A Dissertation is a Project to Manage
(or "How To Avoid Dissertation Hell")

by Michael C. Thomas, Ph.D.

The application of some key project management concepts are straight forward and involve a re-framing. Think of the dissertation as the project, yourself as the project manager and your advisor/committee as the customer.

A project is a one-time job that has starting and ending points, clear objectives, and a clear scope. It is a problem scheduled for solution (Lewis, 1995). The primary objective is for you to complete a quality product as soon as possible. Project management techniques are used extensively in construction, movie production, and new product development, e.g., drugs and software.

First, spend some time in the beginning with your advisor/committee to negotiate 'Front End Agreements' or 'Contracts', which boil down to getting as clear and as specific as possible regarding: purpose, scope, deliverables, deadlines, performance (product) standards of the dissertation; your responsibilities and those of the advisor and committee members. If you are already into the process, it may not be too late to ASK your advisor for a renegotiation of these. When good contracts are made, both your work process and the results are deeply satisfying. When no contracts exist, everything is uncertain and your whole life can be miserable.

1. Purpose Statement

Frequently the purpose is expressed as: 'Add to the body of knowledge' or 'advance a current technology', etc. Implicit purposes are: to provide you with a 'union card', higher income, satisfying employment and future life. Without a comprehensive purpose statement, there is no 'vision' to motivate and focus you and the advisor. The 'Proposal' should include a statement of Purpose for your whole life'. Such a statement can remind you why this whole endeavor was started in the first place and it can inspire and energize you when you are down and discouraged.

2. Scope Agreement

This is a statement of the breadth and depth of the work that you must do to complete the dissertation (project). It defines what will and what will not be included in moderately general terms.

*Without a clear and agreed upon 'scope' the anticipated work can be too small (unacceptable to the Advisor) or too large (a grandiose 10 year project). In either case, if the scope increases, you can expect disruptive conflict between you and your advisor, between you and the pizza delivery guy, and between you and your spouse (if any).

If the scope increases, unintentionally or not, ALL the costs --- especially delays -- increase. If the scope increases dramatically, what was once a very challenging academic project suddenly becomes 'an elephant that must eaten' or an overwhelming monster.

A 'scope agreement' is likely to keep both you and your advisor from allowing 'scope creep' to happen. A scope agreement provides a first line defense for you against a domineering advisor who may want to increase the scope of the dissertation once it is underway. It is more difficult for you to negotiate a reduction in scope once you are half way into your dissertation.

*Once your dissertation becomes overwhelming and undoable in your eyes, a project management tool called 'Work Breakdown Structure' is a method of subdividing work into smaller and smaller increments that eliminates much of the dread and fear. Once hugh tasks (chapters) are broken down into bite sizes (sub-tasks and sub-headings), these can be sequenced and scheduled.

3. Deliverables and Schedule

Without agreements on these --- what will be presented and when --- many of the difficulties cited above are likely. Schedules indicate that you are not expected to work forever. They also permit your advisor to plan his/her life --- since you are not at its center. Without a deliverable schedule...

*The advisor may either put unrealistic time pressures on you or forget you exist.

*Under panic you may do an unacceptable down-and-dirty job or never finish.

*Unanticipated negative feedback from the Advisor ('much more research needs to be done on this') may be devastating to you. The sudden expectation of additional months of work and delays can crush agreements made with others ---family members and/or employers.

*Periodic deadlines may prohibit months of procrastination and may assure a promising career rather than a failed career and a failed marriage.

4. Performance Standards

With agreements on performance standards, both you and your advisor know when a piece of work is or is not acceptable.

*Unless you have received performance feedback from this Advisor on similar research in the past, your first negative experience can result in an initial defensiveness that is repeated throughout the life of your dissertation. You can perceive your advisor as a petty tyrant and you can be perceived by your advisor as irresponsible. The results of this can be delay after delay.

*On the other hand, positive feedback to you can generate excitement and energy for you.

5. Roles and Responsibilities

Your role and responsibilities and those of your Advisor must be agreed upon and confirmed periodically. The 'psychological contract' must be manifestly expressed as a
'social contract' however informally.

*It is easy for role definitions formed in the first grade to continue into this project, viz., the Advisor is 'Lord', 'Commander', 'Boss', etc. and you are the appropriate counterpart. A major obstacle to your progress can be if you fall into dependent and powerless feelings and behavior. Some empowerment strategies can be employed by you and your Advisor. *Foremost among your self empowerment strategies is for you to adopt a self-image of Adult, Peer, Assistant Professor, and for your Advisor to treat you that way. Closely associated with this is a reasonable 'Scope' agreement up front.

*A 'buddy' or Coach can be an empowerment structure for you at every stage of the project.

Summary

You can avoid 'Dissertation Hell'. The body of knowledge of Project Management may not be directly transferable, but the concepts highlighted above identify important issues that should be considered. ABDs who struggle with problems of illness, fatigue, procrastination, powerlessness and blues may experience revitalization by applying these and other concepts used routinely by project managers in a variety of industries, viz., Purpose Statement and Agreements with Customers (Advisor and Committee) on Project Scope, Deliverables, Work Schedule, Performance Standards and Roles and Responsibilities. (The author expresses appreciation to Ronald Fox, Ben Dean, Patricia Thomas and Deborah Steely for their assistance)

References

James P. Lewis, Project Planning, Scheduling and Control. Chicago: Irwin Publishing, (Rev. ed) 1995

About Dr. Mike Thomas
Mike Thomas, Ph.D. (Sociology, UNC-CH) lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He coaches ABDs and other professionals.