Chapter One - A New Course on R&D

Project Management in Computer Science

and Engineering: Subjects Taught,
Rationales Behind, and Lessons Learned
Author links open overlay
panelVeljko Milutinović *, Stasa Vujicic
Stankovic , Aleksandar Jovic , Drazen Draskovic *, Marko Mi
† ‡

sic *, Danilo Furundzic §

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Abstract
This chapter describes the essence of a course for senior level
undergraduate students and for master students of computer
science and engineering, and analyzes its effects. The course
prepares students for their professional life after graduation,
and especially, it prepares them for the challenges related to
efforts to bring new paradigm-shifting ideas into the
commercial world. This course was developed to complement
a DataFlow course and to teach DataFlow researchers about
issues of importance for promotion of their results with a
commercial potential. Consequently, course examples and
homework assignments were chosen to reflect issues of
importance in the commercialization of the DataFlow concept.
The course includes the following subjects (presented with
DataFlow-related issues in mind): (a) Writing proposals for
Research and Development in industry and academia, (b)
Understanding the essence of the MBA/PhD degrees and
preparing the GMAT/GRE analytical exam, (c) Understanding
Capability Maturity Model Integration and learning how to
write holistic strategic project plans, (d) Understanding
Project Management and learning how to write detailed
tactical project plans, (e) Writing business plans for venture
capital or business angels, (f) Writing patent applications, (g)
Writing survey papers for SCI (Science Citation Index)
journals, (h) Writing research papers for SCI journals, (i)
Making an Internet shop, (j) Making a MindGenomics
campaign for the Internet shop, (k) DataMining from project
history and project experiments, and (l) Preservation of
project heritage and skills related to brand making. Each
subject matter is covered by a homework assignment to help
deepen the practical knowledge of the subject matter covered.
In addition to the above described, which is accompanied with
homework, the following four subjects are also covered and
accompanied with in-class discussions (oriented to DataFlow
research): (m) Inventivity, (n) Creativity, (o) Effectiveness,
and (p) Efficiency. Consequently, the analysis part
concentrates on the following issues: (a) Inventivity: How
different majors react to the subject matters, (b) Creativity:
How efficiently the initial knowledge gaps get bridged, (c)
Effectiveness: How the experience of the teacher helps, and
(d) Efficiency: How the previous experiences of students help.
Introduction
The main point behind this chapter is that, if one teaches a
paradigm-changing subject or performs research in a
paradigm-shifting domain, one also has to teach graduate
students and research assistants all about entrepreneurial
issues, so their novel paradigm-shifting ideas find the road to
wide acceptance, more effectively. With the above in mind, a
course was developed, to be offered in parallel with a
DataFlow course, which teaches the skills needed in the
process, beyond the scientific and engineering knowledge.
That is the link between this DataFlow-oriented special issue
and the education-oriented approach presented in this
chapter. In other words, a new education approach is needed
that helps paradigm shifts to become widely accepted. Since
the course presented here is offered in conjunction with a
DataFlow course, educational examples as well as homework
assignments were chosen to help the DataFlow research
become more successful.
The general structure of the course under consideration is
depicted in Fig. 1. For similar courses, see Refs. [1], [2]. For a
discussion of issues relevant to this chapter, see Refs. [3], [4].
Rationales behind the structure given in the Abstract are
discussed next.
(a) One has to learn how to provide funding (i.e., how to apply
for Horizon 2020 projects in Europe or NSF (National Science
Foundation) projects in United States; homework #1 is to
write a proposal related to DataFlow technology, compatible
with a challenge in the first forthcoming call of the chosen
agency for financing the R&D work). (b) How to manage
resources with a knowledge of the MBA or PhD degree (a
possible homework #2 could be on how to pass an entrance
exam for MBA or PhD degree studies oriented to DataFlow
marketing or DataFlow research; an alternative for the
homework #2 is to prepare a PowerPoint presentation to
defend the DataFlow technology-related proposal from
homework #1 in front of the officers of the chosen agency for
financing the R&D work).
(c) One has to know how to do strategic planning (e.g., CMMI,
Capability Maturity Model Integration); homework #3 is
related to the CMMI-based description of all related project
issues, for the case that the afore-mentioned DataFlow
proposal was accepted. (d) How to do a day-to-day planning
of the DataFlow research based on the accepted proposal (e.g.,
Microsoft MS Project with a stress on agile planning);
homework #4 is related to Microsoft MS Project-based
description of specific core phases and insists on agile
planning.
(e) One has to write business plans for investors (and also has
to know how investors look at the business plans of the
applicants; homework #5 is to prepare business plan for
forming a company based on the final product of the project
defined by homework #1). (f) One has to know how to write a
patent application (to protect the major product of his/her
future company; homework #6 is to prepare a patent
application related to the final product of the project defined
by homework #1). Both above have to keep in mind specifics
of DataFlow products and to stress these specifics, as well as
their potential advantages on the market.
(g) One has to write a paper of all possible solutions of the
problem under consideration in the just finished project
(homework #7 is to write a survey paper, to educate potential
customers in the future). (h) One has to write a paper about
the solution introduced in the project just finished (homework
#8 is a research paper that explains the essence of the
company product to potential company customers, which can
help maximize company's sales; this chapter, if published in
an science citation index (SCI) journal, can also help the
author to obtain a PhD degree or can help the author's Alma
Mater university to obtain a better ranking at world
universities ranking lists). Both above have to be done a way
that helps bring all the advantages of DataFlow products to
the attention of its potential future users.