Agile Accountability Dissertation Project Management
The Agile Accountability infographic serves to guide dissertation and thesis writers to stay on track, manage topics, questions, ideas, etc., on an ongoing, but concise manner. Sample charts are provided for guidance, along with blank fillable charts. Students should make sure to tailor their accountability schemes to fit their own goals, priorities, and templates. Remember to use only the amount of space provided for notes.
With that said, the sky is the limit but stay focused. Spend 5 to no more than 15 minutes assessing the work you completed the previous day. Take a moment to get familiar with the Dissertation (and Thesis) Agile Accountability Framework.
Get Ready to Sprint!
Each Agile Accountability sprint begins with sprint planning, wherein the author creates a backlog which lists the tasks that need to be completed by the end of the sprint. Agile Accountability sprints should last one to maximum two weeks. There may be exceptions, such when students are conducting extensive, surveys, interviews, etc.
Throughout the sprint periods, the contributor holds a Daily Stand-up check in of 5 to 15 minutes. Every morning (eg. 9:00am) Here, the contributor verbally assesses the previous day’s task progress, determines the next day’s work (based on completion of proposed task), and identifies any impediments stopping progress. To successfully progress to the next task and preserve momentum, all impediments must be removed. This step cannot be skipped.
At the end of the sprint, the contributor holds a sprint retrospective. Here the writer reflects on how the sprint went, identifying things that worked well and things that need improvement. The retrospective allows the contributor to make necessary process changes before beginning another sprint. The goal of these repetitive events is to result in more concise and rapid high-quality output.
Reminders
Sprint duration: One week (5 – 6 day), two weeks (10 – 12 days) maximum[1].
Daily Stand-Up starts every morning at: 9:00 am.
Daily Stand-Up duration: Five to fifteen minutes.
Stand, if physically able.
Verbalize the stand-up agenda.
[1] Sprint duration can be adjusted or lengthened according to specific research activities such as a qualitative study that requires interviewing participants over an extended amount of time.