WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.300 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:03.370 align:middle line:78% [Morse code beeps] [Whoosh] [Helicopter rotor] 00:00:12.012 --> 00:00:12.512 align:middle line:90% Hi everyone. 00:00:12.512 --> 00:00:15.482 align:middle line:84% My name is Nick Rober. I am a Fellow with the AeroAstro Comm Lab. 00:00:15.482 --> 00:00:18.485 align:middle line:84% And today we're going to be talking about managing a research project. 00:00:19.052 --> 00:00:22.055 align:middle line:84% So the lesson goals for today are first to identify 00:00:22.555 --> 00:00:26.626 align:middle line:84% ways that we can both define and scope a research topic. 00:00:26.893 --> 00:00:27.694 align:middle line:90% We'll talk about 00:00:27.694 --> 00:00:32.365 align:middle line:84% how we can learn strategies for, breaking projects into manageable bits. 00:00:32.732 --> 00:00:36.469 align:middle line:84% And then we'll also practice, tracking our progress for a given research 00:00:36.870 --> 00:00:39.939 align:middle line:84% topic, and adapting your plan as things change. 00:00:42.175 --> 00:00:43.843 align:middle line:90% So first I want to jump into why 00:00:43.843 --> 00:00:46.846 align:middle line:84% actually managing a research topic is important. 00:00:47.147 --> 00:00:50.550 align:middle line:84% So if you haven't figured this out by now, research can be very messy. 00:00:50.550 --> 00:00:52.786 align:middle line:84% So things don't usually go according to plan. 00:00:52.786 --> 00:00:56.656 align:middle line:84% Things change as you, as you go through, researching a topic, 00:00:56.656 --> 00:00:59.659 align:middle line:84% and what we call a scope creep can be very normal. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.328 align:middle line:84% And what scope creep is, is just the gradual 00:01:02.328 --> 00:01:05.965 align:middle line:90% changing of your scope of your research. 00:01:05.965 --> 00:01:09.569 align:middle line:84% So as you go through a project, maybe you add things, maybe you remove things. 00:01:09.803 --> 00:01:14.441 align:middle line:84% The scope of what you're actually researching changes as you go, and this is 00:01:14.808 --> 00:01:15.442 align:middle line:90% super super common. 00:01:16.576 --> 00:01:17.143 align:middle line:90% And so 00:01:17.143 --> 00:01:20.747 align:middle line:84% what we see is that if you're, if you have poor project management, 00:01:21.047 --> 00:01:24.050 align:middle line:84% there can be a lot of wasted time, a lot of frustration, a lot of, 00:01:24.317 --> 00:01:27.320 align:middle line:84% you know, difficult meetings with your advisor. 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:30.857 align:middle line:84% But if you have very clear, and efficient management, 00:01:30.924 --> 00:01:34.294 align:middle line:84% you can make progress a lot faster, and your impact is usually pretty, 00:01:34.828 --> 00:01:36.128 align:middle line:90% is usually higher. 00:01:36.128 --> 00:01:40.700 align:middle line:84% So the thing to keep in mind is that even from very early stage, 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:43.203 align:middle line:90% stage planning of your research topic, 00:01:43.203 --> 00:01:45.205 align:middle line:84% this is something that you should keep in mind. 00:01:45.205 --> 00:01:48.408 align:middle line:84% You want to be able to identify what you're going to be doing next, 00:01:48.708 --> 00:01:52.779 align:middle line:84% how that might change, and then avoiding getting stuck 00:01:52.779 --> 00:01:57.984 align:middle line:84% in kind of cycles of reading and, and going back to the drawing board. 00:01:58.518 --> 00:02:02.655 align:middle line:84% And then also you, with good project management, 00:02:02.655 --> 00:02:05.758 align:middle line:84% you can notice quickly when a direction isn't really working or 00:02:05.758 --> 00:02:06.759 align:middle line:90% probably won't pan out. 00:02:08.026 --> 00:02:11.030 align:middle line:84% So what are the common research challenges that make this difficult? 00:02:11.297 --> 00:02:14.801 align:middle line:84% People will often try and address a topic 00:02:14.801 --> 00:02:16.870 align:middle line:90% that is either too broad or too vague. 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:21.941 align:middle line:84% This usually leads to kind of just reading without much focus 00:02:21.941 --> 00:02:24.978 align:middle line:84% and and trying to get as much information, but you don't necessarily 00:02:24.978 --> 00:02:26.980 align:middle line:84% know what information you're trying to get. 00:02:26.980 --> 00:02:30.617 align:middle line:84% And then if you have difficulty explaining your project 00:02:30.617 --> 00:02:32.218 align:middle line:90% in 1 or 2 sentences, 00:02:32.218 --> 00:02:35.788 align:middle line:84% that can be an indication that you're working on something a little bit vague. 00:02:36.222 --> 00:02:38.825 align:middle line:90% Trying to solve a lot of stuff at once. 00:02:38.825 --> 00:02:40.426 align:middle line:84% So we'll talk about this a little bit later, 00:02:40.426 --> 00:02:42.562 align:middle line:90% but if you're doing a lot of things 00:02:42.562 --> 00:02:46.299 align:middle line:84% it makes it a challenge to actually get anything done because, 00:02:46.633 --> 00:02:50.203 align:middle line:84% the amount of stuff that you're doing is really difficult. 00:02:50.670 --> 00:02:53.606 align:middle line:90% So what this often manifests as 00:02:53.606 --> 00:02:56.609 align:middle line:84% is feeling busy but not actually getting much done. 00:02:56.643 --> 00:03:00.480 align:middle line:84% Another thing that is important to keep in mind is, is your project 00:03:00.513 --> 00:03:01.614 align:middle line:90% progress trackable? 00:03:01.614 --> 00:03:06.619 align:middle line:84% Is, the, are the things that you're doing, measurable in some way? 00:03:07.754 --> 00:03:09.422 align:middle line:90% And another important 00:03:09.422 --> 00:03:13.326 align:middle line:84% challenge that we'll talk about is communication with your advisor. 00:03:13.326 --> 00:03:16.663 align:middle line:84% So if you're meeting, if your meetings feel unproductive, 00:03:17.063 --> 00:03:19.299 align:middle line:84% or if you're getting a lot of contradictory feedback 00:03:19.299 --> 00:03:21.167 align:middle line:84% that seems different from one meeting to the next, 00:03:21.167 --> 00:03:25.204 align:middle line:84% it may be an indication that you're, you're not moving with enough focus. 00:03:26.005 --> 00:03:29.776 align:middle line:84% So the important thing to kind of begin with is 00:03:29.776 --> 00:03:32.612 align:middle line:84% you want to start with a very clear question. 00:03:32.612 --> 00:03:35.949 align:middle line:84% So keep in mind that research is ultimately a practice 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:38.918 align:middle line:90% of asking and answering questions 00:03:39.052 --> 00:03:42.055 align:middle line:84% and you shouldn't be trying to accomplish everything in one go. 00:03:42.555 --> 00:03:46.359 align:middle line:84% So whenever you're starting or working on a research project, 00:03:46.459 --> 00:03:51.531 align:middle line:84% a very key question that you should ask yourself is what gap am I addressing. 00:03:51.898 --> 00:03:54.601 align:middle line:84% So this could be through the form of you know what. 00:03:54.601 --> 00:03:55.768 align:middle line:90% So what doesn't work, 00:03:55.768 --> 00:03:59.539 align:middle line:84% what isn't understood, or what is missing in current approaches? 00:03:59.906 --> 00:04:02.542 align:middle line:90% You may ask why, why does a gap matter? 00:04:02.542 --> 00:04:04.677 align:middle line:90% Why does this thing happen? 00:04:04.677 --> 00:04:05.578 align:middle line:90% Or how? 00:04:05.578 --> 00:04:10.250 align:middle line:84% So how can this be addressed with, you know, a given set of tools that may exist? 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.852 align:middle line:84% Or how can we develop new tools to address this problem? 00:04:14.220 --> 00:04:15.421 align:middle line:90% And the thing to keep in mind 00:04:15.421 --> 00:04:18.925 align:middle line:84% is that you want to keep it narrow enough that it's something that is achievable, 00:04:19.225 --> 00:04:22.829 align:middle line:84% but not too narrow, that it becomes uninteresting or trivial. 00:04:23.696 --> 00:04:27.900 align:middle line:84% So one way to do this is, with what I call the scope matrix. 00:04:27.967 --> 00:04:30.970 align:middle line:84% So there's three axes to the scope matrix. 00:04:31.137 --> 00:04:32.805 align:middle line:90% One axis is the problem. 00:04:32.805 --> 00:04:35.808 align:middle line:84% So how big or small, easy or hard is the problem? 00:04:37.343 --> 00:04:38.645 align:middle line:90% One axis is the method. 00:04:38.645 --> 00:04:42.548 align:middle line:84% So, is your method that you're going to try to apply super, super new 00:04:42.582 --> 00:04:46.052 align:middle line:84% never been done before, or is it something that's maybe a little bit more standard? 00:04:46.286 --> 00:04:47.887 align:middle line:90% And then the third axis is the domain. 00:04:47.887 --> 00:04:52.058 align:middle line:84% So you know, how broad or narrow is the set of problems that you're trying 00:04:52.625 --> 00:04:53.192 align:middle line:90% to to address. 00:04:53.192 --> 00:04:57.664 align:middle line:84% And ultimately what this boils down to is that increasing along one axis 00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:01.234 align:middle line:84% will usually require a decrease in the other to remain feasible. 00:05:01.868 --> 00:05:05.138 align:middle line:84% So for example, consider we have some problem, 00:05:05.438 --> 00:05:08.207 align:middle line:84% and we want to, we want to solve that problem. 00:05:08.207 --> 00:05:11.911 align:middle line:84% If I want to take a standard method and update it 00:05:11.911 --> 00:05:15.748 align:middle line:84% so that I have some new method, maybe the problem can stay the same, 00:05:15.748 --> 00:05:20.053 align:middle line:84% but the domain of types of, things that it applies to is reduced. 00:05:20.053 --> 00:05:22.255 align:middle line:84% So that is represented by this diagram here. 00:05:23.690 --> 00:05:26.125 align:middle line:84% An overambitious example for this scope matrix. 00:05:26.125 --> 00:05:30.029 align:middle line:84% So you could imagine if we have our problem is safety 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:33.032 align:middle line:84% performance and stability, so three properties of a system, 00:05:33.666 --> 00:05:36.436 align:middle line:84% maybe what we're trying to do is develop a unified control 00:05:36.436 --> 00:05:39.305 align:middle line:84% and verification framework. So that does a lot of stuff. 00:05:39.305 --> 00:05:42.475 align:middle line:84% And then the domain is for all autonomous aerospace vehicles. 00:05:43.176 --> 00:05:46.746 align:middle line:84% These are all three different things that have kind of maxed out one of the 00:05:46.746 --> 00:05:50.917 align:middle line:84% axes of the scope matrix, and solving this problem would be super, super hard. 00:05:50.917 --> 00:05:54.620 align:middle line:84% So you kind of need to reduce one or more of the axes to actually, 00:05:55.054 --> 00:05:58.024 align:middle line:84% you know, think about actually solving this problem. 00:05:58.024 --> 00:06:00.893 align:middle line:84% So with that in mind, we will launch into our first activity of the day. 00:06:00.893 --> 00:06:04.163 align:middle line:90% So open the Apply the Scoping Matrix file, 00:06:04.664 --> 00:06:06.699 align:middle line:84% and take about five minutes to complete that. 00:06:08.101 --> 00:06:10.103 align:middle line:90% [Alien 00:06:10.103 --> 00:06:14.173 align:middle line:90% spaceship beeps] 00:06:17.110 --> 00:06:20.213 align:middle line:84% Okay, so once we've kind of thought about our project and scoped it out 00:06:20.213 --> 00:06:23.182 align:middle line:84% and have some idea of what we're doing that's reasonable and achievable, 00:06:23.182 --> 00:06:27.553 align:middle line:84% the next piece of managing a research project is to break your project 00:06:27.553 --> 00:06:28.621 align:middle line:90% into units. 00:06:28.621 --> 00:06:31.624 align:middle line:84% So I have what I like to call the minimum research unit. 00:06:31.758 --> 00:06:34.927 align:middle line:84% So this is just a small and meaningful result 00:06:34.927 --> 00:06:39.198 align:middle line:84% that can be, achieved by you know, 1 or 2 actions. 00:06:39.599 --> 00:06:43.669 align:middle line:84% But basically what you want to do is you want to start with 1 or 2 00:06:43.669 --> 00:06:46.873 align:middle line:84% small questions, that can be answered through 00:06:47.440 --> 00:06:51.744 align:middle line:84% one experiment and it produces maybe a tangible figure, or graph, 00:06:51.744 --> 00:06:55.615 align:middle line:84% or a result that you can kind of point to and say, 00:06:55.615 --> 00:06:58.618 align:middle line:84% you know, “I answered this question, with this result.” 00:06:58.851 --> 00:07:03.389 align:middle line:84% These minimum research units help to decide what to work on next. 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:07.827 align:middle line:84% They help to recognize you know, progress when you're making it. 00:07:07.827 --> 00:07:10.830 align:middle line:84% So once you get this figure, you say, you know, this is progress. 00:07:11.531 --> 00:07:14.000 align:middle line:90% And then it helps to avoid getting stuck 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.537 align:middle line:84% in these loops where you kind of have this vague idea of your direction 00:07:17.537 --> 00:07:20.640 align:middle line:84% you're moving, but not actually, getting any progress in that direction. 00:07:21.507 --> 00:07:25.445 align:middle line:84% So some examples of a minimum research unit could be, 00:07:25.611 --> 00:07:29.482 align:middle line:84% implementing a turbulence model and comparing it to baseline CFD. 00:07:29.816 --> 00:07:32.819 align:middle line:90% You might study the flow separation for 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:37.690 align:middle line:84% one angle of attack of, of a wing, or you might evaluate 00:07:37.690 --> 00:07:40.893 align:middle line:84% the aerodynamic performance, for some airfoil modification. 00:07:42.128 --> 00:07:44.864 align:middle line:90% So let's, go into the next activity. 00:07:44.864 --> 00:07:46.098 align:middle line:90% So find the file. 00:07:46.098 --> 00:07:49.202 align:middle line:84% Break Down Your Project and take roughly five minutes to complete 00:07:49.202 --> 00:07:52.205 align:middle line:90% that. 00:07:53.306 --> 00:07:57.076 align:middle line:90% [Alien spaceship beeps] 00:08:00.246 --> 00:08:02.248 align:middle line:90% So the next piece of managing a research 00:08:02.248 --> 00:08:05.618 align:middle line:84% project is, is very important, this is, milestones and tracking. 00:08:06.085 --> 00:08:09.055 align:middle line:84% So there's a couple of different types of milestones. 00:08:09.055 --> 00:08:10.790 align:middle line:90% We have short term milestones. 00:08:10.790 --> 00:08:16.362 align:middle line:84% So these are usually on the order of days to weeks, maybe a month, Where. 00:08:16.362 --> 00:08:20.166 align:middle line:84% you have a focus on doing and accomplishing something. 00:08:20.566 --> 00:08:22.101 align:middle line:90% Maybe you're learning something. 00:08:22.101 --> 00:08:24.370 align:middle line:84% Maybe there's something you need to understand better. 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:27.607 align:middle line:84% But it's often tied to one of these single 00:08:27.607 --> 00:08:30.543 align:middle line:84% kind of minimum research units that we talked about previously. 00:08:30.543 --> 00:08:34.145 align:middle line:84% So these short term milestones ultimately, what they help you do is, 00:08:34.145 --> 00:08:39.150 align:middle line:84% make progress in a visible way that, helps you, 00:08:39.585 --> 00:08:43.556 align:middle line:84% you know, track whether or not you're moving in the right direction. 00:08:44.155 --> 00:08:46.092 align:middle line:84% And it also helps you avoid getting overwhelmed. 00:08:46.092 --> 00:08:49.762 align:middle line:84% So by breaking things into smaller pieces, they feel more manageable 00:08:49.762 --> 00:08:52.098 align:middle line:84% and you can move more consistently in the right direction. 00:08:53.332 --> 00:08:54.534 align:middle line:90% Long term milestones, on the 00:08:54.534 --> 00:08:57.537 align:middle line:84% other hand, are usually more on the order of a month to a year. 00:08:57.737 --> 00:09:01.541 align:middle line:84% They're really good for kind of motivating your research direction. 00:09:02.141 --> 00:09:06.779 align:middle line:84% They can be used to, kind of choose what short term goals you have. 00:09:07.113 --> 00:09:11.684 align:middle line:84% But ultimately they're, they're focused on kind of high level outcomes. 00:09:11.684 --> 00:09:14.153 align:middle line:84% So it could be something like, I want to finish my thesis, 00:09:14.153 --> 00:09:16.989 align:middle line:84% I want to get this journal paper done, something like that. 00:09:16.989 --> 00:09:20.493 align:middle line:84% And that is what you can use to kind of build your short term milestones, 00:09:20.760 --> 00:09:22.395 align:middle line:90% to build up to that. 00:09:22.395 --> 00:09:24.664 align:middle line:90% And what long term milestones do is 00:09:24.664 --> 00:09:27.667 align:middle line:84% they will give you direction and motivation for your research. 00:09:28.467 --> 00:09:31.404 align:middle line:90% They’ll kind of teach you or show you what 00:09:31.404 --> 00:09:34.373 align:middle line:84% you need to prioritize in your short term work. 00:09:34.473 --> 00:09:37.677 align:middle line:84% And then they'll also anchor your project's overall purpose 00:09:37.677 --> 00:09:40.680 align:middle line:90% into something real and achievable. 00:09:40.746 --> 00:09:44.817 align:middle line:84% And throughout all of these milestones, you want to be tracking your progress 00:09:44.817 --> 00:09:45.251 align:middle line:90% in some way. 00:09:45.251 --> 00:09:46.919 align:middle line:90% So there should be some amount of, 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:49.956 align:middle line:84% you know, here's this output that I got from this milestone. 00:09:50.222 --> 00:09:52.325 align:middle line:90% And then that can be applied, you. 00:09:52.325 --> 00:09:56.262 align:middle line:84% know, iteratively through your long term horizon so that you're able to keep track 00:09:56.262 --> 00:09:59.532 align:middle line:84% of the fact that you're actually doing things, tangibly. 00:10:00.499 --> 00:10:03.269 align:middle line:90% And then the final piece of, 00:10:03.269 --> 00:10:06.772 align:middle line:84% managing a research project is adapting and refining your, your approach. 00:10:06.772 --> 00:10:09.976 align:middle line:84% Because, like I said at the beginning, rarely does 00:10:09.976 --> 00:10:12.979 align:middle line:84% a research project go fully to plan without any changes. 00:10:13.346 --> 00:10:17.817 align:middle line:84% So you should always expect that, you know, as you go through researching 00:10:17.817 --> 00:10:22.555 align:middle line:84% a specific topic your ideas about that topic and your approaches might change. 00:10:22.955 --> 00:10:24.924 align:middle line:90% This can happen for a bunch of reasons. 00:10:24.924 --> 00:10:28.427 align:middle line:84% Maybe, you learn that the problem you're working on is actually 00:10:28.694 --> 00:10:31.163 align:middle line:84% either much easier or much harder than you expected. 00:10:31.163 --> 00:10:34.834 align:middle line:84% So you'll need to change to accommodate that. 00:10:35.234 --> 00:10:37.370 align:middle line:84% Maybe something you thought would work actually didn't, 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:40.373 align:middle line:84% so you need to find either a new method or a new problem. 00:10:41.107 --> 00:10:43.209 align:middle line:84% You might discover prior work that you didn't 00:10:43.209 --> 00:10:46.212 align:middle line:84% really previously know about, and that's something that 00:10:46.212 --> 00:10:50.516 align:middle line:84% you'll have to go back and say, okay, does this, does this compete with my method, 00:10:50.516 --> 00:10:53.519 align:middle line:84% is this complimentary to my method, how can we deal with that? 00:10:53.686 --> 00:10:58.257 align:middle line:84% Additionally, as you're, as you're working on a project, you know 00:10:58.758 --> 00:11:02.194 align:middle line:84% constraints or issues with, the approach might become more clear. 00:11:02.194 --> 00:11:03.729 align:middle line:90% So you might have, 00:11:03.729 --> 00:11:07.566 align:middle line:84% you know better ideas or different ideas from what you previously had. 00:11:07.967 --> 00:11:10.236 align:middle line:84% And then ultimately, your interest can also evolve. 00:11:10.236 --> 00:11:14.273 align:middle line:84% So you may find that you know, as you're researching something, 00:11:14.273 --> 00:11:16.475 align:middle line:84% maybe you become interested in something else 00:11:16.475 --> 00:11:18.444 align:middle line:84% and that's something that you want to look at in the future. 00:11:18.444 --> 00:11:22.081 align:middle line:84% So these are all different ways that, you know as you're going through research 00:11:22.548 --> 00:11:25.484 align:middle line:84% the things that you're working on might tend to change. 00:11:25.484 --> 00:11:28.487 align:middle line:84% So the thing to keep in mind is that, you know, just because, 00:11:28.521 --> 00:11:30.790 align:middle line:84% something is changing, does not mean it's failure. 00:11:30.790 --> 00:11:33.059 align:middle line:84% It's it's all part of the research process. 00:11:34.393 --> 00:11:37.596 align:middle line:84% These are just things that happen, and it's it's very, very natural 00:11:37.596 --> 00:11:40.733 align:middle line:90% for the trajectory of research projects 00:11:40.733 --> 00:11:43.736 align:middle line:90% to change as you become more informed. 00:11:43.736 --> 00:11:45.738 align:middle line:84% But what you want to keep in mind is that you should always 00:11:45.738 --> 00:11:48.074 align:middle line:90% be kind of checking in with yourself. 00:11:48.074 --> 00:11:51.177 align:middle line:84% Asking yourself, is the scope still manageable? 00:11:51.177 --> 00:11:55.147 align:middle line:84% So has this project become so big and so broad that, you know, 00:11:55.147 --> 00:11:57.483 align:middle line:84% I can't reasonably actually achieve it anymore? 00:11:57.483 --> 00:11:59.618 align:middle line:84% Or is it still something that is achievable, 00:11:59.618 --> 00:12:02.254 align:middle line:90% just maybe different than before? 00:12:02.254 --> 00:12:03.322 align:middle line:90% Are the methods still feasible? 00:12:03.322 --> 00:12:07.059 align:middle line:84% So is is the approach that you had given, you know, maybe you've learned some 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:10.062 align:middle line:84% new things, is this still a good approach or the best approach? 00:12:10.596 --> 00:12:12.364 align:middle line:84% And then as you go, you should also be checking in 00:12:12.364 --> 00:12:15.568 align:middle line:84% with the milestones that you'd previously set and asking if they're realistic. 00:12:15.568 --> 00:12:17.002 align:middle line:90% There may be things that you know 00:12:17.002 --> 00:12:19.572 align:middle line:84% took longer than expected or were faster than expected, 00:12:19.572 --> 00:12:23.209 align:middle line:84% and you should be updating kind of your, your plan as you go through 00:12:23.209 --> 00:12:24.110 align:middle line:90% your research project. 00:12:25.544 --> 00:12:26.078 align:middle line:90% So with that, 00:12:26.078 --> 00:12:29.081 align:middle line:84% you should now be able to deliberately manage scope, 00:12:29.115 --> 00:12:33.319 align:middle line:84% by making trade offs between, you know, the problem, the method, 00:12:33.486 --> 00:12:36.589 align:middle line:84% and the domain of the research that you're pursuing. 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:40.659 align:middle line:84% You should be able to break your work into small, trackable units. 00:12:41.327 --> 00:12:43.696 align:middle line:84% And you should be able to plan your project communicate 00:12:43.696 --> 00:12:46.699 align:middle line:84% with your advisor, and adapt your research over time. 00:12:46.766 --> 00:12:48.167 align:middle line:90% So thank you. 00:12:48.167 --> 00:12:50.903 align:middle line:90% [Morse code beeps]