Project management beyond the process: How do RSE team leads learn what the role requires?
Chue Hong, Neil; Palansuriya, Charaka
- Publisher
- Zenodo
- Language
- en
Abstract
Research today cannot take place without Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI). But how are the teams that develop the research software which underpins DRI managed, and how do we ensure that those leading the teams have the right skills to make them effective and inclusive leaders?There is a wealth of technical training material targeted at researchers, Research Software Engineers and other Research Technical Professionals (RTPs). Much of this material is open and freely accessible, and institutional RSE groups now play a large role in upskilling practitioners, as disseminated at RSECon. At the same time, through the UNIVERSE-HPC project, we are aware that this availability of training material doesn’t directly translate into a more skilled and capable workforce. A particular gap that has been identified is the lack of training materials aimed at teams developing research software, including helping those new to managing or leading diverse teams. There are a large number of resources on software project management, and general team management, but few which take into account the particular challenges of working in the research environment. This talk will present work that DRIFT (a follow-up to UNIVERSE-HPC) has done to identify the existing resources, approaches and audiences, and understand what adaptations might be required to be able to use existing materials in a research software engineering context. Starting with the goal of teaching project management skills as they can be applied to software development in research environments, we would like to get feedback from participants on a curriculum, in particular to identify any “hidden” objectives, such as enabling inclusive leadership and research integrity. This will contribute to an openly licensed course that will be piloted in 2026, focusing on the challenges of working with teams with different experience levels, promoting effective communication and knowledge transfer, and creating positive working environments.Acknowledgements This work has been funded by the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme through grant UKRI298 for the DRI-focussed training for research facilitators and teams (DRIFT) project. We thank all the other members of the DRIFT team: including Weronika Filinger, Laura Moran, Anna Roubíčková, Darren White, Martin Robinson, Jeremy Cohen, and Eirini Zormpa, as well others working in the same area who have provided input and feedback: Tracy Teal, Toby Hodges, Sarah Jaffa and Steve Crouch.A recording of this session is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/c_ul9IacH6Y
Full text
Project management beyond the process: How do RSE team leads learn what the role requires? Neil Chue Hong, Charaka Palansuriya - University of Edinburgh With thanks to Jeremy Cohen, Weronika Filinger, Laura Moran, Martin Robinson, Anna Roubickova, Eirini Zormpa; Steve Crouch, Sarah Jaffa, Tracy Teal.
DRI-focussed training for research facilitators and teams DRIFT aims to address the lack of DRI training for research support roles, in particular within interdisciplinary research teams, and to improve visibility of DRI outside of physical sciences and engineering. Developing support for research facilitators is particularly important, as they play a vital and trusted role in nurturing links between technical professionals and the research community, thus enhancing the impact of the skills development activities we are undertaking. Follow-on from the UNIVERSE-HPC project, funded by UKRI DRI programme. 1 January 2025 - 31 March 2027. University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, University of Oxford
Plenty of project management training resources
Current challenges to learning project management ● Many resources to choose from, but most are not focussed on research software / incorporate the different drivers of research ● Focus on time management and planning, rather than working with teams with different experience levels ● Aimed at individual project managers, rather than teams responsible for project delivery ● Assumes management of teams where you have high degree of control
What might inclusive project management look like?
Coming up with a draft curriculum Curriculum was constructed using a combination of consultation with members from the Research Software Engineering community and after examining open source and closed source training content, including: ●Managing Open Source Project Workshop from Tracy Teal ●Open Source 101 from the Linux Foundation ●Guide for Project Design from the Turing Way ●Coderefinery Lessons ●Managing Research Software Projects by Software Carpentry ●The Open Science Training Handbook Draft curriculum for comment: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17035678
Learning objectives ● Understand distinct characteristics and challenges of research software projects. ● Apply fundamental project management concepts to research software development ● How to build and sustain effective research software teams ● Understand when to apply Agile project management methods ● When to use and participate in Open-Source research software projects ● Plan and track project progress and resources ● Communicate and collaborate across roles and institutions ● Address common risks and quality concerns in research software ● Address sustainability, reproducibility and required documentation of research software
Course Modules Module 1: Introduction to Research Software Project Management ● What is a Research Software Project? ● Why use Project Management to develop research software? ● Key Project Management Concepts (Overview) Some high-level open source material is available, but it is spread across many different resources Module 2: Initiation, Planning and Scoping Research Software Projects ● Defining the project ● Stakeholder identification and management ● Capturing scientific/research requirements ● Estimating Costs ● Scheduling and resource planning Little existing research software specific material exists for this module
Course Modules Module 3: Agile and Iterative Methodologies ● Why Agile for Research Software development? ● Introduction to Scrum ● Introduction to Kanban ● Choosing the right approach and tools A lot of existing content specifically tailored to research software has been developed (at Manchester, UCL and Southampton universities) but the licensing is not yet clear / open. Module 4: Team building, Trust and Onboarding ● Building high-functioning interdisciplinary teams ● Establishing psychological safety and trust ● Onboarding contributors ● Inclusive communication across roles and cultures Little suitable content exists
