(212b) Project Management for Scientific Research - Establishing Metrics for Success

Project management provides the necessary structure to accomplish a defined task within known constraints on time and resources.   To succeed, project management principles drive leaders to establish clear, measureable goals.  Researchers, particularly those addressing long-term scientific problems or open-ended hypotheses, often identify smaller activities within their research that can be effectively managed as individual “projects” with a measurable goal (e.g., completing a scientific manuscript or demonstrating a new idea).  However, defining metrics for overall success for the research direction and managing expectations and results over many years can be particularly challenging.  While each research organization’s mission is different, laboratories within the Federal government and academia are often noted for their ability to tackle multi-year, multi-disciplinary projects for which product-focused deliverables are not the primary goal.  Metrics for these research activities require one to consider longer-term impacts, a diverse customer base, and a potentially variable source of talent to accomplish the work.  This presentation will describe specific metrics developed within a 50-person research group in the Federal government to enable review, analysis, and prioritization of a diverse portfolio of projects in materials science, chemistry, and biology.   These metrics include the potential for short- and long-term impact, the ability to attract collaborators and customers, the ability to grow resources to reach critical mass, fit to mission, and last, but certainly not least, the passion and motivation of key scientists.