so it’s important to be open to that and be able to adjust along the way.
• Consider your long-term goals: Think about how your dissertation topic aligns with your long-term academic or career goals. Choose a topic that will allow you to develop valuable skills, make meaningful contributions to your field, and position yourself for future opportunities.

150 Project Management Dissertation Topics: Category Wise

Traditional vs. agile methodologies.

• A comparative analysis of traditional waterfall and agile project management methodologies.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of agile methodologies in software development projects.
• Implementing agile practices in non-IT industries: challenges and opportunities.
• The role of project management maturity models in transitioning from traditional to agile methodologies.
• Agile project management in dynamic and uncertain environments: case studies from various industries.
• Integrating hybrid project management approaches: combining elements of traditional and agile methodologies.
• Assessing the impact of agile project management on team dynamics and collaboration.
• Agile project management in large-scale and complex projects: lessons learned and best practices.
• Overcoming resistance to agile adoption: strategies for organizational change management.
• The future of project management: trends and innovations in agile methodologies.

Project Management Tools and Software

• Evaluating the effectiveness of project management software in improving project outcomes.
• Adoption and implementation of project management tools: a case study approach.
• Comparing different project management software solutions: features, benefits, and limitations.
• Customization vs. out-of-the-box implementation: factors influencing the choice of project management software.
• The impact of cloud-based project management tools on remote team collaboration.
• Enhancing project management efficiency through the integration of collaboration platforms and project management software.
• Project management software usability and user experience: implications for adoption and usage.
• Assessing the security and data privacy risks associated with project management software.
• Trends in project management software development: artificial intelligence, automation, and predictive analytics.
• The role of project management software vendors in driving innovation and industry standards.

Project Risk Management

• Identifying and prioritizing project risks: a systematic approach.
• Quantitative vs. qualitative risk analysis: comparing methods and outcomes.
• Risk management strategies for high-risk industries: construction, aerospace, and defense.
• The role of project risk management in achieving project success: evidence from case studies.
• Incorporating risk management into project planning and decision-making processes.
• Stakeholder engagement in project risk management: challenges and best practices.
• Resilience and adaptability: building a risk-aware project culture.
• Emerging risks in project management: cybersecurity threats, geopolitical instability, and climate change.
• Risk management in agile projects: adapting traditional approaches to dynamic environments.
• The future of project risk management: predictive analytics, big data, and machine learning.

Project Scheduling and Planning

• Critical path analysis and its applications in project scheduling.
• Resource leveling techniques for optimizing project schedules and resource allocation.
• The role of project management offices (PMOs) in project scheduling and planning.
• Earned value management (EVM) as a performance measurement tool in project scheduling.
• Lean project management principles: minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency in project schedules.
• Agile project planning techniques: iterative planning, sprint planning, and release planning.
• Time management strategies for project managers: prioritization, delegation, and timeboxing.
• The impact of schedule compression techniques on project duration and cost.
• Project scheduling under uncertainty: probabilistic scheduling models and Monte Carlo simulation.
• Real-time scheduling and adaptive planning: harnessing technology for dynamic project environments.

Leadership and Team Management

• Transformational leadership in project management: inspiring vision and empowering teams.
• The role of emotional intelligence in project leadership and team performance.
• Cross-cultural leadership in multinational project teams: challenges and strategies.
• Building high-performing project teams: recruitment, training, and team development.
• Distributed leadership in virtual project teams: fostering collaboration and trust.
• Conflict resolution strategies for project managers: mediation, negotiation, and arbitration.
• Motivating project teams: rewards, recognition, and intrinsic motivation.
• The impact of leadership styles on project outcomes: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire.
• Gender diversity in project teams: implications for leadership and team dynamics.
• Team resilience and psychological safety: creating a supportive and inclusive project environment.

Project Governance and Stakeholder Management

• Project governance frameworks: roles, responsibilities, and decision-making structures.
• Stakeholder identification and analysis: mapping stakeholder interests, influence, and expectations.
• Effective communication strategies for project stakeholders: stakeholder engagement plans and communication channels.
• Managing stakeholder conflicts and competing interests in projects.
• Make sure companies do good things for the community and talk to the people affected by their projects.
• Look at how the big bosses of a project make decisions and handle the people involved.
• Accountability and transparency in project governance: reporting mechanisms and performance metrics.
• Regulatory compliance in project management: legal requirements and industry standards.
• Balancing stakeholder interests in project decision-making: ethical considerations and social responsibility.
• Continuous improvement in project governance: lessons learned and best practices.

Project Finance and Cost Management

• Project budgeting and cost estimation techniques: top-down vs. bottom-up approaches.
• Cost-benefit analysis and return on investment (ROI) in project decision-making.
• Earned value management (EVM) as a cost control tool in project management.
• Managing project financial risks: budget overruns, resource constraints, and market fluctuations.
• Project procurement and contract management: negotiating contracts, vendor selection, and performance monitoring.
• Life cycle costing in project evaluation: considering long-term costs and benefits.
• Value engineering and value management: optimizing project value while minimizing costs.
• Financial modeling and scenario analysis in project finance: assessing project feasibility and viability.
• Funding sources for project financing: equity, debt, grants, and public-private partnerships.
• Project finance in emerging markets: challenges and opportunities for investment.

Project Quality Management

• Total quality management (TQM) principles in project management: continuous improvement and customer focus.
• Quality planning and assurance processes: setting quality objectives and quality standards.
• Quality control techniques in project management: inspection, testing, and quality audits.
• Six Sigma methodology and its applications in project quality management.
• Lean principles in project management: eliminating waste and optimizing processes.
• Measuring project quality performance: key performance indicators (KPIs) and quality metrics.
• Building a culture of quality excellence in project teams: training, empowerment, and recognition.
• Supplier quality management in project procurement: ensuring supplier compliance and performance.
• Benchmarking and best practices in project quality management.
• Continuous improvement in project quality: feedback loops, lessons learned, and process optimization.

Project Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

• Stakeholder engagement strategies in project management: stakeholder analysis, mapping, and engagement plans.
• Effective communication techniques for project managers: verbal, written, and nonverbal communication.
• Managing virtual project teams: communication tools, technologies, and best practices.
• Conflict resolution strategies for project stakeholders: negotiation, mediation, and collaboration.
• Stakeholder communication in crisis situations: managing stakeholder expectations and maintaining trust.
• Building trust and credibility with project stakeholders: transparency, integrity, and responsiveness.
• Cultural sensitivity and communication in multicultural project teams.
• The role of project managers as communication facilitators and mediators.
• Communication challenges in cross-functional project teams: aligning diverse perspectives and priorities.
• Measuring stakeholder satisfaction and feedback: surveys, interviews, and feedback mechanisms.

Project Human Resource Management

• Human resource planning in project management: resource allocation, skills assessment, and capacity planning.
• Talent management strategies for project teams: recruitment, training, and career development.
• Team-building techniques for project managers: icebreakers, team-building exercises, and bonding activities.
• Performance management in project teams: setting objectives, providing feedback, and evaluating performance.
• Conflict resolution strategies for project managers: negotiation, mediation, and conflict coaching.
• Diversity and inclusion in project teams: fostering a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Leadership development in project management: training, coaching, and mentorship programs.
• Managing virtual project teams: communication, collaboration, and team cohesion.
• Building resilience and well-being in project teams: managing stress, burnout, and work-life balance.

Project Procurement and Contract Management

• Procurement planning and strategy development: make-or-buy decisions, sourcing options, and procurement methods.
• Contract types and structures in project procurement: fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, and time-and-material contracts.
• Supplier selection criteria and evaluation methods: vendor qualifications, bid evaluation, and supplier performance metrics.
• Negotiation techniques for project managers: win-win negotiation, BATNA analysis, and concessions management.
• Managing contracts and contractor relationships: contract administration, performance monitoring, and dispute resolution.
• Outsourcing and offshoring in project procurement: risks, benefits, and best practices.
• Legal and regulatory considerations in project procurement: compliance with procurement laws, standards, and regulations.
• Contractual risk management: mitigating contract risks through indemnification clauses, insurance, and contingency planning.
• Ethical considerations in project procurement: fairness, transparency, and integrity in procurement processes.
• Continuous improvement in procurement and contract management: lessons learned, process optimization, and supplier feedback.

Project Sustainability and Social Responsibility

• Integrating sustainability principles into project management: environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic viability.
• Sustainable project planning and design: minimizing environmental impacts, maximizing resource efficiency, and promoting resilience.
• Social impact assessment in project management: stakeholder engagement, community consultation, and social license to operate.
• Sustainable procurement practices: ethical sourcing, fair trade, and supply chain transparency.
• Green project management: reducing carbon emissions, conserving natural resources, and promoting renewable energy.
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in project management: philanthropy, community development, and stakeholder engagement.
• Sustainable infrastructure development: green buildings, sustainable transportation, and eco-friendly urban planning.
• Environmental risk management in projects: assessing and mitigating environmental impacts and regulatory compliance.
• Sustainable project financing: green bonds, impact investing, and sustainable finance mechanisms.
• Sustainability reporting and disclosure: communicating project sustainability performance to stakeholders.

Project Innovation and Technology Management

• Innovation management in project-based organizations: fostering a culture of creativity, experimentation, and learning.
• Technology adoption and diffusion in project management: factors influencing technology acceptance and implementation.
• Managing innovation projects: from ideation to commercialization, stage-gate processes, and innovation ecosystems.
• Open innovation and collaborative project management: partnerships, co-creation, and knowledge sharing.
• Digital transformation in project management: leveraging emerging technologies for project delivery and collaboration.
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning in project management: predictive analytics, automation, and decision support systems.
• Blockchain technology in project management: decentralized project governance, smart contracts, and supply chain transparency.
• Virtual reality and augmented reality in project management: immersive training, visualization, and virtual collaboration.
• Internet of Things (IoT) applications in project management: real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and asset tracking.
• Data-driven project management: leveraging big data, analytics, and business intelligence for project insights and decision-making.

Project Governance and Compliance

• Regulatory compliance in project management: legal requirements, industry standards, and certification programs.
• Ethics and integrity in project governance: code of conduct, conflict of interest policies, and whistleblowing mechanisms.
• Corporate governance and project management: alignment with organizational objectives, risk management, and performance oversight.
• Internal controls and assurance mechanisms in project governance: auditing, monitoring, and accountability.
• Project portfolio governance: prioritization, resource allocation, and strategic alignment.
• Regulatory reporting and disclosure requirements: compliance with regulatory agencies, stakeholders, and investors.
• Project audits and reviews: evaluating project performance, compliance, and lessons learned.
• Governance of public-private partnerships (PPPs): contractual arrangements, risk allocation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Continuous improvement in project governance: feedback loops, lessons learned, and process optimization.

Project Resilience and Change Management

• Building project resilience: risk management, contingency planning, and adaptive strategies.
• Change management in project management: managing resistance, communication, and stakeholder engagement.
• Organizational resilience and project management: lessons from crisis management, business continuity planning, and disaster recovery.
• Agile project management and organizational agility: responsiveness to change, iterative planning, and adaptive leadership.
• Innovation and creativity in project management: fostering a culture of experimentation, learning, and adaptation.
• Anticipatory project management: scenario planning, risk assessment, and proactive decision-making.
• Crisis leadership and project management: decision-making under pressure, communication, and stakeholder management .
• Change readiness assessment in project management: organizational culture, capacity building, and change champions.
• Learning from failure: post-mortem analysis, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
• Resilience in project teams: psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and well-being.

In conclusion, selecting the right project management dissertation topics is essential for exploring new frontiers, addressing pressing challenges, and making meaningful contributions to the field. By choosing a topic that aligns with your interests, expertise, and aspirations, you can embark on a rewarding journey of discovery and innovation in project management.

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125 Project Management Research Topics Ideas

Are you urgently in need of top-class project management research topics for your upcoming exam? Keep reading for exclusive writing ideas.

Those who have handled a project management thesis before can witness that this is not a smooth affair. The creativity, level of research, and critical thinking necessary for developing such a paper require a mature student. The greatest hurdle comes in when you want to develop your research topic. Our professional writers have everything you need to write an award-winning paper. Scroll down to find out how?

What Is A Project Management Research Paper?

It is an assignment that requires students to integrate the different processes to achieve a particular goal and deliverables. Project management is based on the principle that all tasks are special, and thus, you should not treat two tasks as the same.

In this type of assignment, students have to develop many coordination skills and fairness in dealing with various projects. Since various tasks differ in line with their functional procedures, you have to dig deeper to determine how each yields direct and proportional earnings in the end.

Does all these sound like rocket science to you? Well, the next few lines will make you understand this subject better.

Key Points About A Project Management Thesis

There are different steps involved in writing a project management paper. These will contribute to the body paragraphs’ overall quality, length, and depth. The various practices involved in project management include:

Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing the work of a team

When you bring all these processes together, you can achieve a particular goal or specific success within the set time. That brings us to a critical component of project management – time!

Every project has a given time frame within which it is complete. It is the primary challenge as time constraints are always when unexpected issues arise. However, with practice, time will not be a factor anymore; it will be the motivation for completing a particular project.

If you don’t feel those skills are important to you, you can get custom dissertation help from our expert team.

How To Write A Top-Rated Project Management Paper

For you to write a paper that will get the attention of your university teacher, there are various steps that you have to take. Remember that you have to demonstrate to your professor that you understand your topic and can significantly contribute to the topic at the end of the day.

Here is a step-by-step guide that will take you through the full process of project management writing:

• Understand your assignment: You should carefully read the question and point out any confusing part that you may need clarity with your professor. You also set the goal, timeline, length, format, and other requirements.
• Develop an interesting project management topic: The best way to generate a writing idea is by brainstorming. You can ask a friend tutor or get inspiration from other research papers.
• Begin your preliminary research: You can point out arguments that seem important to your topic and find captivating angles to present them. It is advisable to consult sources such as books, journals, or reliable websites. Having research questions in this section will give you ample time.
• Think of an exciting thesis statement: This will be your central argument that will establish your research paper’s position and purpose. Remember to include the evidence and reasoning you intend to support your answer.
• Develop an outline for your paper: It includes the key topics, arguments, and examples that will feature in your paper. Having a structured outline helps you complete the writing process effortlessly.

Once you complete these steps, your writing will be like a walk in the park. You will express your ideas clearly and have a logical paper.

Now let’s explore some of the most sought after project management topics:

Easy Project Management Research Topics

• How to implement capital improvement projects
• Discuss the essence of a good project management plan before the onset
• The role of technology and funding in implementing projects
• Consider the effects of working from home on project management
• How global companies manage projects across various regions
• What is the impact of the world becoming a global village in project management?
• Why is it necessary to segment tasks in a multi-sectorial project?
• Discuss the process of harmonizing systems, people, and resources
• Why is project management as a course in school necessary for the job market?
• Discuss the challenges related to transit projects
• Evaluate the various trends in project management in the digital age
• The role of leadership systems in project management
• Why time management is necessary for the completion of any task
• How to develop achievable goals or aspirations in a project
• The role of risk management before embarking on a project

High-Quality Project Management Topics

• The undisputed role of administrators in any project
• Technological systems that have made project management easier
• Discuss the complexity in completing different projects
• Why should every project have a project tracking instrument?
• Steps towards developing a working budget for a project
• Why do project managers write a proposal before embarking on the actual work?
• How often should the project manager meet to discuss the progress of a project?
• How to develop cost-effective projects in developed nations
• Discuss the various sources of primary funding for projects
• Why are communications skills necessary for any project?
• Compare and contrast the completion rate of government projects versus private projects.
• Discuss the authorization process of a project

Custom Project Management Research Paper Topics

• Discuss the roles of various officers involved in the running of a project
• What makes a particular project require a great number of resources?
• How to develop objectives and scope of work for different projects
• Analyze how the 24-hour economy is impacting the completing of massive projects
• Why it is important to determine the timing of an escalation in a project
• Should project managers remain engaged throughout the lifecycle of a project?
• Discuss some of the leadership qualities necessary for project management
• Why motivation is necessary for the completion of any project
• How to point out signs of retardation in a project
• The essence of addressing emerging issues in a project as soon as possible
• What are the differences at the micro and macro levels of a project?
• Steps involved in the termination process of a project

The Best Project Management Topics For Research

• Compare and contrast the procedural and mechanical parts of a project
• How to yield direct and proportional earnings from a project
• Management of a project during the economic recession
• Evaluate how COVID-19 restrictions impacted project management policies
• The role of integrating people and machines in the completion of projects
• Analyze the role of soft skills in project success rates
• How does cultural diversity impact project performance in the US?
• Why it is important to keep financial records in the implementation of a project
• Evaluate the design and implementation of projects
• A review of the stalled projects and why the project managers are to blame
• An in-depth analysis of procurement procedures in project management
• How organizational characters affect the development of a project

College Project Management Topics For Research Papers

• Investigate the organizational characteristics that affect project completion
• Identify cost-effective key performance indicators in a project?
• Social network analysis tools necessary for project management
• Discuss how emotional intelligence leads to the success of a project
• How to develop an effective project scheduling system for large projects
• Why standard operating procedures are necessary for effective projects
• The role of teamwork and collaboration in project completion
• Why quality control is necessary for any successful project
• Effective resource management techniques for technical projects
• Interpersonal skills that will make a project work
• Ethics involved in project management
• Discuss project mapping and progress reporting

Latest Research Topics For Project Management

• Are all project problems an indicator of more trouble to come?
• The role of identifying job descriptions in the success of projects
• Why it is necessary to incorporate staff retention and training in projects
• Evaluate the various project documentation processes
• How to develop better project control and management tools
• Discuss the differences between contractual and commercial management of projects
• Why delays and disruptions increase the cost of projects
• Impact of timely delivery of projects on economic development of countries
• Effects of sanctions of global projects
• Discuss conflict resolution practices in a particular project
• How to develop credit risk modeling techniques for projects
• Why appraisals and incentives are necessary for project success

Hot Research Project Topics In Business Management

• The role of business planning in a competitive environment
• How different business structures affect their development paradigms
• How to develop effective customer service strategies for businesses
• Why it is necessary to resolve employment issues before they escalate
• Inventory control practices in business management
• Discussing the necessity of keeping a keen eye on tax compliance in business establishments
• The role of record-keeping in the management of business ventures
• How to develop pricing structures that will keep the business afloat
• Discuss the peculiarities of merchandising and packaging
• Evaluate how insurance is necessary for any business
• Marketing strategies that will outshine competitors in a business setting
• How e-commerce is transforming project management in businesses

Innovative Topics For Project Management Research

• The role of decision making and problem-solving in project management
• Why technology and analytics are important components of successful projects
• How to use organizational culture to the benefit of project management
• How to manage international businesses using social media
• Discuss the role of entrepreneurs and founders in project development
• Effective operation strategies for developing projects
• How to adjust and adapt to organizational change
• Performance indicators that are necessary for competitive project management
• The role of feedback in the development of any commercial project
• Why personal productivity is necessary for any project management strategy
• Reasons why health and behavioral science are important in project management
• Discuss the effects of globalization on project management policies

Quality Research Topics In Management

• Discuss the role of government policies and regulations in project management
• How power and influence impact award of tenders for various projects
• Human rights to consider in project management
• The role of incubation hubs in project development
• Cross-functional management in projects
• Team member engagement in project management
• Legal issues in project management
• Political interference in development projects
• Evaluate various workspaces design
• Why should workplace health and safety be a priority in project management?
• Virtual teams and project management
• Why mission statements are necessary for project management

Construction Project Management Research Topics

• Best practices in digital project management
• How English as a language necessitates project management
• Online technologies that offer innovative project management ideas
• Student-centered symposiums in project management
• Cheap project management solutions that offer quality output
• The role of expatriates in development projects
• Discuss the four phases of project management
• How to manage change in a project
• Agile innovation methods for project success
• Quantitative tools for project management
• The revival of the construction project economy
• Developing sustainable construction projects
• The impact of building information modeling
• Collaborative work in project management

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Scoring top grades is no longer a wish but a reality with these topics. If you wish to hire professional dissertation writers for your project management task, type ‘do my thesis,’ Our writers will come through for you. Our writing assistance is all you need to ace your project management paper today!

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The importance of project management certification.

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Nionila Ivanova, founder of IT Creative Labs , a full-service technology company for software development, digital marketing and staffing.

In the competitive realm of business, project management is more than just a skill—it's a critical component for success for anyone who aspires to be a great leader.

As a seasoned project manager and CEO, I've seen firsthand how certification can open doors and elevate careers. I founded my own IT project management program with the goal of driving diversity and inclusion in the male-dominated tech space and witnessed it open many opportunities for its graduates, including direct employment opportunities around the globe. It's not just about adding letters after your name—it's about the knowledge, credibility and confidence that certification brings.

Project management certification validates your expertise and signals to employers and clients that you have the skills to manage projects, teams and difficult situations effectively. Whether you're aiming for a promotion, looking to increase your earning potential or seeking to improve project outcomes for your organization, certification can be a game-changer.

Common Project Management Certifications And Courses

Project management certification is a formal recognition that an individual has achieved a specific level of knowledge, experience and expertise in the field of project management and leadership. These certifications are granted by professional organizations and institutions and typically require passing a rigorous exam and meeting certain professional experience criteria.

The purpose of these kinds of certifications is to confirm that project managers and managers alike are equipped with standardized skills and best practices to effectively plan, execute and close projects.

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Here are some of the most common ones:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) : Offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), it's one of the most prestigious and globally recognized certifications, covering a wide range of project management skills.

• PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) : PRINCE2 is a process-based certification provided by AXELOS. It's popular in the UK and Europe and focuses on managing projects in a structured and controlled environment.

• Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) : Offered by the Scrum Alliance, CSM focuses on the Scrum framework, an agile methodology used primarily in software development. It certifies that the individual can facilitate and manage Scrum teams effectively.

In addition to globally recognized certifications, beginner and experienced project managers also have a diverse array of online courses available to them.

These courses cater to various aspects of project management and leadership and offer flexibility in learning and specialization. Whether focusing on agile methodologies, risk management or leadership skills, these online resources can provide valuable opportunities to enhance knowledge and stay current with industry trends. So the purpose of online courses is to build up and continue to develop the skills necessary to strive in the business world. Similarly to accredited certification, course completion certificates confirm your newly attained skill sets and unlock career opportunities within corporate ladder as well as for entrepreneurs running their own businesses.

Choosing The Right Certification

Selecting the right project management certification or course is a pivotal decision that can significantly impact your career trajectory and professional development as well as that of your own company. You should consider the following factors to ensure the certification aligns with your professional goals and enhances your skills effectively:

Industry Relevance

The project management field encompasses diverse industries and methodologies. Consider certifications that align with your industry or the industry you aim to enter. For instance, if you work in IT, certifications like PMP or Agile certifications such as PMI-ACP and CSM may be highly relevant due to their focus on software development and agile methodologies. Similarly, IT management programs may be prudent to those looking to upskill or enter the world of IT and Advanced Leadership.

Specialized certifications like PRINCE2 are beneficial for those in sectors where structured project management approaches are emphasized.

Instructor Experience

Evaluate the quality and experience of instructors associated with the certification program or training courses. Experienced instructors bring practical insights, real-world examples, and industry knowledge to their teaching, enriching your learning experience and preparing you effectively for certification exams.

Evaluate the costs associated with obtaining the certification, including exam fees, study materials and potential training programs. Consider the potential return on investment (ROI) in terms of professional development.

Choosing to pursue a project management certification is a strategic investment in your career development and professional growth. By obtaining a certification aligned with your industry, career stage, and professional goals, you validate your expertise and enhance your marketability.

Certifications not only equip you with essential project management skills but also open doors to new opportunities for advancement and increased earning potential.

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At Lam Research, we create equipment that drives technological advancements in the semiconductor industry. Our innovative solutions enable chipmakers to power progress in nearly all aspects of modern life, and it takes each member of our team to make it possible. Across our organization, our employees come to work and change the world. We take on the toughest challenges with precision and accuracy. We push for the next big semiconductor breakthrough. We lead the way in one of the most critical and fast-moving industries on the planet. And we do it together, with deep connections and limitless collaboration. The impact we have on the world is made possible by focusing on our people. So we recognize and celebrate our teams’ achievements. We strive to create an inclusive and diverse culture where everyone’s contribution and voice has value. We evaluate and evolve our offerings, so our people receive the support and empowerment to do meaningful things for their lives, careers, and communities. Because at Lam, we believe that when people are the priority and they’re inspired to unleash the power of innovation for a better world together, anything is possible.

Program/Project Manager 4

Bangalore, IN-Bangalore, IN

The Global Operations Group brings information systems, facilities, supply chain, logistics, and high-volume manufacturing together to drive the engine of our global business operations. We help Lam deliver industry-leading solutions with speed and efficiency, while actively supporting the resilient and profitable growth of Lam's business.

As a Program or Project Manager at Lam, you will play a pivotal role in driving projects/programs for [insert group or strategic initiative]. You’ll be at the forefront of project initiation through delivery, using your expertise to coordinate cross-functional teams and ensure project are completed on time and within budget.

In this role, you will directly contribute to ___.

• Lead projects [insert group/functional area] related projects to solve complex business problems.
• Build solutions that will improve [insert relevant] business processes and support critical business strategies.
• Provide actionable insights for management to support decision making through data collection and analysis.
• Develop and deliver clear and concise communications for leadership teams and stakeholders.
• Ensure execution, manage risks, assure adherence to program or project schedules, and performance to meet business requirements.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to continuously improve the process.
• Run change management for projects and programs and support proper project closure.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, or related field with 8+ years of experience; or Master’s degree with 6+ years’ experience; or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of related experience in project management or program management
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders.
• Analytical skills to interpret and utilize data for decision support.
• Semiconductor industry or global supplier experience is a plus.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Relevant project management certifications such as PMP, CAPM, Scrum Master, or PRINCE2.

We believe it is important for every person to feel valued, included, and empowered to achieve their full potential. By bringing unique individuals and viewpoints together, we achieve extraordinary results.

Lam Research ("Lam" or the "Company") is an equal opportunity employer. Lam is committed to and reaffirms support of equal opportunity in employment and non-discrimination in employment policies, practices and procedures on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. It is the Company's intention to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Company policy prohibits unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees.

Lam offers a variety of work location models based on the needs of each role. Our hybrid roles combine the benefits of on-site collaboration with colleagues and the flexibility to work remotely and fall into two categories – On-site Flex and Virtual Flex. ‘On-site Flex’ you’ll work 3+ days per week on-site at a Lam or customer/supplier location, with the opportunity to work remotely for the balance of the week. ‘Virtual Flex’ you’ll work 1-2 days per week on-site at a Lam or customer/supplier location, and remotely the rest of the time.

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As previously detailed in the daily, Yost Hall will become a construction site on Wednesday, Nov. 1. In the ensuing months, crews will complete the work necessary to remove the structure so that construction on the university’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) can begin.

How will this work affect people in Yost Hall?

All of those who worked in Yost—including in the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics—have been relocated.

How will this work affect university parking along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive?

Lot 1B is now closed and will not re-open; that area is part of the ISEB project. All of those who used to park in the lot have been notified and offered alternative options. Some individuals who now park in Lot 1A may have to relocate temporarily to the Veale Garage; those individuals will be notified as soon as additional information becomes available. 

How will this project affect pedestrians in that area of the Case Quad?

Campus Planning and Facilities Management (CPFM) will collaborate with the project contractor to provide adequate signage indicating where individuals can and cannot walk. 

Will people still be able to access Tomlinson Hall—in particular the ground floor dining options?

Yes, Tomlinson offices and food services will continue to operate during the project.

Will the work affect labs in Wickenden Hall?

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Will any trees be removed during this project?

Some trees will need to be removed to make space for the new building, a process that will begin in early November. The university is committed to planting a new tree on campus for each tree that is taken down.

When will the actual demolition of Yost Hall begin?

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When will further updates be available?

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Top 170 Project Management Research Topics to Work in 2024

Home Blog Project Management Top 170 Project Management Research Topics to Work in 2024

In the ever-evolving field of project management, staying ahead of the most recent research trends is essential for professionals who wish to enhance their skills and increase successful project outcomes. This article highlights the top ten project management research topics expected to impact the project management field in 2024 significantly.

Along with Project Management certification courses , this thorough list will be an invaluable tool for exploring the main research frontiers in the dynamic field of project management. Whether you are an aspiring project manager, an academic researcher, or an industry professional looking to optimize your project strategies, project management certifications will support your growth.

What is a Project Management Research Paper?

Project management research papers are academic documents that go deeply into a single topic or aspect of the field of project management. It is usually written by students, researchers, or professionals in the field of project management, and its goal is to add new knowledge, insights, or views to the field.

A research paper on project management will look at some aspects of project management, be it a theoretical framework, methodology, best practices, or case studies. It entails conducting a systematic investigation into the chosen topic, accumulating and analyzing relevant information, and drawing conclusions or making suggestions based on the findings. The study of the project management research topics 2024 will help budding project managers along with PMP certification training .

List of Project Management Research Topics and Ideas

 Here is a list of project management research topics, for writing your project research paper.

Top 10 Project Management Research Topics

The following are the top project management thesis topics in 2024. Let us look into key points and overview of each project management research proposal:

1. Impact of Global Leadership in Leading to the Success of a Project

The following are the key points covered in the thesis on project management of “Impact of global leadership in leading to the success of a project”.

• Global Leadership in Leading Projects: Global leadership is the skill of project managers to lead and manage project teams that are from different cultures, different time zones, and different parts of the world. It means learning and adjusting to different cultural norms, ways of communicating, and ways of doing work.
• Communication and Working Together: Good communication and working together are key to the success of a project, especially when it's a global project.
• Team Building and Motivation: Global leaders must establish trust, develop a sense of a common goal, and provide adequate support and recognition to team members regardless of their geographic location.
• Knowledge Transfer and Learning: The importance of knowledge transfer and learning among project teams should be highlighted by global leadership.

The influence of global leadership on the success of a project has become an increasingly vital subject of research in the discipline of project management. Project teams are becoming more diverse, multicultural, and geographically dispersed as organizations continue to expand their global operations. This trend has created an urgent need for effective global leadership to navigate the complexities and challenges of managing projects across multiple countries, cultures, and time zones.

2. Effects of Cultural Diversity on Project Performance

• Understanding Cultural Diversity: People from other cultures bring their own unique set of values, beliefs, behaviors, and modes of communication to the table, creating a rich stew of cultural diversity.
• Benefits of Cultural Diversity in Project Management: Cultural diversity has various advantages for project management in addition to highlighting differences.
• Challenges of Cultural Diversity in Project Management: Even though cultural diversity can have a lot of positive effects on a project, it also poses special difficulties that project managers must overcome to ensure project success.
• Effective Management of Culturally Diverse Teams: It can be difficult to manage a team with different cultural backgrounds, but with the correct strategy, project managers can capitalize on diversity's advantages and complete projects successfully.

This research topic, it is examined how cultural diversity affects project performance as well as how project managers may successfully lead a multicultural team to project success.

In today's globalized world, cultural diversity is more common than ever and has a big impact on project management. Project managers need to understand how cultural variations between the team, stakeholders, and clients might impact project performance.

3. Popular Leadership Style Used by Project Managers

The following are the key points discussed in the research paper “Popular leadership style used by project managers”.

• Qualities of Effective Leadership.
• Leadership Styles of Project Managers:
• Democratic leadership style
• Transformational leadership style
• Situational leadership style
• Comparative analysis
• Charismatic leadership style
• Summarizing the main findings and contributions of the research.

The paper begins by emphasizing the significance of effective project management leadership and its influence on project outcomes. It emphasizes that project managers require not only technical expertise but also the ability to inspire and lead their teams to deliver results. The purpose of this study is to identify the most prevalent leadership styles employed by project managers and cast light on their effectiveness within the context of project management.

Overall, the project management research paper offers insightful insights into the most prevalent leadership styles employed by project managers. It provides a thorough comprehension of the significance of leadership in project management and emphasizes the effectiveness of transformational leadership in motivating high-performance teams. The findings are a valuable resource for project managers and other professionals who wish to improve their leadership skills and project outcomes.

4. Evaluate PMBOK Guidelines

The following are the key points in “Evaluate the PMBOK guidelines”.

• Introduction to PMBOK Guidelines
• Evaluation of Strengths
• Identification of Weaknesses
• Areas for Improvement
• Suggestions for Enhancements

This research paper tries to evaluate the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guidelines, a widely accepted project management standard. The PMBOK provides a comprehensive framework and best practices for effectively managing projects. This study analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the PMBOK guidelines, identifies areas for improvement, and proposes potential enhancements to increase its relevance and applicability in modern project management practices.

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5. Stakeholder Approach to Successful Adoption of Projects

The following are the key points discussed in the research paper “Stakeholder Approach to Successful Adoption of Projects.”

• This paper examines the significance of stakeholder management to the successful adoption of projects.
• Understanding Stakeholders
• Significance of Stakeholder Management
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Engaging Stakeholders
• Stakeholder Engagement Strategies
• Managing Stakeholder Expectations
• Overcoming Challenges
• Benefits of the Stakeholder Approach

This research paper begins with an overview of stakeholders and their significance in project management. It emphasizes that stakeholders include individuals, groups, and organizations that can influence a project or be influenced by it. The paper emphasizes the necessity of identifying, analyzing, and ranking stakeholders based on their interests, power, and influence while acknowledging the wide variety of stakeholders involved in any given project.

The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of adopting a stakeholder-based approach to project management for attaining successful project outcomes. It prioritizes the need for project managers to recognize stakeholders as essential collaborators and engage them actively throughout the project lifecycle. By considering the interests of stakeholders, managing their expectations, and maintaining open communication channels, projects can increase their likelihood of successful adoption and long-term sustainability.

6. Effect of Change Mobilization on Companies

The following are the key points discussed in the research paper “Effects of change mobilization in Companies.”

• Importance of Change Mobilization
• Change Mobilization Strategies
• Impact on Organizational Performance
• Challenges and Barriers to Change Mobilization
• Overcoming Challenges and Enhancing Change Mobilization

The "Effect of Change Mobilization in Companies" research paper investigates the influence of change mobilization on organizational performance and employee engagement. The study investigates the numerous strategies and approaches utilized by businesses to successfully carry out and oversee initiatives to change. The findings demonstrate a positive relationship between effective change mobilization and increased productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction. The paper highlights the significance of leadership, communication, and employee participation in facilitating organizational change.

7. Impact of Reward System on Boosting Productivity

The following are the key points included in the project management research paper “Impact of a reward system on boosting productivity”.

• This paper investigates the effect of a reward system on boosting productivity in a variety of contexts.
• Importance of Rewards in Motivation.
• Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Reward Systems.
• Types of Rewards
• Case Studies and Empirical Evidence.
• Challenges and Limitations.
• The research paper also concludes that well-designed reward systems can have a positive impact on productivity by motivating individuals and fostering a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

The research paper investigates the effects of implementing a reward system on organizational productivity levels. The study investigates how incentives and recognition can positively impact employee motivation, engagement, and overall performance.

Overall, the research paper illuminates the significant influence of a reward system on increasing organizational productivity. It provides administrators and human resource professionals with valuable insights and recommendations that can be used to improve employee motivation and performance, leading to increased productivity and organizational success.

8. Relation Between Leadership and Change Management

The following are the key points discussed in the research paper “Relation between Leadership and Change Management”:

• Definition of leadership and change management in the project management context.
• Leadership's Role in Change Management.
• Leadership Styles and Change Management.
• Key Factors for Effective Leadership in Change Management.
• Case Studies and Examples.
• Challenges and Recommendations.

This project management research topic examines the vital connection between leadership and change management in the context of project management. It attempts to examine how effective leadership influences the success of organizational change initiatives. Examining various leadership styles and their influence on change management processes, the study identifies the important factors that contribute to effective leadership in driving successful change.

9. How to Develop Cost-effective Projects in Developed Nations?

The following are the key points discussed in the research paper “How to Develop Cost-effective Projects in Developed Nations”:

• A survey of project management in developed countries
• The significance of efficiency in project development.
• Objective and methodology of research.
• Cost-effectiveness factors in developed countries.
• Cost-Effective Project Management Strategies.
• Case Studies and Effective Methods.
• Cost-Effective Project Management Framework for Developed Nations.

This research paper concentrates on the identification of strategies and methods to build cost-effective projects in developed nations. The study acknowledges the challenges project managers experience in high-cost environments and aims to provide practical insights and suggestions for achieving optimal project outcomes while minimizing costs. The paper synthesizes current research and case studies to highlight key contributors to cost-effectiveness and presents a framework for project management in developed nations.

10. Analyze the Role of Soft Skills in Project Success Rates

The following are the key points included in the research paper “Analyze the Role of soft skills in project success rates”:

• Definition of soft skills
• Importance of soft skills in project management
• Relation between soft skills and project accomplishment
• Effective communication
• Leadership and team management
• Resolution of disagreements and problem-solving
• Importance of soft skills development
• Team composition and selection
• Integration of soft skills in project management practices

The "Analyze the Role of Soft Skills in Project Success Rates" research paper examines the significance of soft skills in determining project success rates. Soft skills are a collection of personal characteristics and interpersonal abilities that enable individuals to communicate, collaborate, and manage relationships in professional settings. This study seeks to investigate the effect of these abilities on project outcomes, shedding light on their contribution to project success.The paper begins with an introduction to the significance of soft skills in the contemporary workplace, emphasizing their increasing recognition alongside technical expertise. It emphasizes the growing complexity of initiatives and the need for effective teamwork, communication, and leadership skills to successfully navigate such complexity.

Software Project Management Research Topics

These topics cover a range of critical issues, tactics, risk management, AI integration, and agile methodologies in software project management.

• Software Project Management Challenges in Distributed and Remote Teams.
• Effective Software Project Risk Management Strategies.
• The Role of DevOps in Accelerating Software Project Delivery.
• Agile vs. Waterfall: Comparative Analysis in Software Project Management.
• Quality Assurance and Testing Practices in Software Project Management.
• Project Portfolio Management in Software Organizations.
• Managing Scope Changes and Requirements Volatility in Software Projects.

Construction Project Management Research Ideas

These topics cover sustainability, safety, technology adoption, and stakeholder engagement in construction project management.

• Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Large-Scale Construction Projects.
• The Role of Technology in Improving Construction Project Efficiency.
• Resource Allocation and Cost Control in Construction Methods.
• Safety Management and Accident Prevention in Construction.
• Optimizing Construction Project Scheduling and Time Management.
• Green Building Practices and Sustainable Construction Projects.
• Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication in Complex Construction Projects.
• Impact of Lean Construction Principles on Project Delivery.

Research Topics for Project Management in Healthcare

These topics cover various aspects of healthcare project management, facility construction, implementing technology, quality improvement, and crisis management.

• Healthcare Supply Chain Management and Project Efficiency.
• Managing Change in Healthcare Organizations: A Project Management Perspective.
• Optimizing Healthcare Facility Construction and Renovation Projects.
• Telemedicine Project Management and its Impact on Health care Delivery.
• Healthcare Project Risk Management: A Case Study Analysis.
• Patient-Centered Care Initiatives and Project Management Best Practices.
• Quality Improvement Projects in Healthcare: Challenges and Success Factors.

Research Topics in the Agile Project Management  

• How can project managers survive the agile scare?  
• Can a project manager be an effective scrum master?  
• Agile leadership - Looking beyond the project management horizon  
• Lean agile principles and project management - applying these constructively  
• Zeroing down on the role of a functional manager in agile project management  
• Measuring agile adoption across the organization  
• Tips for being an effective impediment remover while driving projects successfully across the industries  
• Scrum best practices with project management - creating high performing teams  
• How utilization metrics help and what can project managers do to address low team utilization ratios?  
• Beyond velocity - a look at key metrics for agile teams  
• Roadmap planning - how does it help project managers?  
• Understanding the overlapping roles of product and project management  
• DevOps framework - explainer of the 4 pillars of DevOps  
• Can a project manager be an effective impediment remover for teams  
• How to manage risks effectively in case of distributed teams  
• Changes in project management after the pandemic era  
• Proven change management strategies for project managers  
• Demystifying resource utilization to solve project problems  
• How to drive effective retrospectives for any agile team  
• Improving collaboration a key ingredient for project success  
• Evolution of project lifecycle - from traditional to agile  
• Avoiding pitfalls when scaling agile   
• SAFe vs LeSS - understanding distinct agile methodologies  
• Why is scrum the most popular agile methodology  
• Product backlog - the key to agile project success  

Project Management Research  Topics in by Project Phases  

A. project initiation    .

• Explained - the art of choosing the right projects for the organization  
• Mapping portfolio vision to project execution methods  
• Understanding patterns of successful project selection methods   
• What must project managers know about benefits management  
• Project tradeoffs and how, what and when to make the choice  
• The 4 quadrants of choosing the right projects  
• Sunk costs - how to avoid hitting the tip of the iceberg  
• The art of stakeholder management in project management  
• Move stakeholders from unaware to leading - a guide for project managers  
• Stakeholder engagement - the hidden truth of project management  
• Identifying stakeholders - the first step to effective project management  
• How to convert business documents to project documentation  

B. Project Planning  

• Peeling the agile planning onion layer by layer  
• Shift left project planning from top-down to bottoms-up  
• Understanding importance of Gantt charts in project planning  
• Planning cross-vertical projects - Do’s and Don'ts  
• Avoiding project planning pitfalls  
• Project planning for dummies  
• Passing the baton from project planning to implementation  
• Planning projects as a servant leader  
• Capacity planning and its applications across software development  
• A guide to rolling-wave planning and its benefits  
• Comparative analysis - project scheduling and planning tools  
• Scope management - establishing clear boundaries for project success  

C. Project Execution  

• Handover from project planning to execution - A checklist  
• Balancing the project management triangle in a chaotic environment  
• Project documentation - the backbone of project management and execution  
• Executing projects with the help of modern day GPTs  
• Execute projects using AI - going beyond traditional project management  
• How AI can change the way project managers think about project execution  
• Different ways to capture unknown-unknowns in project management  
• Contingency planning - how to plan for the worst and prepare for the best  
• Executing cross-vertical projects - common challenges and pitfalls  
• Linking themes, initiatives, and user stories - lessons for project managers  
• Success stories on project communication - how to engage team members effectively  
• Communication tools and strategies - chalking the project management path  

D. Project Monitoring and Controlling    

• What metrics must project managers see on a daily basis  
• Fix the scope creep and gold plating problems the traditional way  
• The art of project management - how to monitor and control projects effectively  
• Effective risk management for project managers  
• How to monitor projects using ChatGPT prompts  
• Risk management 101 - 101 common risks every PM must know  
• Patterns in risk management - how to uncover risks early and easily  
• Quality control - the most effective methods for project success  
• Impact of continuous improvement on project success and methods  
• What cannot be fixed in projects - tips every project manager must know  
• Triaging meetings - the lesser known project management gemstone  
• Common project monitoring and control pitfalls every PM must avoid  

E. Project Closure    

• Simplifying project closure - ways to effectively close projects  
• Why 90% project managers fail to close projects convincingly  
• Balancing stakeholders during project closure  
• Project closure - transitioning from project management to benefits management  
• Project closure checklist - common handoffs to complete and close projects  
• The what and how of post project evaluations   
• How to perform effective retrospectives in any project  
• Creating Organization Process Assets and lessons learned while closing projects  
• Knowledge transfer - moving from project management to operations  
• Establishing measures to address challenges when closing projects  
• How can project managers learn from failures while closing projects  
• Common project closure pitfalls every PM must avoid.  

Project Research Topics by Domain  

A. finance and accounting    .

• A guide to key financial performance indicators (KPIs) to measure projects  
• Cost benefit accounting and analysis in financial project selection   
• Comparative analysis of project budgeting methods in finance and accounting projects  
• Knowing what types of financial metrics are used in project evaluation  
• Transparency and Accountability in project management reporting  
• Project financial management - a guide to cost benefit analysis  
• Key to project financial disclosures for project managers  
• Risk mitigation and management in project financial analysis  
• Key financial ratios to review project performance  
• Project financial statements that a project manager must analyze during project closure  

B. Sales and Marketing    

• Borrowing techniques from project management for effective campaign planning  
• Strategies for conducting comprehensive market research  
• Product launch - creating a step-by-step path using project management practices  
• How to add project management best practices to establish robust marketing management plans  
• Project management in the digital age - tools to run digital marketing strategies  
• Best practices and pitfalls for sales and marketing projects   
• Project management practices to design and conduct impactful sales trainings  
• Successful planning and control techniques experienced marketing managers must know  
• How can project managers drive transition from sales management to service management  
• How can project managers draft a successful CRM implementation plan  

C. Manufacturing Industry    

• TQM - the role of Total Quality Management in the manufacturing industry   
• Getting the hands dirty - techniques PMs must employ for project management in factories  
• Green manufacturing initiatives - how do they influence projects and project management  
• Exploring project communication strategies and challenges in manufacturing project management  
• How has six sigma and lean quality principles helped project management  
• Waste reduction - the science every project manager in manufacturing must know  
• Meeting labor needs - techniques for project managers to work with labor unions  
• Project management and Internet of Things - driving innovation in industry 4.0  
• Why quality is everyone’s responsibility in the project  
• How can project managers create an effective documentation strategy for manufacturing industry  

D. Service Industry    

• Bridging the customer experience gap in project management  
• Project management and customer satisfaction - making two ends meet  
• Analysis of Agile adoption across industries and domains  
• Embracing project management success strategies in the digital PM drive  
• Risk management in service industry - an overview  
• ChatGPT prompts that every project manager must know   
• How ChatGPT can calculate Key Performance Indicators for any project  
• Common project pitfalls that every project manager must know  
• Applying agile techniques in service industry   
• Enhancing digital adoption via various channels and techniques  

Project Research Topics for the  Non IT  Industry  

• Application of project management practices in Finance and Accounting  
• Project management best practices for healthcare industry  
• How project management can help optimize operations management  
• Establishing measures for effective project management in primary industries  
• Building effective project management strategies in secondary industries  
• Improvising project management practices in tertiary industries  
• Agile transformations in the retail space  
• Harnessing project management practices for stock broking and trading  
• Building engaging and successful team dynamics in the defense industry  
• Creating meaningful OKRs for projects in the Non-IT industry  
• How knowledge areas and processes of project management can help non-IT industries  
• Creating meaningful metrics for measuring project performance  
• Driving automobile sales and delivery using project management practices  
• Insights for CRM based project applications  
• PM best practices applied in non-IT based projects  

How to Write a Project Management Research Paper?

It is suggested to get certified in PRINCE2 certification training for aspiring project managers, which will help them work on well-organized and logical project management topics for research papers. Here is a step-by-step guide to writing your research paper on project management:

• Select a topic of project management that sparks your interest.
• Utilize credible sources such as academic journals, books, Google research, websites, and scholarly articles to conduct extensive research on the selected topic.
• Create a plan to organize your primary ideas and thoughts.
• Write an appealing introduction that provides perspective and states your research question.
• Provide a comprehensive survey of the appropriate research by summarizing existing studies and theories.
• Clearly describe your method, including how you plan to collect and examine data.
• Use tables, charts, or graphs as necessary to present your findings or results.
• Consider any restrictions or limitations of your study and explain how they may have affected your findings.
• Your paper should be proofread and edited for clarity, coherence, grammar, and spelling.
• Format your paper according to the specific instructions provided by your institution or the journal to which you are submitting.
• To avoid plagiarism, cite your sources using the appropriate format (e.g., APA, MLA).
• To enhance the quality and rigor of your research paper, solicit feedback from peers or professors.

These topics for research in project management provide an excellent roadmap for project management academicians and practitioners to follow as we move forward. By focusing on these areas, we can obtain valuable insights, foster innovation, and elevate the project management discipline to new heights. The discipline of project management, such as construction project management research topics and ideas, is in a constant state of evolution, and researchers need to explore new avenues and address new challenges. Along with getting trained in these project management research proposal topics, it is suggested to enroll in KnowledgeHut Project Management courses for beginners and get globally recognized accreditations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Project management for research is the process of planning, coordinating, and carrying out research tasks in a way that helps reach certain goals within certain limits. 

The questions that a study or research project is trying to answer are the research questions. Most of the time, this question is about a problem or issue that is answered in the study's result through the analysis and interpretation of data.

The latest emerging project topics are Hybrid Project Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI) And Automation, Rise in remote working, Advanced Resource and Project Management Software, and Projects and Organizational strategy.

Kevin D.Davis

Kevin D. Davis is a seasoned and results-driven Program/Project Management Professional with a Master's Certificate in Advanced Project Management. With expertise in leading multi-million dollar projects, strategic planning, and sales operations, Kevin excels in maximizing solutions and building business cases. He possesses a deep understanding of methodologies such as PMBOK, Lean Six Sigma, and TQM to achieve business/technology alignment. With over 100 instructional training sessions and extensive experience as a PMP Exam Prep Instructor at KnowledgeHut, Kevin has a proven track record in project management training and consulting. His expertise has helped in driving successful project outcomes and fostering organizational growth.

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