Project Work - Aalto Thesis Student Guide

Contemporary business and science treat as a project any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned (usually by a project team) to achieve a particular aim (from Oxford dictionary 2016). This definition is a bit clumsy, so let’s look at it in more detail: 

A project  

• Has one or more actors who carry out the project; those who do the actual work
• Is planned beforehand. Planning stage may require additional research or design activities
• Has a clearly defined goal
• Has a limited time span, and a clearly defined starting and ending point

In the case of Aalto Thesis, the encompassing goal of the project will be to address the challenge presented by the partner, in the form of a set of Master’s theses and a joint summary.

What are the main components of a project/typical project working phases? 

Projects can be divided into three main phases:

1. The planning phase that includes planning and setting up the project. Outcome of the planning phase is a detailed project plan. The project plan is a tool for the student team, not something that’s completed only for the Aalto Thesis team or the partner. Go through it carefully and address each point in detail. If your project plan is insufficient or carelessly written, it will not be accepted. More information on the project plan can be found above
2. The working phase, where most of the actual work is carried out by following the steps of the project plan. Mind you, your individual thesis projects, and even the project as a whole, can evolve during Aalto Thesis. Projects are developing, often creative processes where change is typical. This is okay, as long as you keep the project’s stakeholders updated on changes and issues regarding your thesis. Bigger changes need to be negotiated with the partner, and can be better addressed the sooner they come up. Communicate and adjust! 
3. The end phase, when the work is finalised and the final product (final version of the thesis + the joint summary) are delivered to the partner (+ the Aalto Thesis Team, your supervisor and other reviewers who will give the final acceptance and the grade)

In the case of writing a Master’s thesis, we already know the goal of the project – even without knowing anything about the actual field specific contents of the thesis. The goal is to produce a thesis manuscript that is a scientific report that:

• Follows a specific set of rules for formatting text and images aka. writing instructions for Master’s thesis set by the academic institution

• Fulfils the content criteria for Master’s thesis set by the academic institution. Normally, these include :

1. Literature review of the chosen topic.  
2. Description of research and other methods used in the thesis
3. Description of the material used, and the results obtained
4. Discussion and conclusion

For Aalto Thesis, these individual goals are accompanied by your common goal of addressing the larger challenge at hand, and producing an interdisciplinary summary to tackle said challenge.

Every project needs resources. Typically, these include money, time, equipment and personnel. Aalto Thesis is no different. Your personal thesis project requires resources. Below is an educated guess, in order of importance, what kind of resources you might need in your thesis project:

1. Time - Aalto Thesis provides much more explicit structure and process to the thesis project than is typically available. Still, consider the following: the work needs to be allocated enough working hours by the student, each day, week, and month. Also, the time your supervisor has available needs to be considered. Organise and plan your calendar so that enough time is available for working on your thesis
2. “Mental capital” - Aalto Thesis provides social and emotional support in the forms of your student team, and the Aalto Thesis staff. Please let us always know if there are issues! Writing a thesis is a long process with ups and downs. You need positive attitude, support, persistence, self-leadership and ability to cope with elevated stress levels. Do not be discouraged though. These are common requirements that most of the people will face in their everyday working lives. No superhero powers are required, you got this! 
3. Money - Aalto Thesis provides a study grant to all attending students. You need to pay rent and even eat during your thesis project. Try and arrange your finances to match your thesis project, and remember that commitment to the project is required for the grant as well!

You can find the project plan template here. 

In the beginning of Aalto Thesis, all student teams are required to compile and submit a detailed project plan. The first three points of the project plan are focused more on the grander scheme of things: what the project is about, what are you going to do to successfully reach your goals, and what your methodology of reaching those goals will be. The following three are more to-the-point about the work itself.

1. Project background - What is the partner organisation about, why are they interested in this topic, why is the challenge timely? The larger context of the project 
2. Project objectives and subprojects - The concrete goals of the project, and the students’ individual theses as the subprojects 
3. Project approach - How the project is going to be executed, how is it going to reach the set goals 
4. Communication plan - Especially important to teamwork dynamics, crucial to avoid unnecessary conflict. How a team is going to communicate, what are the accepted forms and methods for communicating internally and externally. Who’s in charge of writing memos, when is it appropriate to message or call someone about the project, in what time is it appropriate to expect someone to address messages. In addition to listing the communication tools, for example, include rules on when it is acceptable to contact other team members e.g. not on the weekends or after 17:00
5. Risk analysis - Often perceived as the “necessary evil” of creating a project plan, risk analysis should help anticipate and proactively minimise concrete, not imaginary, risks to the project. Having an idea about the likeliest risks and how to mitigate them is crucial. In addition to the most likely risks, you should give some thought into worst case scenarios, and figure out an action plan. What if someone has to drop out of the project? What if there’s a problem with dividing the common workload equally? What if there are 50-50 disagreements? – Planning ahead already mitigates a lot of risks
6. Schedule and tasks
7. Other issues

Carefully going over the project plan is a great tool for avoiding extra work in the form of overlapping research areas, meeting inefficiencies, miscommunication and scheduling. That said, don’t fall in love with the project plan. It’s a tool, and it might have to be changed or amended later on. Keys to successful projects are communication, teamwork, and keeping all stakeholders updated. Work smart!

You can find the team contract template here. 

Aalto Thesis does not require you to sign a team contract, and making one for your team is entirely optional. It’s presented here as a method of addressing potential points of conflict and to ensure that everything in your team goes as agreed and as smoothly as possible. 

The purpose of a team contract is to ensure mutual understanding of the team members’ responsibilities and rights regarding the project. Additionally, it is a formal agreement of working in an encouraging, problem-solving, and respectful atmosphere. This is by no means a legal document, but a common agreement on mutual respect within the team. It is highly recommended to give thorough thought into topics such as:

• Managing time on and time off the project
• Working hours
• Communication practices
• Common deadlines, e.g. presentation slide deadlines for status meets
• Decision making processes, e.g. in cases of disagreement
• Whatever team members wish to address

Aalto Thesis will ask you to write a concise news piece about the project your team worked on during Aalto Thesis. The articles are posted on the aalto.fi site, as a reference of the programme for potential new students, partners, and the university staff. This is also a good exercise regarding how to communicate your professional capabilities and experience when you’re advancing your career.

You will find guidelines for writing the description here.

• Aim to complete as much of your degree studies as possible before starting your thesis. Aalto Thesis is full-time work. If you do not have any other courses running, or have to work simultaneously you can free up maximal time resources and lower your overall stress levels during your project
• Take care of your physical and mental health. Prioritise a good night’s sleep, try to eat healthy and exercise regularly. This helps you to feel more energetic and makes it easier to concentrate on complex problem solving that thesis requires
• Think about you past studies. Have you completed any courses where the main completion method was project type working? What did you learn during those projects? What kinds of actions led to positive results? Was there anything negative? And how about subject studies that may have provided you with useful tools and theoretical frameworks? Use those past experiences to your advantage! 

Ask for help! From your friends, fellow students, Aalto Thesis staff, your team, your parents, etc.

During the thesis project you need continuous improvement in order to move based on your Gantt chart or timetable of your project. There is a project management tool that is known as PDCA cycle, or Deming Cycle. This feedback loop looks like this:

PLAN - DO - CHECK - ACT

PLAN your project properly;   

DO the necessary activities. Ask yourself:  

• Am I following my project schedule?  
• Am I taking all the necessary steps based on my supervisor’s and partner’s advice?  
• Am I documenting all my findings?   

CHECK the results of your activities and find the root causes of your weaknesses, ask yourself:  

• Have I analysed and compared my data to my prediction?   
• Have I summarised what I have found?   
• Have I identified my problems and weaknesses during the thesis process?  
• Have I checked the risks of my project?   

ACT based on the weaknesses and plan again for improve the thesis process, ask yourself:  

• Do I have a plan/ solution for my problem?    
• Do I know how to analyse the risk of my project and plan based on those risks again?    

Aalto University has composed a video lecture series about Project Business. It may offer you additional insight about projects and project type working. 

For Gantt chart-ing the project, there are numerous templates online! Check for example:

• https://www.gantt.com/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart 

Other project management online resources worth considering:

• Project Management Guidelines and Handbook
• Trello
• Scrum guides