Project work

Summary

“Project work” refers to any bigger projects done for customers. Typically, a customer will request something, it’s worked on over several weeks or months, and eventually it’s concluded. There is often ongoing support and consultation afterwards. Projects may take the form of long-term consulting or co-working, or a whole aspect of a project being independently delegated to the RSE.

Initial planning is a major task, because far too often a project is started without a clear end goal. This is normal for research, but when things are being given to an outsider to work on, the expectations are higher. Often times, we have to help the customer figure out what they should want, but this starting planning is listed under Project planner.

Since the starting process is described under Project planner, the major challenge of this section is communication and co-working practicalities. How to record the time spent and effort? How to keep an open communication with the customers, so that the project doesn’t go off the rails? And so on.

Main challenges/pitfalls

  • Working within a research group, without actually being part of it.

  • Maintaining close enough communication so that expectations are met.

  • Fully understanding what’s going on and the expectations.

  • Realizing when the customer doesn’t just need something done, but needs help coming up with how to do it. You are a researcher, not a contracted developer.

  • Gracefully handle major changes to the plan, possibly throwing everything off track.

  • Gracefully handle customers who have something else come up and thus stop being responsive to us at all. Figuring out what you should do then: how to avoid it looking like you were inactive when they come back (unless that is what was desired).

  • Not recording or being clear when the project goals drift. Then ending up at a point where we and the customer have different expectations and are unhappy.

  • Customers who don’t know as much about the project as you do (managing their expectations, keeping them in the loop, etc.).

Expectations / checklists

  • When the request is clear and you can do things without help, negotiate and start projects yourself. When it’s complex or there is any chance that the customer needs you to help develop the idea, use the ideas from Project planner.

  • Use a researcher’s mind and a developer’s tools to solve the customer’s problems.

  • Maintain active communication with the customers, especially making sure that we avoid common pitfalls (see above)

  • Discuss frequently with your mentors to ensure that you stay on track and they have the info to intervene if it ever became needed.

  • Keep the customers up to date with what you are doing (for example at least weekly but ideally more), in a language customers can understand, in enough detail so that they can warn you if something is going wrong.

  • Ask for help when you need it.

  • Give a report in the RSE meeting once a project is done.

External materials

Training program: materials and exercises

Demonstration: going through the rse-projects gitlab tracker