2 General project management

2.1 Definitions

What are we talking about when we talk about project management?

Project management: Organizing people, tasks, and timelines in the pursuit of goals. This is probably what you think about when you hear the phrase "project management"

Data management: Gathering data, cleaning and verifying data, making backups and archives. Most researchers have some experience with this. Requires an organizational system and workflow, so somewhat analogous to software project management.

Software project management: Managing the development of software. This means managing the project (see 1), but also managing the development. This means managing a group of people who are trying to write (correct, pertinent) code, and making informed choices about language, tools, and work flows that support writing that code.

2.2 Identification

What kind of project do you have? Things to consider:

Small vs. large (the practices still work if it's just you, but you have more flexibility)

Existing constraints: Required language, packages, computing environment

Control: How much of a driver's seat do you have?