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I am to write a doctoral dissertation but struggling with achieving results in time.

What project management can teach me on doing a project on my own? What should I read?

My area is computer science if that matters.

Gergely
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    Why do you believe that you need PM skills rather than skills around managing your workload and staying organized? – Doug B Jun 02 '15 at 17:58
  • I believe PM people can have a point on this -- as the below answer proves this – Gergely Jun 02 '15 at 18:51

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The very simplest self project management is to decompose your work into the smallest possible chunks. The preferred would be nothing more than four hours of work.

For example: - Research Moore's Law - Create Outline - Draft Introduction - Etc.

Next you rank order these from most important, to least. Pay attention to dependencies, if A needs X to be done first, then X goes higher in the backlog. I suggest Trello.com as a very simple tool to use for managing your task list and work in process.

When it comes to doing the work, schedule your day something like this (This assumes you are writing in a normal work day setting. Adjust to fit your time).

8:30 - Email, social media 9:00 - Module Work 10:00 - Break (get up from desk and move around) 10:15 - Module Work 11:15 - Break and Email 11:45 - Lunch 12:30 - Module Work 1:30 - Break 1:45 - Module Work Continue cycle until 5.

The key here is don't work for more than sixty minutes without a break. Your brain can't handle much more than 90 minutes of focused time. Also, it gives your brain something to look forward to (10 more minutes and I can check Facebook).

Set yourself timer though, especially on your breaks. It is easy to get lost in the land of the internet.

Joel Bancroft-Connors
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