Project Management Workshop
Edmund Hunt reports from
AstraZeneca, Charnwood, Loughborough UK, 16th February 2005
 The
Project Management Workshop was the first event to be organised
by the recently established SCI Business Strategy Group. The
Group aims to encourage and develop links between the science
and business communities, and provide an environment for knowledge
transfer and networking opportunities. This workshop was a
prime example of how the it can achieve these objectives.
Although the workshop was directed at Project Managers involved
in the science industry, I was eager to attend for a number
of reasons. These included relating project management techniques
to my PhD to increase working effectiveness, gaining an insight
into project management for my future career, meeting project
managers themselves, and to widen my network of contacts.
The morning session focussed on how project management is
carried out, and its various techniques. The afternoon session
used case studies to put knowledge into practice, and identified
the characteristics of a project manager.
During the morning session Dr Alan Baylis of Nuvistix Innovation,
explained that creative thinking is once again becoming a
useful tool in project management. Alan showed how the exploitation
of knowledge by thinking more laterally can improve the outcome
of an individual and a team. I was impressed by the product
of using lateral thinking, rather than the linear thinking
that tends to dominate a PhD.
Simon Preston from AstraZeneca mentioned the use of realistic
scheduling. This is a recently new concept that addresses
the approach of setting realistic targets and not over opportunistic
ones. This is highly applicable to my own PhD, as I often
set too ambitious goals and rarely achieve them, and then
feel guilty. I asked him how to set these realistic schedules,
and he explained it was more than often a case of intuition,
although occasionally cost-effectiveness was involved.
Organiser Martin Peacock with SCI's Claire Adam (left)
and Jacqui Maguire (right)
At lunch time I had the chance to speak to Simon Preston,
and his colleague Simon Timerick. This provided me with the
opportunity to ask how their career progressed after their
PhDs, and find out more about their jobs. I was also able
to ask them about other aspects of work, including how to
work effectively in teams and how to react to, and prevent
dominance in teams.
In the afternoon we were put into random groups for the business
case study. This involved discussing a number of business
projects and their possible benefits and risks. These sessions
were a challenge for me as a PhD student, having to make a
contribution with business people who had many more years
experience in this type of environment than I did. I felt
happy, however, with the input I made and what I learned from
these sessions.
 I
would like to take this opportunity to thank SCI for awarding
me with a Messel Travel Grant, and by attending this workshop
I feel that I have benefited greatly by being exposed to the
business environment. I have learned various project management
techniques that I can incorporate into my PhD, and I now feel
a regained enthusiasm for efficiently achieving work goals.
In addition, it was a valuable and unique opportunity to
talk to project managers and find out how their careers progressed
and the best ways for me to move forward. I have also gained
some valuable contacts to help me during further career development,
and an increased incentive for me to meet business at the
science interface in the future.
by Edmund P Hunt
University of Southampton
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