It's never too early to start the Final Report

Those who know me will think I'm like some sort of stuck record with my constant "have you started your final report yet?" enquiry.


All I'm trying to do is to stop you falling into the single biggest problem I've seen with major projects over the years, and that's starting the final report too late.

(Reader's Voice) "Why? Surely it's a final report so it goes best at the end?"


I suppose there is some logic to that. The name for a start - it's often called a 'final' report, so it does sound like it's the last thing to be done. Also, it needs to summarise all the work you have done, so surely you need to finish all that work first?


(Voice of Doom): "Ok - sure - go ahead, and do it in the last couple of weeks."

So let's see what happens when we follow the Voice of Doom. (All these points are taken from real projects, just the names have changed).


Jim has been working on his project for 5 months now. He's just started the report with 10 days to go before the final deadline. It's meant to be 80 pages long so surely that's only about 8 pages a day. Trouble is Jim struggles to write a single page on the first day. He just can't remember any details about how he did his design about 4 months ago. Panic sets in. It gets worse day by day he ends up handing in a short report lacking in detail or analysis.


Jenny has been writing quite well for 8 days and there are just 2 days to go. She emails her supervisor urgently requesting him to proofread her report. Her supervisor says "Sorry no! I'm away at a conference and I've been offering to look at the report for the last several months". Jenny struggles to finish the report, and hands it in without any idea of what the supervisor thinks of it. She asks her friends to proofread it for her. Everyone says "No, I am too busy with my report and exams". Sadly it is submitted full of errors and omissions.


Jeremy started his report with 2 weeks to go, and all seemed to be going well at first. He had no idea that he was going to feel so tired, and that there were all these parties at the end of term, and the concert that he's performing in would take up so much time and attention, or that his computer would fail so awfully and that this would not count as mitigating circumstances because his work should have been backed up. It's actually turned into one of the worst two weeks of his life, and he hands it in completely exhausted yet 2 days late, immediately losing 20% off the single biggest assignment he'll ever do.


John is avoiding his 2 friends who have finished their reports and handed in early, and who are wandering around in "smug mode" enjoying the end of term and the lovely weather. He is stuck in his room with 4 days to go and a horrible case of writer's block. He just wanted to finish his work - how can that have been bad?. So he worked on his computer code to try and get rid of all the errors and to add all those extra features. Now he's just looked at the marking scheme and has seen that although the code is important it's the report that takes most of the marks. He suddenly feels cheated and stupid. Worst still there are still bugs in his code and the extra features are unfinished and he only has a book of scribbled notes and 15 pages of his report.

(No offence intended to anyone with a name beginning with J - there's no implication that you'll be late starting your report).

But when should you start then?

It's never too early to start the final report!


So start now. I'd recommend the following:

• Draft a Contents page and talk it through with your supervisor
• Plan carefully when you're going to write each chapter (ideally as close as possible to the work that it covers).
• Put writing slots in your diary and keep to them with the same commitment that you'd give to a private meeting with another person.

Or, you might choose instead to listen to the Voice of Doom. 🙂

Your Initial Report - a checklist

Most people doing solo projects will need to write some form of Initial Report, sometimes
including a Literature Review or Literature Survey. Where I teach, at York, we ask that students
produce an initial report of about 10 pages, at about this time. Although everywhere will be
different, the underlying purpose of this sort of report is similar. So today's blog takes a look at
the benefits of such a report (for you the writer, and for the reader/marker), and gives you a few
hints about what requirements you are given.

Purposes for you

• It helps to focus your mind on your topic area
• It enables you to communicate your key ideas to people
• It encourages you to plan the main focus and next stages of your work.

Purposes for us

• It demonstrates that you are engaging with the project and with its topic material
• It helps us to really understand your thought processes and thinking about the project
• It shows you are actively looking to set your work in context (i.e. what's "out there" already).

Report Structure

The most important thing you can do is to cross-check your own department's requirements.
Many students throw away marks because they forget to make sure that their work meets the
published expectations. Check to see if there is:

• a page limit (minimum, maximum, or both, i.e. a range such as 8-10 pages)
• a particular required set of contents (or list of things that must be covered)
• a specific Reference format.

Your supervisor should also be able to answer questions about preferences in style, structure,
layout, use of diagrams, which literature is acceptable etc.

What each section means

I thought it would be useful to show you a typical required structure, and give you an interpretation
of what each section means. This way you might get a better idea of why each particular section is
there.

1. Title page, Abstract, Contents

These are not always specified, but it's good practice to include them. The Title states the focus of
your project, the Abstract summarises in one paragraph what the whole report covers, and the
Contents section provides an ordered index to your work. This can make your project look good,
and gives the reader a good first impression of your work and its focus.

2. Introduction / overview

This is where you set the scene for the reader. Tell them what the project's really all about.
What context does it fit into? Think of how a television documentary grabs your attention before it
goes into detail. It's an antidote to diving straight into detail and confusing your reader.

3. Previous work (Literature Review)

This is usually the largest section of an initial report. Lots of students are confused by what this
section really means. Think of it as a way to say "I'm going to tell you about my project in a bit, but
first I'd like to demonstrate that I know where my project fits in to what has been done before".
Basically what has been already written, thought, marketed, and discussed about this project area.
If you have a huge area, then summarise the main works. If there are very few publications in your
area, then focus on the few most closely related to what you're planning to do.

4. Your project aims

Now that you've told the reader what's already been done, it's time to describe what you are going
to contribute to the area. A good way of doing this is to summarise your project's Title, main Aim,
and series of Objectives.

5. Plan

Finally, in this report, we'd like to see something of how you are organising yourself and your work.
You might want to provide a detailed timing plan of what you're planning to do and in what order.
This can be a formal Gantt chart, or a 'storyboard' or list of ideas. Just demonstrate to us that you
are ready to start work, and you know what your prioritised order of work is going to be.

6. References

Don't forget to include a list of all the references that you have referred to in your report.
Put these in a format that's specified by your department or supervisor.

In SUMMARY - try to think about how your report will come across to another reader.
It's the very hardest thing about writing. It's not just a brain-dump of whatever's in your mind,
but instead it's a 'brain-feed', telling the reader about your work in an order that will make
sense to them and bring them along with you.

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Full details on how to write a Literature Review, along with managing a solo project, are found in the book, available from the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Welcome back - Getting Going again with your Project

Welcome Back!

I hope you had a good vacation time with a good mix of holiday and work.

This can be a tricky time of year for people, as (at least in the Northern hemisphere) we come back
to university or college in the depths of winter, when your body can feel like hibernating and
everyone’s fending off illnesses.

Yet your project awaits, and there are probably lots of other deadlines to attend to and new lecture
courses to engage with.

The trick is to get together a detailed PLAN of what you want to and need to do on the project.
Here are four ideas about how to do that.

1. BRAIN DUMP

Sit down with a pen and paper and give yourself some time to think about your project.
Let your mind wander over the following thoughts, and write stuff down as soon as you think of it:

• The end point of your project - the ideal solution you're aiming for
• The next steps you just know you have to get on with now!
• Technical problems you know exist but haven't dealt with yet
• Issues that you are avoiding
• Things you need to find out more about

Continue this process for at least half an hour. You'll probably find that your mind goes quiet,
then after a while suddenly comes up with a new thought. This act of emptying your brain is good
for you, and also gets some of the worrying issues onto paper where you can think about them
objectively rather than them brooding inside your head as worries.

2. MIND MAP

Making a Mind Map is one of my favourite ways to help order my thoughts and to start converting
them into sensibly grouped sets of actions. My favourite mind-mapping software is XMind, but
there are many others, and indeed lots of people prefer to use pens and paper.

Here is a really good article on Mind Mapping for Projects - and it even refers to Sherlock!

Consider using mind maps as a way to transform the raw thoughts from your Brain Dump into an
ordered cluster of sub-projects.

3. ORGANISED TASK LIST

Now that you're dealing with a big project that you're in charge of, you'll need to have a way to
store and handle all the low-level tasks that you need to do. Different people do this in different
ways, such as:

• A cloud-based task management system, such as ToDoist
• A computer-based integrated system such as Microsoft Outlook
• A paper-based organiser system or daily planner sheets.

Whichever method you use, it's vital to a) add all your project tasks so that it's complete, and b)
refer regularly to the list and plan your work from there.

Whilst the mind map might help you structure your sub-projects, it's the low-level day to day actions
such as "visit library to get Journal X", or "email supervisor about enquiry" that need to be recorded.
Rather than cluttering up your mind, or forgetting about them, commit them to your task list and plan
your daily work from there. You get a good boost when you get something done and can tick it off
the list.

4. SCHEDULED TIMES

A big list of tasks can be daunting, and can encourage you to hide from them. A good antidote to
this is to use your diary to schedule regular fixed slots of time in which to make progress on the
project. Rather than spending a lot of time just worrying about how much you have to do (and a
surprising number of students spend a spectacularly long time doing this), why not just commit
to an hour on Monday morning to do Task A, and 2 hours on Monday afternoon to do Task B etc.

Summary

So, at the start of this year, why not give yourself a project boost, and Brain Dump ideas to paper,
shape these into order in a Mind Map, take the subsequent tasks and store them in a list
management system that you'll see and update regularly, and Schedule Time for your project work.

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Full details on how to successfully plan a project are found in the book, available from the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Using the holidays well

Many of you will have now finished at University or College for the Christmas vacation.

At our University, the way that the calendar has fallen this year means that there are 5 full weeks before term starts again.

How best to use the time?

My recipe for how to use the time is as follows. Of course you can do exactly whatever you like, but I do get asked this, so I recommend dedicating about 1/5 of the time to each of these activities:

• Celebrating with family and friends
• Completely relaxing and 'switching off'
• Completing any assignments that are set over the vacation
• Preparing for next term
• Working on your project

You could think of this as "one week of each", or just as a rough guideline of how to allocate activities to your diary.

Celebrating and Switching Off

I think it's really important that you don't try to work for the entire holidays. You're probably not far off the end of your degree and may have been working hard for quite some time now. You're due for a break. So take some of this time to let your brain wind down and not stress about working for a while. There are usually plenty of things to be done around a Christmas holiday.

BUT - 5 weeks of partying or dossing around probably won't ultimately feel that good either, so why not schedule into your diary when you are going to start work again, and what you're going to work on?

Completing assignments

Many of you will have modules to complete - essays to write, programs to compile, reading to do, etc. If these are due at the start of next term, do prioritise some time to getting those finished. Some people find it psychologically helpful to do this before switching off for Christmas.

Again, it's good to break down your tasks into smaller and more manageable chunks, which can be scheduled into your diary and kept as an appointment with yourself.

Preparing for next term and working on your project

Another good way of helping you to switch off is to make a list of what you can do in preparation for next term. It may seem counter-intuitive, but once you've committed this sort of planning to paper (or electronic documents) your mind can relax more, knowing that you have scheduled time to take care of this in the future.

So, have a look through upcoming modules to get an idea of the topics you'll be covering. Look for any reading that needs doing before you attend the taught sessions.

For your project, this is a great time to take stock of where you are up to so far. You might be feeling a bit overwhelmed at how much of the project there is still left to do. One of the best things you can do is to write down all the things that are worrying you, or are yet to be done, and plan some time (maybe after Christmas) when you will dedicate some time to working on these things.

If your project needs specialist equipment or support, then you won't be able to work on that directly over the holidays, but you can read, think, plan, write up what you've done so far, etc.

Wishing you all the best for Christmas.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Full details on how to successfully plan a project are found in the book, available from the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI

Making your Project a Priority

I have just discovered something in the nick of time that I should have been working on over the last couple of weeks. I've been so busy that there was nothing visible in my reminder system to let me know I should also have been working on this other thing. That got me thinking, and maybe the same is happening with your project?

Other Things

Some of you may be in the fortunate position of only having your project to do. I suspect though that for most of you there will be many competing activities and tasks. You may be taking several modules or courses, and - towards the end of term - the assignments become like giants striding towards you. There may be group activities that demand attention. There might be a flurry of end-of-term lectures, seminars, workshops, laboratories, revision sessions etc. Some of you may be getting inundated with plans, ideas, commitments for travel in the holidays. For many university or college students there is a round of gatherings, parties, club nights leading up to the holidays.

What all of these things have in common is that:

• people are talking about them;
• they have emotion attached to them (fear or excitement);
• they are in your schedule or on your timetable;
• there is a fixed and unmovable deadline.

Remember Me

Meanwhile your project - which is probably one of the most important pieces of work that you have ever done on your course, and one which may be worth the most in terms of marks or credit - sits quietly in the background, whispering "Remember Me?".

Of course we remember; that's what makes us feel guilty about the project. But what can be done about it?

Well, firstly it's important to realise that sometimes you just have to concentrate on an imminent deadline. But the problem comes when your project suffers a continuous lack of attention and focus because there is always something more discussed, worrying, exciting, or urgent to be done.

The solution

You might have heard the expression "if you can't beat them, join them"? Well, the same can be applied to your project. If it's being constantly drowned out by the other tasks, maybe you need to elevate its status.

Let's revisit each of the reasons that the project is ignored in favour of other tasks:

• people are talking about them;
• then talk about your project. Find opportunities in your study group to ask each other how the project is going. Talk to your supervisor. Write things down.
• they have emotion attached to them (fear or excitement);
• then create some emotion about your project. Remind yourself why you chose it, and give yourself reasons to get excited. If you want some fear-  look at how many credits it's worth and see how much of the project has already passed.
• they are in your schedule or on your timetable;
• this is vital; you must find a way to get regular project work scheduled into your diary; or write it on your timetable. Keep to that commitment as if it was a meeting with someone else.
• there is a fixed and unmovable deadline;
• this is also true about your project. The problem is that the end deadline is relatively a long way off. This is why it's important to create interim deadlines for all the major phases of your project. Put these in your diary and put reminders in the preceding weeks, e.g. "2 weeks to initial report", "3 weeks to first design phase complete".

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Full details of these topics (including details on how to successfully plan a project) are found in the book - Chapter 20, available on the Amazon site below.

Managing Your Project: Achieving Success with Minimal Stress < NEW: Print Version >

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1537212206

Also available on Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0164RXKLI