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RESEARCH PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
A Handbook for Everyone
The project management approaches, which are used by millions of

people internationally, are often too detailed or constraining to be
applied to research. In this handbook, project management expert P.
Alison Paprica presents guidance specifically developed to help with
the planning, management, and leadership of research.
Research Project Management and Leadership provides simplified ver-
sions of globally utilized project management tools, such as the work
breakdown structure to visualize scope, and offers guidance on pro-
cesses, including a five-step process to identify and respond to risks.
The complementary leadership guidance in the handbook is presented
in the form of interview write-ups with 19 Canadian and international
research leaders, each of whom describes a situation where leadership
skills were important, how they responded, and what they learned.
The accessible language and practical guidance in the handbook make
it a valuable resource for everyone from principal investigators lead-
ing multimillion-dollar projects to graduate students planning their
thesis research. The book aims to help readers understand which
management and leadership tools, processes, and practices are help-
ful in different circumstances, and how to implement them in research
settings.
p. alison paprica is an adjunct professor and senior fellow at the

Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the
University of Toronto.
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Research Project
Management and
Leadership
A Handbook for Everyone
P. ALISON PAPRICA
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Research project management and leadership : a handbook for everyone /

P. Alison Paprica.
Names: Paprica, P. Alison, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
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ISBN 9781487544515 (cloth) | ISBN 9781487544461 (paper) |
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LCSH: Leadership – Handbooks, manuals, etc. | LCGFT: Handbooks and manuals.
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omission, please notify the publisher.
We wish to acknowledge the land on which the University of Toronto Press

operates. This land is the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabeg, the
Haudenosaunee, the Métis, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of

Canada and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, for its
publishing activities.
This handbook is dedicated to research leaders everywhere. I have
been inspired by the ways in which they have stepped up, supported
others, taken chances, led with compassion, stuck their necks out,
and gone the extra mile. I admire them and thank them for their
contributions to research.
Contents
List of Illustrations xiii
List of Tables xvii
List of Boxes xix
List of Leadership Advice Crosswalks xxi
Section 1: Overview of Research Project Management and

Leadership 1
1.1 Research Requires Both Vision and Planning 1
1.2 Summary of the Literature 4
1.3 Origin and Content of This Handbook 9
1.4 Summary of Project Management Tools and Processes for
Research 12
1.4.1 Distinguishing Projects from Operations 12
1.4.2 Project Management Tools and Processes 14
1.4.3 Overview of the Research Project Management Tools
Presented in This Handbook 15
1.5 Main Themes from Research Leader Interviews 17
1.6 How to Use This Handbook 21
Section 2: Scoping and Planning Research Projects 25
2.1 Scope and the Work Breakdown Structure 25
viii Contents
2.1.1 Project Management Mindset of “Define, Then

Deliver” 25
2.1.2 The Work Breakdown Structure as a Tool to
Articulate Project Scope 26
2.1.3 Deliverable-Based Scoping Drives Activities to
the Point at Which They Produce Something
Tangible 30
2.1.4 Common Workstreams and Deliverables for
Research Projects 31
2.1.5 Using the Work Breakdown Structure to Establish
a Common Understanding of a Research Project’s
Scope 34
2.2 Deliverable-Based Schedule 43
2.2.1 Using Work Breakdown Structure Deliverables to
Create a Schedule That Covers the Project’s Entire
Scope 43
2.2.2 Benefits of a Schedule 44
2.2.3 Steps for Developing a Deliverable-Based Gantt
Chart for a Research Project 46
2.2.4 Schedule Compression 47
2.2.5 Avoiding Unnecessary Multitasking 53
2.3 Deliverable-Based Budget 56
2.3.1 The Budget as a Tool to Ensure Sufficient Funding
for All Deliverables 56
2.3.2 Estimating the Costs for Common Research Budget
Lines 60
2.3.3 Steps for Developing a Deliverable-Based Budget for
a Research Project 63
2.4 Involving Stakeholders in Project Planning 65
2.5 Triple Constraint of Scope, Time, and Cost 69
Section 3: Transitioning from Research Project Planning to
Implementation 72
3.1 Progressive and Iterative Elaboration of Project Details 72
3.2 Processes to Identify and Manage Risks 73
3.2.1 Distinguishing Risks from Issues and
Opportunities 73
3.2.2 Identifying, Prioritizing, and Responding to
Negative Risks for Research 74
Contents ix
3.2.3 Positive Risk Management 79

3.2.4 Research Project Risk Management Plan 80
3.3 Roles and Responsibilities 83
3.3.1 Importance of Understanding Who Will Do What on
the Research Project Team 83
3.3.2 Work Breakdown Structure with the Leads’ Initials
as a Tool for Identifying Workstream and Deliverable
Leads 83
3.3.3 Intertwined Roles of the Principal Investigator and
the Academic Research Project Manager 86
3.3.4 Core Team 89
3.3.5 The RACI as a Tool to Define Multiple Roles 93
3.3.6 Building Capacity across the Research Project
Team 96
3.4 Decision Making, Governance, and Oversight 99
3.4.1 Research Project Governance 99
3.4.2 Decision-Making Processes 103
3.4.3 Bringing Governance and Management
Together 106
3.5 Using Project Management to Strengthen Grant
Applications 110
Section 4: Implementing and Closing Research Projects 117
4.1 Project Kickoff 117
4.2 Tracking and Driving Research Project Progress 121
4.3 Communications and Stakeholder Involvement during
Implementation 127
4.3.1 Communications Planning 127
4.3.2 Status Reports 131
4.3.3 Stakeholder Engagement 135
4.4 Preventing and Addressing Common Problems 138
4.5 Closing the Project and Capturing the Lessons Learned 142
Section 5: Cross-Cutting Topics 147
5.1 Running Effective Meetings 147
5.1.1 Value of Meetings 147
5.1.2 Role and Responsibilities of the Meeting Chair 147
5.1.3 Research Meeting Agendas 149
5.1.4 Facilitation Techniques and Processes 152
x Contents
5.2 Applying Project Management Tools and Processes to

Research Programs, Operations, and Portfolios 156
5.3 Agile Approaches and Research Project Management 162
5.4 Adapting Research Project Management and Leadership
Skills on the Basis of Context 165
5.4.1 Modifying Academic Research Project Management
Skills for Other Sectors That Perform Research and
Development 165
5.4.2 Applying the Guidance in This Handbook in Your
Environment 170
Section 6: Interviews with Research Leaders 173
6.1 Elspeth Brown: Starting a New Leadership Role with a
Listening Tour 174
6.2 Steini Brown: Research Leadership Should Focus on the
Team, Not the Leader 178
6.3 Beth Coleman: Starting Up the University of Toronto Black
Research Network 181
6.4 Aled Edwards: Learning Your Partners’ Culture through
Immersion 184
6.5 Steve Farber: Leadership to Advance a Concept into a
Codeveloped Research Agenda 186
6.6 Colleen Flood: Forward Thinking and Scenario Planning for
Policies Related to Vaccination 189
6.7 Lorna MacDonald: Creating and Leading Two Productions
of a Historically-Based Opera 194
6.8 Kim McGrail: Launching a New Pan-Canadian Network 197
6.9 Michael Schull: When a Clinician Scientist Is the CEO of a
Research Institute with More than 200 Staff 200
6.10 Barbara Sherwood Lollar: Understanding That Research
Operations Are Fundamentally Entrepreneurial 204
6.11 Molly Shoichet: Supporting Students in Learning Their Own
Lessons 208
6.12 Arjumand Siddiqi: Contributing as a Researcher When
You’re Not Certain That You’re Right 211
6.13 Zaïna Soré: Working with Partners to Take Research into
Practice 214
6.14 Sharon Straus: Using Research Skills and Methods to
Achieve Change 217
Contents xi
6.15 Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi: Creating Vibrant Research

Communities in the Humanities 221
6.16 Jutta Treviranus: Shifting the Culture of Research Funding to
More Inclusive Approaches 223
6.17 David Wolfe: Distinct Leadership Requirements for Large
Research Grants with Business Partners 228
6.18 Stefaan Verhulst: Research Entrepreneurship to Mobilize a
New International Network 232
6.19 Rich Zemel: Working with Industry to Create a New
Machine Learning Research Institute 235
Appendices – Examples of Light-Touch Project Management
Documents for Fictional and Generic Research Projects 241
Appendix A: Scope of a Fictional Graduate Student Thesis Project
Expressed in Terms of Deliverables 243
Appendix B: Scope of a Fictional Visual Arts Exhibition Project
Appendix C: Scope of a Fictional Systematic Review Project
Appendix D: Three Pages for Planning and Managing a Fictional
Seniors’ Health Clinics Evaluation Project 249
Appendix E: Five-Page Plan for a Fictional Pollution Research
Project 253
Appendix F: Example Full Project Plan for a Fictional Natural
Sciences Research Project That Is Part of a
Multidisciplinary Program 260
Bibliography 271
Index 275
About the Author 285

Illustrations
1.1 Continuum of Certainty for Research Projects (with Exceptions,

of Course) 3
1.2 Everyone Has a Role to Play in Research Leadership and
Management 10
1.3 Fictional Stock Chart as an Example of a Tool Used in the
Financial Services Sector 15
1.4 20,000-Foot View of High-Impact Light-Touch Project
Management Tools 17
2.1 Deliverables as Stakes in the Ground for Research Project
Planning and Implementation 27
2.2 WBS for a Generic Research Project 29
2.3 WBS for a Generic Research Project with a Training and
Capacity-Building Workstream 36
2.4 WBS for a Fictional Pollution Research Project 38
2.5 WBS for a Fictional Seniors’ Health Clinics Evaluation
Project 39
2.6 Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Pollution
Research Project 45
2.7 Parametric Estimates of Deliverable Duration 48
2.8 Fast-Tracked Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional
Pollution Research Project with Fast-Tracking in Year 1 to
Ensure Time for Quality Final Deliverables at the End of the
Project 50
xiv Illustrations
2.9 Risky Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Pollution

Research Project with Relaxed Schedule in Year 1 51
2.10 Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Seniors’ Health
Clinics Evaluation Project 54
2.11 Downside of Multitasking 55
2.12 Parametric Estimate of Deliverable Costs 63
2.13 Scope, Schedule, and Budget Are Related through the Triple
Constraint 70
3.1 Relationship between Risk Responses and the Likelihood and
Impact of Negative Risks 79
3.2 Representation of Two Different Teams’ Negative Risk
Tolerance 80
3.3 WBS for a Fictional Pollution Research Project with Lead Initials
Added 85
3.4 Relationship among the Research Project Team, Core Team or
Teams, and Research Executive Committee 91
3.5 Examples of Hierarchy in Research Project Governance and
Management 100
4.1 Project Phases and Resource Consumption 118
4.2 Using the Tracking Sheet to Monitor Progress and Highlight
Accomplishments and Changes 124
4.3 Quarter-Page Status Report for a Generic Research Project 131
4.4 Two-Page Status Report for a Fictional Seniors’ Health Clinics
Evaluation Project 132
5.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Program of Research
for a Social Services Intervention Pilot 158
5.2 Work Breakdown Structure for the Operations of a Fictional
Virtual Research Network or Center 159
5.3 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional New Investigator’s
Research Portfolio 160
5.4 Work Breakdown Structure for Fictional Ongoing Applications
for Research Funding 164
A.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Graduate Student
Thesis Project 244
B.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Visual Arts Exhibition
Project 246
C.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Systematic Review
Project 248
Illustrations xv
D.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Seniors’ Health

D.2 Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Seniors’ Health
D.3 Microsoft Excel Tracking Sheet for a Fictional Seniors’ Health
Clinics Evaluation Project (June 2022 Update) 252
E.1 Work Breakdown Structure with Leads’ Initials for a Fictional
Pollution Research Project 254
E.2 Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Pollution
Research Project 255
F.1 Fictional RaCOTE Project in Context 261
F.2 Work Breakdown Structure for the Fictional RaCOTE
Project 263
F.3 Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for the Fictional RaCOTE
Project 265
Tables
1.1 Countries with More Than US$10 Billion Annual Higher

Education R&D 3
1.2 Contrasting Projects and Operations 14
2.1 Deliverable-Based Budget for a Fictional Pollution Research
Project 58
2.2 Deliverable-Based Budget for a Fictional Seniors’ Health Clinics
3.1 Example Negative Risk Management Plan 75
3.2 Example of a Partially Completed RACI for a Generic Research
Project 94
3.3 Unrealistic High-Level Budget for a Fictional Large Research
Project 113
3.4 Realistic High-Level Budget for a Fictional Large Research
Project 114
4.1 Example Kick-Off Meeting Agenda 120
4.2 Blank Tracking Sheet Template for Research Projects 123
4.3 Example Research Project Communications Plan for a Generic
4.4 Example Research Stakeholder Engagement Plan for a Generic
5.1 Example Research Meeting Agenda with Decision Items 151
5.2 Tracking Sheet Template for Research Programs, Operations, or
Portfolios 162
xviii Tables
5.3 Differences in Research Project Management Practices

Depending on the Certainty of the Project 167
5.4 Existing versus Recommended Content for a Research Project
Plan or Program Plan 172
E.1 Deliverable-Based Budget for a Fictional Pollution Research
Project 256
E.2 RACI for a Fictional Pollution Research Project 256
E.3 Negative Risk Management Plan for a Fictional Pollution
F.1 Deliverable-Based Budget for the Fictional RaCOTE
Project 266
F.2 Top Negative Risks and Responses for the Fictional RaCOTE
Project 266
F.3 Communications Plan for the Fictional RaCOTE Project 268
Boxes
1.1 A Vision and a Task Proverb 1

1.2 Types of Research and Development 2
1.3 Two Definitive Resources: The PMBOK® Guide and Managing
Successful Projects with PRINCE2® 4
1.4 Findings from a Literature Review Focused on Academic
Research Project Management and Leadership 7
1.5 What Is Light-Touch Project Management? 16
1.6 Main Themes from Research Leader Interviews 18
1.7 Suggestions for Different Research Project Team Members’ Use
of This Handbook 22
1.8 Microsoft Office Software Features That Can Be Used to Create
and Populate Project Management Tools 24
2.1 Project Management Mindset: “Define, Then Deliver” 25
2.2 High-Level Description of a Fictional Pollution Research
Project 40
2.3 High-Level Description of a Fictional Seniors’ Health Clinics
2.4 Work Breakdown Structure Dos and Don’ts 42
2.5 Options for Compressing the Research Project Schedule 52
3.1 Examples of Negative Risks and Responses to Them 78
3.2 Examples of Positive Risks and Responses to Them 81
3.3 When the Research Project Team Consists of One Person 90
xx Boxes
3.4 Research Executive Committees for Large Projects and

Initiatives 92
3.5 Professional Attributes and Competencies 98
3.6 Examples of Potentially Contentious Research Project
Decisions 104
3.7 Two Common Options for Consensus-Based Decision Making
for Research 105
3.8 Sections for a Terms-of-Reference Document 107
3.9 Example Research Project Governance and Management
Plan 108
4.1 Possible Responses to Things That May Change between Grant
Application Submission and the Start of a Research Project 118
4.2 Research Project Closure Activities 143
5.1 Tips for Chairing Research Meetings 148
5.2 Example Marked-Up Meeting Agenda with Notes and Action
Items 153
Leadership Advice Crosswalks
2.1 Relationship between Scope and Vision 28

2.2 The Value of Regularly Scheduled Meetings 33
2.3 Timing Matters for Research 46
2.4 Know When to Say No 55
2.5 The Budget Follows the Work 60
2.6 In-Person Meetings Have Unique Value 62
2.7 Involve External Stakeholders 67
2.8 Equity in Research 68
2.9 Plans Must Change If There Are Major Scope Increases 71
3.1 Your Research Plan Should Not Be Rigid 72
3.2 Distribute Leadership 84
3.3 Accountability and the Distribution of Work 87
3.4 Project Management Skills within the Team 88
3.5 Focused Subteams 92
3.6 Building Others’ Capacity 96
3.7 Leaders Are Also Learners 97
3.8 Be Prepared to Make Decisions 99
3.9 Research Leaders Secure Funding 115
4.1 Start Large Projects with a Meeting 119
4.2 Good Communications Skills Are Essential 128
4.3 Understand Stakeholders’ Communications Needs 134
xxii Leadership Advice Crosswalks
4.4 Leaders Do Not Have All the Answers 140

4.5 Make Human Connections 141
4.6 Good Project Closure 144
5.1 Leading an Organization Is Different than Leading a Research
Project or Program 157
SECTION ONE
Overview of Research Project

Management and Leadership
1.1 RESEARCH REQUIRES BOTH VISION AND

PLANNING
Research, by its nature, tends to focus on the vision. It is about the

potential to generate knowledge or improved products, processes, and
services. For hundreds of years, however, people have realized that a
vision alone is not enough; planning is also required (see Box 1.1).
That is why this handbook presents a combination of advice from 19
research leaders and light-touch versions of globally accepted project
management tools and processes to support research team members
in planning and implementing projects to achieve their vision.
“Research” is a broad term that can include everything from the
generation of new theories at universities to experimental devel-
opment performed by businesses to refine or improve commercial
products (Box 1.2). This handbook focuses on guidance for academic
research – sometimes referred to as higher education research and
BOX 1.1. A VISION AND A TASK PROVERB

A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a vision is drudg-
ery. A vision and a task are the hope of the world. – Anonymous (often
attributed to an unknown church in Sussex, England, c. 1730)
2 Research Project Management and Leadership
BOX 1.2. TYPES OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken
primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of
phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application
or use in view.
Applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to
acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily toward a spe-
cific, practical aim or objective.
Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowl-
edge gained from research and practical experience and producing
additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or
processes or to improving existing products or processes.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (2015).
development (HERD) – which includes research performed at univer-

sities, colleges, research hospitals, and research institutes and centers
that are under the control of tertiary education institutions (Organi-
sation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], n.d.-b).
Academic research is primarily funded by governments and plays
an important role in innovation systems by ensuring the provision
of new knowledge from basic and applied research that businesses
are unlikely to conduct because of the non-appropriable, public good,
intangible character of knowledge and the risky nature of research
(OECD, 2012).
There is a massive international investment in academic research
each year. The OECD (n.d.-a) reports that more than US$300 billion of
research is performed annually by the higher education sector, most
of which is invested in eight countries that each have more than US$10
billion of annual HERD investment (see Table 1.1).
The specific objectives of the funders of academic research vary,
but they generally include the generation of new foundational
knowledge and research findings that will directly or indirectly
address societal, economic, and security challenges (OECD, 2016).
Of course, there are exceptions, but, overall, research has higher
Overview of Research Project Management and Leadership 3
Table 1.1. Countries with More Than US$10 Billion Annual Higher
Education R&D
Annual R&D Performed by

the Higher Education Sector Latest Year for Which
Country (US$, billions) Data Are Available
United States 84.0 (D, P) 2021
China (People’s Republic of) 34.5 2018
Germany 28.0 (P) 2021
Japan 21.0 2021
United Kingdom 20.2 2020
France 15.6 2021
Canada 13.0 (E, P) 2022
Korea 10.9 2021
D = difference in methodology; E = estimated value; P = provisional value;

R&D = research and development.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (n.d.-a).
uncertainty than other kinds of work. For example, at the beginning

of a research project there may not be certainty about what the re-
search questions will be, what methodology will be used, or whether
the project will yield any conclusive results. This uncertainty is un-
avoidable and associated with the open and inquisitive nature of
research. The uncertainty is highest for investigator-driven basic
research, which is conducted to generate knowledge without any
particular application in mind (Figure 1.1).
Business, Academic or
Experimental Government Applied
Development, or Research & Evaluation
Applied Research
Academic
Business Basic Investigator–
Non-Research Not-for-Profit Sciences Driven Basic
Projects R&D & Evaluation Research Research
Most Least
Certain Certain
Figure 1.1. Continuum of Certainty for Research Projects (with Exceptions,

of Course)
1.2 SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE
Volumes have been written about project management and leader-

ship. Among the thousands of project management books and text-
books that exist, two stand out because they guide the practice of
millions of practitioners: the Standard for Project Management and a
Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)
(Project Management Institute, 2021) and Managing Successful Pro-
jects with PRINCE2® (Axelos, 2017; see Box 1.3). These resources are
complemented by many academic publications, including broad-
scope journals (e.g., International Journal of Project Management, Pro-
ject Management Journal, International Journal of Project Organization and
Management, Project Leadership and Society) and journals focused on
specific sectors (e.g., International Journal of Managing Projects in Busi-
ness, International Journal of Information Technology Project Management).
Within this large project management and leadership literature, only a
small number of publications focus specifically on academic research;
however, there is complementary literature focused on research and
development (R&D), including academic journals such as R&D Man-
agement and Higher Education Research and Development, and thousands
of books written about various aspects of R&D.
BOX 1.3. TWO DEFINITIVE RESOURCES: THE PMBOK  GUIDE

AND MANAGING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS WITH PRINCE2
Two books are recognized as definitive resources for the practice
of project management: The Standard for Project Management and
a Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK
Guide), published by the US-based Project Management Institute
(PMI; 2021) and Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 (Axelos,
2017), published by the Stationary Office and supported by Axelos
as joint venture with the UK government. PMI has more than one
million certified project management professionals (PMPs), Axelos
has more than one million PRINCE2 certified project managers, and
both PMI and Axelos offer multiple different project management–
related certification programs. The PMBOK Guide and Managing
Successful Projects with PRINCE2 each provide hundreds of pages of

guidance and are continuously reviewed and updated by thousands of
contributing project managers.
The main difference between the two resources is that the PMBOK
Guide presents a framework of standards along with many options
for tools and processes that can be applied to plan and manage
projects, whereas Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2
presents a specific but flexible method for planning and managing
projects. The two resources use slightly different terminology, but both
draw on and bring together project management tools and processes
that predate the publication of the PMBOK Guide and PRINCE2
resources, such as the work breakdown structure, Gantt charts, and
responsibility assignment matrices. By their nature, the PMBOK
Guide and Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 are general
resources that do not provide detailed guidance on, or examples of, the
application of project management in research or other sectors. They
both encourage the tailoring of project management to meet the needs
of individual projects and different contexts.
Despite the large volume of written material, it is extremely challeng-

ing to identify publications focused specifically on academic research
project management and leadership because most of the project man-
agement and leadership literature focuses on non-academic projects.
On top of that, there are no standardized search terms that distinguish
between publications focused on the leadership and management of
academic research and publications that present academic research on
project management in other sectors.
As part of the preparation of this handbook, a literature review was
performed to identify scholarly publications focused on the leader-
ship and management of academic research. The first step involved
searching Scopus and Google Scholar using combinations of the terms
“management,” “project management,” “leadership,” and “academic
research” to find articles that might be relevant, followed by a review
of abstracts and full text to identify the subset of articles that focused
on the leadership and management of academic research. From there,
the snowball search method was used to identify additional relevant
publications that cited, or were cited by, publications that had been
confirmed to be relevant. This approach identified two literature re-
views focused on academic research project management (Philbin,
2017; vom Brocke & Lippe, 2015), one literature review focused on
academic research leadership (Anthony & Antony, 2017), and a small
number of additional articles that warranted inclusion either be-
cause they were not included in previously published literature re-
views or because relevant details in them were less emphasized in the
published literature reviews.
To complement the peer-reviewed and indexed literature, a gen-
eral internet search for resources related to academic research project
management and leadership was performed, including a search of
guidance provided by research funders. This identified one work-
shop report (Lemieux-Charles, 2005); one working group report
(Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance [CHSPRA],
2015); and several websites with program guides, guidance, reports,
and case studies (Advance HE, n.d.; Canada Foundation for Innova-
tion, n.d.; Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR], 2016, 2017;
European Commission, 2002; Memorial University of Newfound-
land, 2018; Miller, 2019; OECD, n.d.-b). Note that internet search re-
sults change as new materials are posted, and research funders may
have program guides and other relevant materials that are accessi-
ble only to researchers who register with them. Therefore, although
the institutional and research funder internet resources cited here
may have some helpful information for readers, they are included
primarily to illustrate the existence of relevant online materials and
to prompt readers to seek guidance from their own institutions and
funders.
Taking all of the published material focused on the management
and leadership of academic research together, two things can be said:
1 Not much has been published on the topic relative to the large
investments made in academic research.
2 The degree of consistency of findings and recommendations
is high, including consensus that project management and
leadership are different for academic research than they are for
other sectors (see Box 1.4).
BOX 1.4. FINDINGS FROM A LITERATURE REVIEW

FOCUSED ON ACADEMIC RESEARCH PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AND LEADERSHIP
• Many articles focused on the management or leadership of aca-
demic research cite or paraphrase Ernø-Kjølhede’s (1999) statement
from more than 20 years ago: “The management of a research pro-
ject is full of uncertainty and complexity. Research has substantial
elements of creativity and innovation and predicting the outcome of
research in full is therefore very difficult.”
• Additional major differences between general project management
and research project management include the following: research
project goals may be abstract and subject to change; research
project team members have competing and possibly conflicting
obligations, such as teaching and other projects; the purpose of a
research project is to generate knowledge and the best achievable
result (which may be different than the planned result); too much
planning and control may be counterproductive for research projects;
and the leadership and integration of research is more important
than the rigid management of research project tasks (Huljenic et al.,
2005; Riol & Thiullier, 2015).
• Authors have also noted that leadership of academic research
differs from traditional leadership because of unique factors asso-
ciated with the university context, the fact that leadership may be
distributed across team members who come from different disci-
plines and sectors, and the graduate student–supervisor relation-
ship (Anthony & Antony, 2017).
• Much of the work of academic research projects is performed by
graduate students who need to be supported and provided with op-
portunities to learn (Lemieux-Charles, 2005; Riol & Thiullier, 2015).
• In addition to serving as the research lead and supervisor, the princi-
pal investigator of an academic research project may take on project
management responsibilities (e.g., managing contracts, cost, time,
scope, communications, and stakeholders), often without training
(Cassanelli et al., 2017; Lemieux-Charles, 2005).
• Where there are dedicated research project managers (or equiva-
lents, i.e., people with other titles who perform project management
functions), they may be faced with resistance to basic project man-
agement processes and lack the ability to affect the behavior of
other research team members, in part because of challenges with

project management techniques that are not suited to academic set-
tings (Moore & Shangraw, 2011; Powers & Kerr, 2009).
• In describing how research project management and leadership op-
erate now, the literature notes that project management tools and
processes can be applied (Mustaro & Rossi, 2013) but that univer-
sity culture can be “anti-management” (Moore & Shangraw, 2011).
• Academic research topics requiring more attention include time
management, human resources management, risk management,
partners, scope, and the project vision (Kuchta et al., 2017;
Lemieux-Charles, 2005; vom Brocke & Lippe, 2015).
• Researchers have identified the need to pay more attention to the
people side of research leadership to make science more produc-
tive, rigorous, and happy (Norris et al., 2018).
• In addition to developing their research and analytical skills, trainees
need support in developing professional skills, including leadership
and project management (CHSPRA, 2015; CIHR, 2017).
• Regarding future research and practice changes, the literature notes
that improving research project management and leadership will re-
quire a mix of people-focused soft skills and technical skills and pro-
cesses (Philbin, 2017; Riol & Thiullier, 2015).
• On the soft skills side, cooperation and compatibility among re-
search project team members to make shared contributions to the
research vision are critical, as are interpersonal and mentoring skills
(Lippe & vom Brocke, 2016; Riol & Thiullier, 2015; vom Brocke &
Lippe, 2015).
• In addition to soft skills, research projects also require flexible
planning and monitoring, a clear understanding of responsibilities
among team members, governance structures suited to academic
environments, skilled project managers, and techniques tailored to
academic settings (Cassanelli et al., 2017; Lemieux-Charles, 2005;
Moore & Shangraw, 2011; Philbin, 2017; Powers & Kerr, 2009; Riol
& Thiullier, 2015; vom Brocke & Lippe, 2015).
• On the basis of all of these findings, project management and lead-
ership training and capacity building must be tailored to support
skills development in academic settings (Lemieux-Charles, 2005;
Philbin, 2017).
• The need for management and leadership capacities in the research
sector is expected to grow as the size and complexity of research
projects increase (Lemieux-Charles, 2005).
1.3 ORIGIN AND CONTENT OF THIS HANDBOOK
As the director responsible for up to $60 million in annual research

funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health from 2010 to 2013, I
saw how the lack of project management and leadership capacity
threatened research performed at universities, research hospitals,
and research institutes. I worked with many academic researchers
who had excellent research and scientific skills but struggled to re-
alize their visions or complete their projects on time. On reflection,
this was not surprising, given that graduate school focuses almost
exclusively on teaching trainees research methods for the sciences,
arts, and humanities, leaving those who pursue careers in research
to figure out research management and leadership on their own. But
the status quo struck me as an inappropriate sink-or-swim approach
when there is a clear need to build project management and leader-
ship capacity in the research sector.
I decided to leverage my decades of experience as a certified project
management professional, and what I had learned about leadership
as a research funder, to develop training for research teams. My ap-
proach was informed by the report from a 2005 National Workshop
on Research Leadership and Management planned by a team led
by Professor Louise Lemieux-Charles (Lemieux-Charles, 2005). The
workshop summary report made the point that everyone involved in
academic research, from graduate students to senior researchers, has
a role to play in research management and leadership (see Figure 1.2).
I was also influenced by my participation in multiple non-academic
career options panels that I had been part of and, later, by the work of
the Canadian Health Services and Policy Research Alliance (CHSPRA,
2015; CIHR, 2017) on training modernization in health services and
policy research.
On the basis of personal experience and the limited literature on the
topic of academic research project management (see Box 1.4), it was
clear to me that globally accepted project management and leadership
practices would need to be tailored and adapted to work in academic
research settings. As a certified project manager who began my career
by working in international pharmaceutical R&D before moving to
academic research roles, I realized that there was a significant discon-
nect between the project management guidance that works well for
other sectors and what is needed for academic research projects. I also
Senior Researchers,
Institution or Center Training
Leaders, Senior Staff
Leadership
Knowledge Sharing
Mentoring and
Project Management
New Faculty & Training
Mid-Career Staff
Fellows, Entry-Level Training

Staff, Students
Figure 1.2. Everyone Has a Role to Play in Research Leadership and

Management
Source: Adapted with permission from Lemieux-Charles (2005).
knew, firsthand, that leadership looks different in academic environ-

ments than it does in the innovative but highly regulated pharmaceu-
tical sector where I had worked for 7 years. Paraphrasing the iconic
baseball coach Tommy Lasorda, I believe that the effective leadership
and management of academic research is like holding a dove – you
need to hold it tightly enough that it does not fly away, but not so
tightly that you crush it. Research projects need space to evolve and
move in new directions, which means that the guidance that has been
developed for other sectors needs to be tailored to be helpful and ena-
bling, not constraining and burdensome. Therefore, the guidance and
capacity building that I developed took the form of simplified and
high-level versions of globally accepted project management tools
and processes combined with complementary, less-structured advice
from research leaders.
To start, I developed a graduate student course offered through
the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management
and Evaluation. Participants included full-time graduate students
and people pursuing graduate degrees on a part-time basis as they
worked in public- and not-for-profit-sector organizations focused on

health. The course material consisted primarily of well-known and
globally accepted project management tools and processes that I had
personally modified for my own use, complemented by guest lec-
tures and informal question-and-answer sessions with research lead-
ers from my network. Over time, I worked with a program advisory
committee organized by the University of Toronto’s School of Contin-
uing Studies to develop a continuing education course that anyone
(not just graduate students) could take, and I later developed shorter
workshop and webinar versions of the training.
In total, more than 1,000 people have participated in the courses,
workshops, and webinars on research project management and
leadership that I have delivered since 2013. Most of the participants
have been research staff, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows
working at universities, research hospitals, or research institutes, but
approximately 10 percent have been principal investigators and early
career researchers. In addition to providing training and services to
more than 40 different university departments and not-for-profit or-
ganizations, I have occasionally provided customized training for
not-for-profit organizations that specialize in developing or evaluat-
ing programs, and I have had people who work in the private sector
attend my workshops.
At the end of each workshop or course, I use facilitated group dis-
cussions and polling combined with anonymous evaluation forms to
learn what participants value the most and areas for improvement.
Over the years, I have refined and modified the training content in re-
sponse to the following things that I have learned from participants:
• A range of people in the academic sector, including graduate stu-

dents, postdoctoral fellows, research staff, early career researchers,
and experienced principal investigators, appreciate and make use
of research project management and leadership guidance.
• Participants were the most interested in simplified versions of
project management tools (e.g., the work breakdown structure
[WBS]) and processes (e.g., risk management) that they could
immediately begin using in planning and managing their own
research.
• Participants appreciated seeing multiple (sometimes similar) ex-
amples of project management tools and processes being applied
to fictional or generic projects because those examples highlight

the generalizability of the tools and increase the likelihood that
one or more of the examples will be similar to what is required by
their own projects.
• People inherently understood that tools and processes alone are
not enough for personal or project success, and they valued the ad-
vice and stories of research leaders.
• Trainees, staff, and faculty who work on research projects benefit
from guidance on topics that might seem obvious or unnecessary
to people working in corporate roles or other sectors (e.g., how
to plan and chair a meeting, the importance of project closure
activities).
As I provided training and capacity-building sessions to hundreds

of people, I also learned that there was no existing project manage-
ment resource that was suitable for the research team members who
attended my courses, workshops, and webinars. Of course, many
comprehensive project management resources are available (see, e.g.,
Box 1.3), but in practice I found that those resources had a lot of detail
that the research team members with whom I worked did not want
or need, at least not to start with. I also realized that the lack of guid-
ance fit for the purpose would pose an even bigger problem for people
who did not want to attend a course or workshop and were seeking a
stand-alone resource for research project management and leadership.
These observations led me to conceive of, and write, this hand-
book, beginning in 2021. In keeping with the feedback from course
and workshop participants, the handbook is a practical resource that
is light on concepts and theories and focuses instead on examples of
research project management and leadership in practice.
1.4 SUMMARY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS

AND PROCESSES FOR RESEARCH
1.4.1 Distinguishing Projects from Operations
It makes sense to start the discussion of academic research man-

agement and leadership with project management, because most
research team members start building their management and lead-

ership skills at the project level. Projects are temporary endeav-
ors undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. This
means that every project has a beginning and an end and produces
something that is, in some way, different from the outputs of other
projects.
Consider a research project team studying the heat tolerance of
crops. The lab may have specialized equipment and standard ways of
performing studies, but if a heat wave hits, the research project team’s
project and project management will probably change in some ways.
For example, some stakeholders may become more available and
interested in being involved in the research, and others may be less
available because they are actively involved in responding to the cri-
sis. The research project team may also need to change its approach to
sharing preliminary findings. Of course, no team ever wants to release
preliminary research results that end up being disproven, but during
a heat wave the stakes for the crop heat tolerance research team would
be higher. If a team must retract or change preliminary findings, that
can have very negative consequences for stakeholders who acted on
preliminary findings or lead to loss of stakeholder trust in the research
team.
In contrast with temporary, unique, and time-limited projects,
operations are ongoing and may be repetitive. Making solar panels
at a factory is one example of operations, and Table 1.2 presents
others.
Because operations are about doing the same thing over and over
again, approaches such as Lean Six Sigma (American Society for
Quality, n.d.-b) may be used to perfect processes and minimize inef-
ficiencies in how operations are conducted. However, because every
project is unique in some way, project management cannot be about
perfecting a single way of doing things. Instead, project management
is about knowing how to adapt and apply project management tools
and processes for the benefit of unique and individual projects. This
handbook focuses mostly on project management for research, with
some brief coverage of management related to research operations,
research programs, and research portfolios in Section 5.2, “Applying
Project Management Tools and Processes to Research Programs, Op-
erations, and Portfolios.”
Table 1.2. Contrasting Projects and Operations
Project Operations
Applied research project to increase the Manufacturing solar panels at a factory
efficiency of solar panels
Running a clinical trial of a new drug Monitoring an approved drug for adverse
product drug effects
Buying and installing a new electron Supporting a community of scientists in
microscope using the electron microscope
Developing a policy for urban parks Confirming that new proposed plans for
urban parks comply with the policy
Developing a new method to improve Monthly testing of toxins in beach water
detection of toxins in beach water
Creating a new historically based opera Operating a university theater
Launching a web portal with evidence- Populating a web portal with new content
based resources for families of children every 2 weeks
with learning disabilities
Consulting with clinicians to develop a Supporting the use of a guideline in
new guideline practice
1.4.2 Project Management Tools and Processes
A stock chart (see Figure 1.3) is a good way to understand how project
management tools and processes provide two major benefits. First,
the stock chart tool is much better for presenting information than
a narrative description would be. You could write pages and pages
about how a stock price changes over time, but why would you? The
visual presentation in the stock chart is much easier to make sense of
and the chart helps people quickly understand whether the general
trend for the stock price is positive or negative and how volatile the
price is.
The second benefit of the stock chart tool may be less obvious – it
serves as a prompt for people to capture standardized information
about the stock price at regular intervals. In this way, the stock chart
promotes a more thorough process for capturing and analyzing stock
price data than would be possible with irregular and ad hoc written
descriptions of the changes in stock price.
In the absence of project management guidance that is suitable for
research, I have seen many research teams do the equivalent of writing
pages and pages of text (or emails) to manage and lead their projects.
Despite the time and effort required to do all of this writing, these bits
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TSE Composite Index Fictional Stock
Figure 1.3. Fictional Stock Chart as an Example of a Tool Used in the

Financial Services Sector
Source: Author.
and pieces of disconnected project information captured with ad hoc

methods rarely cover basic project information needs, such as what
the project will produce, who is responsible for what work, and how
the project is progressing.
It does not have to be this way. Just like the financial services com-
munity has developed tools such as the stock chart, the project man-
agement community has developed tools for collecting and organizing
information about projects. Once adapted to work for research pro-
jects, project management tools can help with sense-making, and the
processes used to apply the tools ensure a comprehensive and consist-
ent approach to managing research.
1.4.3 Overview of the Research Project Management Tools

Presented in This Handbook
Because of their uncertainty, many academic research projects do not

have the amount of detail that would be required to apply project
management tools and processes in traditional ways. Instead, I recom-
mend, and personally use, modified versions of project management
tools and processes that are higher level than would be used for pro-
jects with more known details. I call this approach “light-touch” pro-
ject management (see Box 1.5).
Even when using light-touch tools and processes, research teams
should begin with the minimum amount of project management doc-
umentation that is needed and only add more when there is benefit in
doing so. Figure 1.4 presents, at a high level, the light-touch tools that
are most likely to add value to academic research projects, based on
my own experience and feedback from people who have participated
BOX 1.5. WHAT IS LIGHT-TOUCH PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

“Light touch” means that I have taken project management tools and
practices that could lead to the generation of tens to hundreds of
pages of documentation and modified them to be as high-level and
non-constraining as they can be while still providing value in the con-
text of research.
Because of the variation in the certainty of research projects (see
Figure 1.1), there will be variation in the length and detail of project
documentation for research projects. In the pharmaceutical sector, I
personally developed multipage project Gantt charts that had 400 or
more tasks. In contrast, of the many high-level adapted Gantt charts
that I have prepared for academic research projects, none have ex-
ceeded two pages in length.
As a rule of thumb, the greater the inherent uncertainty of a re-
search project, the fewer the number of pages of planning and man-
agement documents. For example, an investigator-driven academic
research project with high uncertainty might have a high-level plan with
as few as three pages of planning and management documentation.
Of course, some research projects require pages of details that are
captured in other mandatory documents such as regulatory submis-
sions, permit applications, research protocols, research ethics board or
internal review board submissions, and reports to funders and govern-
ments. Still, the overarching project management plan – the one that
all team members and stakeholders need to understand and buy into –
can be very short because it focuses on the high-level information that
all the research team members and stakeholders need to know and
agree on in order to work together effectively.
• WBS (deliverable leads identified at implementation stage) (Sections 2.1 and 3.3.2)
• Deliverable-based Gantt chart schedule (Section 2.2)
• Tracking sheet (Section 4.2)
Incredibly
Useful
• RACI (Section 3.3.3)

• Deliverable-based budget with breakdown by funder categories (Section 2.3)
• Status reports (Section 4.3.2)
Usually Worth • Risk management plan (Section 3.2)
Adding
• TORs for committees and governance bodies (including documented decision-making

authorities or processes) (Section 3.4.3)
• Stakeholder engagement plan and related documents (i.e., deliverables created for
stakeholders, e.g., practiceguideline) (Section 4.3.3)
Helpful in Most • Communications plan and related documents (i.e., deliverables that go beyond
Cases status updates, e.g., website) (Section 4.3.1)
Figure 1.4. 20,000-Foot View of High-Impact Light-Touch Project

Management Tools
RACI = Resource–Approver–Consulted–Informed; TORs = terms of reference;
WBS = work breakdown structure.
in my courses and workshops. As noted in Figure 1.4, three tools – the

work breakdown structure (WBS), deliverable-based Gantt chart, and
tracking sheet – are incredibly useful. Even so, that does not mean that
those three tools will be the most valuable and helpful for every reader’s
situation. Section 1.6, “How to Use This Handbook,” provides guidance
on how readers in various roles may want to start using this handbook.
1.5 MAIN THEMES FROM RESEARCH LEADER

INTERVIEWS
Notwithstanding that project management tools and processes can be

very helpful, success and impact in research requires much more than
using templates and following processes. For that reason, in addition
to presenting adapted project management tools and processes, this
handbook includes advice from 19 research leaders.
Each research leader was interviewed and asked to share their

thoughts on
• what research leadership means to them;

• a situation in which research leadership was important, what they
did in that situation, and what they learned; and
• nuggets of research leadership advice that they have received or
given over the years.
Interviews were audio recorded so that research leaders’ ideas could

be presented in their own words, and transcripts were edited to cre-
ate blocks of text that were reviewed by each research leader, not just
for accuracy, but also so that they could add ideas that had not come
up during the interview. The hope was that this would create content
that was similar to the unstructured and off-the-cuff advice that guest
lecturer research leaders provided during my courses.
Interestingly, although there were differences in how the interview-
ees defined research leadership, almost every person interviewed
spoke about the role of the research leader in mobilizing and support-
ing people with complementary skills in working together toward a
common goal. The full write-ups of each research leader’s interview
are presented in Section 6, “Interviews with Research Leaders.” In
Box 1.6, I highlight that, taking the 19 interviews together, 10 themes
emerged.
BOX 1.6. MAIN THEMES FROM RESEARCH LEADER

INTERVIEWS
1 It’s the team that matters. Research leadership is mostly about
bringing together other people and providing them with the re-
sources and support that they need to make their best contribu-
tions. It is less about what the research leader knows or does
themselves. No research leader, no matter how smart they are,
can accomplish on their own what a team of people with comple-
mentary skills can do together.
2 Leadership is about passion, empathy, and inspiring others. Being
a research leader is much more than task delegation and project
management. Research leaders who relate to and inspire others

on a personal level are the ones who have the biggest impact, in
terms of both their research productivity and their effect on the
people they help mentor and develop.
3 Nothing happens without funding. Even research leaders
who have tenured academic positions must obtain their own
(non-institutional) funding to pay for students, research staff, sup-
plies, and other direct costs of research. Research leaders need
to understand their role in securing funding and have an entrepre-
neurial spirit.
4 Research leaders build and sustain communities. Research
advances through communities that are fueled by voluntary contri-
butions of time and expertise from research. The more diverse re-
search communities have better research outputs. When it comes
to research leadership, you get what you give.
5 Invest in long-term relationships with collaborators and stakehold-
ers. Relationships with collaborating researchers and partners in the
public sector, not-for-profit, and business sectors are key to research
leaders’ successes. These relationships are one of the main sources
of ideas and innovation and a big part of how research leaders have
an impact. Research leaders should invest time in building and
maintaining relationships with people with whom they click because
relationships are most fruitful when people get along well together.
6 Develop and support the next generation of researchers.
Research leaders have a responsibility to mentor and develop
the researchers of tomorrow. Part of that is knowing when to step
back and make room for new leaders to take over. One of the most
gratifying and rewarding things about being a research leader is
seeing research programs be strengthened and taken in new direc-
tions by the people one has mentored.
7 Watch out for human resources and interpersonal issues. No
details are provided in the interview write-ups to protect confiden-
tiality, but several research leaders spoke about how damaging it
can be to have someone on the research project team who is not
a good fit because of that person’s poor interpersonal skills or
insufficient technical or research skills. When this happens, the
issue can spread and affect many relationships within the team
and with external collaborators and stakeholders. It is important
to move quickly to address interpersonal and performance issues
when they arise and to take whatever time is needed when filling
roles on research teams.
8 Do not say yes to every potential partnership or project. If you
come to be known as one of the leaders in your field, you will
probably find that the opportunities to collaborate and partner
outweigh the time you have for those activities. Research leaders
are naturally inquisitive people with many interests. If they do not
know how to say no nicely, they will not have time for the things
that matter the most to them. This does not mean having a closed
door when it comes to new opportunities, but it does mean being
thoughtful and intentional so that you only say yes to the right
things.
9 Stay true to your vision. A research leader’s vision is one of the
most important things they can contribute to their teams, to the
communities that they build and support, and to society. But that
does not mean that everyone will agree with the leader’s vision or
on how to achieve it. No matter what direction a research leader
takes, there will always be some people who see things differently.
Research leaders need to be mindful of not being pulled in direc-
tions that do not align with their vision or with the essence of what
they are trying to accomplish. They may also need to develop a
thick skin to stay true to their vision in the face of criticism.
10 Research leaders need to be flexible, adaptive, and constantly
learning. Staying true to your vision as a research leader does
not mean resisting change or others’ advice. Research leaders
know that they do not have all the answers, and they often spend
more time listening than talking. If you are being innovative as a
research leader, and if you are working with bright and inquisitive
people at various stages of their careers, you should be adapting
and changing how you approach your research and research lead-
ership over time.
Each of these 10 themes was present in multiple interviews, al-

though sometimes expressed in different ways. To direct readers to
points of connection and complementarity between the research lead-
ers’ interview write-ups in Section 6 and the project management
content of the handbook, “Leadership Advice Crosswalks” have been
added throughout Sections 2 to 5.
1.6 HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK
As the handbook’s title implies, it is intended to be a practical resource

for anyone who wants to build their project management and leader-
ship skills related to research. There is no right or wrong way to use
the handbook, but it may help for people to think of it as a practical
resource that they can use in the same way as they would consult a
user’s manual for a new piece of equipment.
Like the beginning of a user’s manual, Section 1 of this handbook
helps readers orient themselves to the content, and the Table of Con-
tents includes descriptive headings for sections, subsections, research
leader interviews, figures, tables, and text boxes that are designed to
help readers find the guidance that will benefit them the most. For
example, if you are involved in a project that is repeatedly being sur-
prised by new negative risks, Section 3.2, “Processes to Identify and
Manage Risks,” would be a good place to start; if you are beginning to
prepare a grant application, Section 3.5, “Using Project Management
to Strengthen Grant Applications,” can help; and if ineffective meet-
ings are a source of frustration, you may want to begin with Section
5.1, “Running Effective Meetings.” The nature of project management
is that tools build upon each other, but, overall, the handbook is writ-
ten in such a way that you can implement whatever subset of tools and
processes adds value in your environment in the short term without
having to read about multiple other tools and processes beforehand.
From the courses, workshops, and team coaching sessions that I
have provided, I have learned that, depending on their role, people
are interested in different content. Box 1.7 provides some suggestions
about what handbook content might be particularly relevant to stu-
dents, research staff, early career researchers, and seasoned principal
investigators. These suggestions are not meant to be constraining. For
example, nothing prevents students from focusing on the research
leader interviews or experienced researchers from focusing on the
project management content. Readers should feel free to use the hand-
book in whatever ways make sense for them.
None of the project management tools and processes described
in this handbook require specialized software. Commercially
available specialized project management software options do exist,
including Microsoft Project (https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca
/microsoft-365/project/project-management-software), Monday.com
BOX 1.7. SUGGESTIONS FOR DIFFERENT RESEARCH

PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS’ USE OF THIS HANDBOOK
• Students may want to begin by looking at the deliverables
outlined in Appendix A, Figure A.1, “Work Breakdown Structure
for a Fictional Graduate Student Thesis Project,” and then, con-
sistent with the guidance in Figure 1.4, follow Sections 2.1, 2.2,
and 4.2 to use Figure A.1 as the foundation for their own WBS,
deliverable-based Gantt chart, and deliverable-based tracking
sheet.
• Early career researchers might similarly use and adapt
Figure 5.3, “Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional New
Investigator’s Research Portfolio,” following the guidance in
Sections 2.1, 2.2, and 4.2. They are also likely to find the 19 re-
search leader interviews in Section 6 informative and (hopefully)
inspiring.
• Research staff (e.g., research associates, project managers, co-
ordinators, program administrators, research assistants) are often
the ones who take on project management responsibilities and
may be positioned to put a lot of the handbook’s guidance into
practice immediately. Instead of trying to implement everything at
once, they should scan the Table of Contents, List of Illustrations,
and List of Tables and identify one or two topics that relate to
immediate risks or opportunities in their environments, try imple-
menting guidance for those topics, and then consider adding more
tools and processes.
• Principal investigators and other senior researchers are often
interested in advice that helps them formalize and improve gov-
ernance (see Section 3.4, “Decision Making, Governance, and
Oversight”), communications (see Section 4.3, “Communica-
tions and Stakeholder Involvement during Implementation”),
and negative risk management (see Section 3.2, “Processes to
Identify and Manage Risks”) for the large initiatives they lead.
They may also appreciate advice on developing their teams
(see Section 3.3.6, “Building Capacity across the Research
Project Team”) and find it helpful to see examples of how
multiple projects can be organized into programs or portfolios
of research (see Section 5.2, “Applying Project Management
Tools and Processes to Research Programs, Operations, and
Portfolios”).
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were good enuff, but the 'eat wos a knock-out. Lord love ye! W'y, we
biled our cauffee on the shanks o' the anchors; s'elp me, but they
wos allers red 'ot. An' th' ole man, 'e don' ever wear nuffin' but a
bloomin' gal's night-gownd——"
"Heat don't worry me," interrupted Hank. "It's cold calls the turn on
me. I was up the Behring once sealin' an' got my bellyful."
"Much ice?" inquired Jack casually.
"A pretty considerable mush of it."
"I was two months in the ice to the south'ard once in the Cairngorm,"
declared the rover.
"The hell yew war? 'Member speakin' the I.P. Rakes off the Dyeego
Ramerrez? Yew had ye jibboom gone an' nought above the lower-
mast forrard. Your ole man sent a life-boat aboard us fur spuds—
said y'd got scurvy bad. By Davy, I allers allows thet were the dirtiest
sea I ever see'd a boat live in."
"It was bad," agreed Jack. "We got stove in trying to get aboard
again, and lost three men."
"Thet's right! I see'd yew wi' these very eyes, smashed to staves yew
were; an' yew were in thet boat, eh?"
"Yes," said the Britisher quietly. "I was second mate of the
Cairngorm, and had charge of her."
"Phew!" exclaimed Hank, drawing a long breath; "an' whar did yew
larn thet trick o' handlin' a boat? Been whalin', I s'pose?"
"No; all the boat-work I know I picked up in the Islands."
"Ever seen Siwash squaws run a birch-bark through rapids?" asked
old Bedrock Ben. "That's what I calls boat-handlin'."
"Squaws 'andle a boat! To 'ell wiv ye!" burst out the cockney
disdainfully. "What d'you know 'bout h'it? W'y, you ain't never seen
the Boat Ryce."
"What boat race?" grunted old Ben.
"Lord lummy, byes, listen to 'im! Sech h'ignorance is bloomin' well a
disgryce."
"What's this here race you-alls alludes to?" inquired Broncho in his
polite Texan drawl.
"Oh, 'ell!" gasped the cockney, and sank back in a state of collapse.
"I see'd the Boat Race onct," suddenly put in Jim's small voice, "an' I
ain't never forget it."
"I ain't no use fur racin'," growled Red Bill. "I does a v'yage once in
one o' them tea-clippers, an' that were enuff racin' to last me my
time. What wi' carryin' on when it's blowin' great guns an' muckin'
around in the tropics with royal stuns'ls, save-alls, water-s'ls,
ringtails, an' sech-like superfloous pocket-handkerchers, it ain't no
game fur a white man."
"What was your ship, mate?" inquired the rover, looking up with
interest.
"Titania."
"I came home from Australia once in the Cutty Sark," said Jack
slowly.
"Lose any men?" asked Red Bill sharply.
"Well, off the Horn we did. Helmsman lost his head—let her run off,
whilst we were at the main braces. We shipped a big sea and lost
nine men overboard—two of them washed off the foreyard."
"I believe you, son," snorted the fiery-headed Bill. "That's the way wi'
them packets. Men's lives is nuffin' so long as they makes a good
passage."
"Men's lives!" growled Jack disdainfully. "Red Bill, you talk like a
softy! What do you come to sea for but to take the rough with the
smooth? When a man begins thinking of his life at sea, it's about
time he stopped ashore and turned counterjumper, ink-squirter, or
hayseed——"
"Go easy, mate, go easy!" put in Hank mildly.
"Well, I've got no patience when a man begins talking about his
precious life."
"Look 'ere!" began Red Bill hotly, "you jest take in the slack o' that
jaw-tackle o' yours, Jack Derringer. You're a sight too free wi' them
insinnivations. I ain't afraid o' you for all ye prize-fightin' tricks, so go
slow, or there'll be a slogging match."
"Bill," said the rolling-stone, with that catching smile of his, "shake
hands. You're a white man, and I take it all back. It was just you
talking of men's lives that roused my dander. I don't like to hear good
sailormen talk about their lives like so many frightened land-crabs. I
once went a yachting trip with three brass-bound, useless, chicken-
hearted clothes-props, and I tell you I got a sickener of 'my precious
life' talk.
"Things went well enough at first, when there was only just enough
wind to keep us moving—though I had my hands full, what with
cooking, steering, and doing all the dirty work; for though they were
all three big men, they were so fat and flabby they couldn't pull their
own weight on a rope or even hit a dent in a pat of butter; but we got
a bit of a blow heading over to the French coast from Falmouth, and
if ever I saw three badly scared, nerveless citizens, it was that
crowd.
"The boat was a snug little yawl, and as I was pressing her through it
pretty hard, things naturally got a bit wet, and now and again some
green water lopped aboard.
"Well, after they'd had their first experience of a big dollop, they all
turned on me.
"'Isn't it getting dangerous?' began the first uneasily.
"'Haven't we got too much sail for safety?' quavered the second.
"'Wouldn't it be risking our lives to go on?' stuttered the third. 'I'm
afraid——'
"'Any fool could see that,' I broke in, as I shoved her nose into a lump
of green water to cut short their chorus.
"After a good deal of spluttering they recovered sufficiently to give
tongue again.
"'I'm wet through,' whimpered one. 'I must go below and change my
things or I'll catch cold. D'you think it safe for me to leave the deck?'
"'I guess the deck can take care of itself all right,' I answered.
"'No, I don't mean that,' he said solemnly. 'I mean, if the boat turned
over when I was in the cabin, I should lose my life, I should be d-d-
drowned.'
"'By Jove, so you would!' I exclaimed, as if struck by the gravity of
the idea.
"'D'you really think it would be more dangerous below than here?'
put in another of the boobies anxiously.
"'You're all insured, ain't you?' I asked with a wooden face.
"'Yes,' they gulped as a spray took them; 'but for God's sake turn the
boat round and go back.'
"'Can't; too dangerous to run before this sea,' I declared, making a
big bluff.
"They were getting too much for my patience altogether, so with a
wild cry of 'Look out!' I shoved the helm over and soused them
again.
"This time I had them all as limp as a wet swab, and as the wave hit
them they screeched like so many frightened women. But directly the
water cleared off there was more tongue-wagging.
"'My God! I thought we were gone,' gasped one.
"Then the second booby let fly:
"'What an escape! A second longer and I should have been drowned
——'
"'How terrible!' I put in brutally.
"'Terrible? Yes, you're right. Isn't the sea awful? I've never been in
such danger in my life before.'
"'Nor ever will be again if you can help it, I expect,' I sneered.
"But their minds were too overwrought to take any notice of my
brutal speeches.
"'I thought I should burst——' began the fattest.
"'I've often thought you'd do that,' I cut in cheerfully.
"'——from holding my breath so long,' he finished, eyeing me
dismally.
"Well, the end of it all was, I got the unhappy trio below, battened 'em
down, and weathered it out by my lonesome. Twenty-seven hours at
the tiller! Ever since that cruise, whenever a man begins to talk about
his life being in danger, I begin to get hot in the collar."
"Land folk is certainly queer that way an' easily scared," commented
the pacified Red Bill.
"Gettin' scared is easy. The bigges' fire-eatin' son of a gun is scared
some time in his life; but it's givin' away your hand an' showin' you're
scared that gets you logged down as plumb nerveless an' no
account," remarked old Ben sagely.
"You're shore right, Ben," agreed Broncho. "It's the white-livered
coyote who can't keep his mental fears corralled who goes to drawin'
his gun when there ain't no need, an' gets over shootin' an' pluggin'
the wrong gent."
"Thet's so, pardner," grunted the gambler. "See this scar?" pointing
to a livid streak on his cheek-bone. "I gets that from a tenderfoot
back-east puppy as acts the way you mentions."
"He sartinly makes a greevious mistake that time," returned Broncho
ambiguously.
"He shore would ha' had a depitation o' thanks from his grateful
pards if he'd hit the bull's-eye, I reckon," rumbled old Ben in a loud
aside.
At this moment the bell went, and the watch on deck got hastily to
their feet, caught up caps, and knocked the ashes out of their pipes
before going aft.
Sometimes Broncho and Jack would sneak into the bosun's little
berth in the midshiphouse. Here the three of them, with pipes
smoking like chimneys, passed many a pleasant hour.
Over the bosun's bunk was the worn and faded photograph of a very
pretty girl. This picture seemed to attract the rolling-stone in some
strange way, for often he stared fixedly at it with a faraway look in his
eyes, as if he were peering back into the past and trying to recall
some half-forgotten memory.
One night, noticing his rapt gaze, the bosun remarked casually:
"Yes, she's a nice-lookin' gal, ain't she?"
"I beg your pardon!" said Jack hastily, the dark red flushing through
his tan. "I didn't mean to be rude, but that photograph reminds me of
somebody."
"Well, bein' as we're all good mates here," observed the bosun, "I'll
tell you the yarn. I never ain't married—I ain't that lucky, though I
walks out with scores o' gals in my time; but I on'y ever has one real
sweetheart, an' she was a clipper. She was——" He broke off, and
then resumed slowly, "That's 'er photo—she was second 'ousemaid
to Lord Arrendale" (Jack gave a sharp start of surprise).
"That's away back ten years or more," continued the bosun
reflectively; "then I goes off on a v'yage out East, thinkin' as how with
a big payday a-comin' I'd get spliced when I gets home again. But
my luck's dead out. I gets wrecked among the Islands, an' precious
near ate up, an' it's over four years afore I drops my mudhook in the
old cottage. Then I found my gal had gone an' left her place an'
disappeared." The strong man's eyes grew misty, and the deep voice
shook. "Well, I ups anchor an' beats up and down the whole country,
but I never meets up with my gal no more; so I goes to sea again,
and I ain't been ashore more'n two months all put together in the last
ten years.
"And do you think I ever forgets that gal o' mine? No, sir; she's as
dear to me, an' more, than she was in them days when I was a-
courtin'. I often envies folks that I sees married, all so comfort'ble in
their little bit o' home with the kids an' all. The likes o' them never
don't seem to realise their luck. It's us fellers who 'as no wife, nor
'ome, nor kids—who's in Shanghai one minit an' off the Horn the next
—it's us who spots their luck."
The bosun ceased and looked keenly at Jack.
"Ben Cray," said the latter earnestly but simply, reaching out his hand
and seizing the bosun's burly fist, "I'm sorry!"
Broncho stared; he had only heard the big Britisher addressed as
bosun, and did not know his real name, and he also thought that
Jack was in like ignorance up to that evening.
There was something going on behind the scenes which he could
not even guess at. He was a keen observer, and had noticed the
blush on the cheek of his friend.
"He's a hard-cut citizen, is Jack," thought the cowboy. "It takes a lot
to jump him offen his gyard."
"Ben," continued Jack, "you're a real white man. I remember her
now, poor little thing, and you too."
"I spotted you fust day you comes aboard, sir!"
"I didn't know, bosun; I've never been home since I went to sea, and
that was just before you went on that unlucky voyage."
"I see'd the ole lord last time I was back," began the bosun with
some hesitation; and then stopped, as if he would have liked to say
something more, but dared not.
"Hm!" muttered Jack indifferently, with mask-like face; but the keen-
eyed cowpuncher noticed a singular gleam in the rover's clear blue
orbs.
For a few moments there was silence, and then Broncho broke in:
"Talkin' of marriage, you shorely recalls my Juanita, don't you, Jack?"
"Certainly I do."
"Well," went on the cowboy, "I never gets my brand on to her, though
I near has the hobbles on more'n once."
"I'm very sorry to hear that, Broncho. I thought you were in double
harness long ago."
"Well, I never does fasten somehow, though I ropes at her
continuous; then one day she goes curvin' off with that ere miscreant
Montana Joe, which has me plumb disgusted. I just chucks a pair o'
blankets across my saddle, stuffs a wad o' notes in my war-bags, an'
lights right out. Finally I makes Frisco, where I gets to drownin' dull
care with nosepaint; an' I makes sech a success of that ere
undertakin' that I presently finds myself as you-alls knows."
"Sidelights out, hand on the look-out!" roared Black Davis from aft.
"Aye, aye, sir!" came back the answer, and night began.
The following evening Jack, Broncho, and the boy Jim were yarning
together on the foc's'le head, when a terrific uproar broke out on the
deck below them. There was a hurricane of deep-sea laughter, and
the next moment the small form of the cockney disengaged itself
from the crowd, and came dashing up the topgallant ladder.
"Jack!" he cried, "Jack, wot's a genelman?"
"Why, Jack is, er course," burst out the boy.
"I mean, wot mykes a genelman?"
The rest of the crowd were on his heels, and Curly, thrusting his way
through, burst out hotly.
"Hollins says a gentleman is a man with shiny pants and a stove-
pipe hat. What do you say, Jack?"
"Bedad! I on'y knoo one gintlemen," cried Pat, "an' he weren't one at
all at all."
"I see's a gentleman once," said Red Bill, "an' he had a bit er glass
stuck in his eye."
"When you-alls says gentleman," drawled Broncho, "you mean the
real brand, I surmise; for there's a greevious number o' gents a-
waltzin' around puttin' on frills an' bluffin' they're the thoroughbred
article, which same soon bogs down in one's eestimation as plumb
low an' ornery. What you-alls call gentlemen is gettin' 'most rar' as
buffaloes in these here wide-spread an' high-flung times; but when
you does cut their trails, you can bet a whole team you're goin' to be
duly impressed tharby."
"A gentleman's a cove wi' clean 'ands, 'coss he don't work," shouted
Jimmy Green excitedly from the edge of the crowd.
"You shut yer dirty 'ead! 'Oo asked you ter talk when able seamen's
around?" roared the cockney furiously. "Give that byby-face er clout,
will ye, Ben?"
Jimmy Green got his clout and retired from the contest.
"A gentleman's a sport who can sit down to a game o' poker an' lose
his dollars smiling," asserted the gambler.
"A gentleman's a tenderfoot who trails round buyin' salted claims,"
pronounced old Ben.
"I meets a shentlemans vonce vot I yumps a bag along vor, an' he
give me two bob; you bet dat's a shentleman's, my schmard fellers,"
grunted Muller.
"A gentleman has shiny boots," put in Pinto from the background,
with a nervous glance round as if he were taking a liberty.
"That's wot I sye," cried the cockney approvingly; "'e's a toff wi' shiny
pants an' shiny boots——"
"And a boiled shirt, I hope?" interrupted Jack, laughing.
"Well, h'I don' mean to insinnivate nuffin' agin you, Jack. We h'all
knows you is a real bang-up 'eavy swell when you've got your shore
togs on."
"I meets a genelman one time way down to Saint Louis, bigges'
genelman eber I see'd, an' he gib dis chile a clout on der ear an' say,
'Get out ob my way, yo dirty nigger,'" announced Sam.
"Well, 'ave you h'all done, for Gaud's syke?" inquired the cockney
loftily.
"Wall," said Hank slowly, "I calculate a gentleman's a cuss as is
some perlite. He don't spit on the floor——"
"Bedad, what does he do, thin?" broke in the astonished Pat.
"Why, spits in the spittoon!"
"Er course," agreed the cockney. "W'ere wos you brought h'up, Pat?"
"Seein' as 'ow each member o' this 'ere committee-meetin' 's 'ad 'is
sye," he went on, "h'I arise ter propose that we asts the opin'on o'
Jack Derringer, h'as bein' er h'expert on the subject."
"I shore seconds thet proposal," said Broncho, "though I nurses
certain views tharon which no expert is goin' to stampede me out of."
"Well," began Jack, as they all waited round silently, "it's a pretty big
subject; but my idea of a gentleman is a clean man who minds his
own business and'll go the limit for a pal—a man who plays his cards
straight and keeps a stiff upper lip."
"Thet ain't no gentleman, thet's a white man," exclaimed old Bedrock
Ben, with a shake of his head.
"Same thing, ought to be," replied Jack.
"Well, see 'ere, cocky, does you mean ter tell me a man can be a
genelman wivout no shiny pants nor nuffin'?" asked the astonished
cockney.
"Every Siwash is a gentleman when he's got his store-clothes on,
'cordin' t'you, Hollins," said Hank with contempt.
"What in hell air yew broken-down gin-soakers doin' forrard? Relieve
the wheel, yew scum, or I'll come an' knock yer durned ugly heads
off."
It was Black Davis on the rampage. The foc's'le head committee-
meeting broke up like a swarm of disturbed ants, and as they
crowded down the ladder the cockney called out:
"There's a genelman for ye, byes, a real genelman."
CHAPTER VIII
"ON THE FOC'S'LE HEAD"
One Sunday afternoon in the south-east trades the foc's'le indulged
itself in another of those excitable debates which sailors on deep-
water ships love so much.
It was a superb South Pacific day, with a glinting sea and a sky full of
those fluffy white billowy clouds which painters so delight to seat
cherubs upon.
The upper strata of these sheep-backs moved faster than the lower,
as if engaged in a heavenly steeplechase, signifying an increase of
wind.
On the Higgins, for a wonder, peace reigned, for the old man and
Black Davis were both below taking a "stretch off the land," whilst the
bosun held the deck.
Forward both watches were assembled on the foc's'le head—some
stretched on their backs with eyes shut, others propped up against
the capstan or bitts pretending to sew or read.
Studpoker Bob, true to his bent in life, was rapidly appropriating
Hank's payday by aid of a very dirty pack of cards and a game
known as "Casino."
Close by sat Jack Derringer, patching a pair of oilskin pants, with the
cowboy prone beside him, a paint-covered, disreputable slouch hat
which had once been a "shore-enough Stetsin" hiding his face from
the glare of the sun.
Leaning against the port lighthouse, old Ben Sluice, with the aid of a
gigantic pair of spectacles perched on the tip of his nose, laboriously
spelt out a yellow-backed English society novel.
The cockney, with his head buried in his arms, lay face down on the
deck in the attitude beloved by the British Tommy Atkins, snoring like
a tired cross-cut saw; whilst Paddy at his side bent a wrinkled brow
upon a gigantic volume entitled, The Drainage of Europe.
Below on the maindeck Curly and the boy worked steadily upon a
mass of singlets and shirts, with the aid of the wash-deck tub.
Suddenly old Ben Sluice dropped his book, gave a slow look round,
and, catching Jack's eye, spoke:
"Jack, you've been learnt—eddicated as they say. What breed o'
coyote air these here book-sharps? What does they allow is their
long suit? Does this here benighted burro reckon he knows 'hoss'?
He don't know 'hoss' from 'jackass,' nor 'mewel' from 'dogy'; he's
green an' juicy a whole passel, like a fool-kid suckin' eggs an' actin'
smart."
"What's the trouble, Ben?"
"Why, look-a-here; this buckaroo clean gets me, fur a fact. I cain't
throw a squaw-hitch over his idees worth a cent. He has me driftin'
like lost sheep——"
"What cuts you, old son?" broke in Broncho, from behind his
sombrero.
"Wall, it's this way. Thar's a long-nose coon the book-sharp calls
Lord Edward, who didn't oughter be allowed round. He's a big auger,
too, way up on the trail.
"He goes buttin' round the landscape, a-hittin' it up high, a-discardin'
his dinero like as if he's a mine-boss an' a-soakin' up tanglefoot to
beat a sheepman; an' he's roped up a wife as pretty as a peach,
whom he don' pay no more attention to than if she's an empty bottle.
"He jest neglec's her complete 'cept with his tongue, which is that
mean an' ugly it gets her hot in the collar every time. Wall, she jest
sets thar an' wilts, an' don' pay no heed to nothin', though thar's a
whole mob o' softies floppin' round her like gapin' trout-fish, sayin' as
how hers weren't no dago dream o' paradise, till they gets mushy an'
maudlin' over her white face an' big eyes; an' thar ain't one of 'em,
with their soft talk, who's got the sand to up an' shoot the white outer
the high-falootin' eye of Lord Edward.
"Chucks! It makes me tired. Is they men or wax figgers? An' this here
book-sharp allows they're first-class broncho-twisters. But if they is
low-down skunks, the wimen bar this here put-upon Lady Beatrice is
shore rattlesnakes from away back, they're that venomous; an' they
fires out words at this here Lord Edward's wife as'd make a jack-
rabbit curl his tail, which same words carves out wounds in the pore
female like mushroom bullets. I'm a single-footer myself, an' ain't cut
the tracks o' many wimen bar squaws; nor yet want to, onless this
here book-sharp's brand o' female is a fake, which I shore reckon it
is."
"Women is mighty various," drawled the cowpuncher meditatively.
"Some is sweet as molasses, some's all venegar. One kind'll
stampede at the drop of a hat, another'll get balky an' jest set thar.
No, you can't play no system on women—the deal's a sight too
blotched."
"Then you allows this here book-sharp shows savvy in his idees?"
"Has these here rattlesnake females you discourses on many rings
on their horns?"
"Wall, I reckon their lustre is some faded, if that's a high kyard in the
deal."
"Which it shore enough is, for it's this way. When we-alls starts along
this mortal trail we're like colts friskin' about, allowin' it's a case o' jam
an' doughnuts cl'ar through. We shore sooner or later butts into
trouble, gets bogged, and is yanked out, an' goes on gettin' bogged
an' bein' yanked out till it gets to be a habit. But wi' wimen it's
different. Gettin' bogged that-a-way frets 'em, till they're feelin' as
ugly an' mean as Government pack-mules, an' they jest hankers to
shoot off their bazoo till they has some one howlin'; an' the more
rings they has on their horns the more they frets an' sets in to pull
the props out from under the fresher fillies an' side-track them into
the bog of disrepute."
Jack listened to this speech with half-shut eyes, and then half
muttered to himself:
"Men are a queer kind of beasts and women a queer kind of angels."
"I allow Broncho piles it on too thick," declared old Ben stubbornly,
not noticing Jack's remark.
"Bedad!" chimed in Paddy, roused from his book by the miner's deep
voice, "but my old woman's after bein' 'the pole o' me tent,' as they
say in the Seharey. Her spuds'd make the mouth o' the divil wather
sufeecient to put out old Mother Nick's galley-fire."
"Lawd, you surprise me, Pat!" exclaimed the cockney, rolling over on
his back and rubbing his eyes. "A bloomin' Don Juan like you
spliced? W'y, you're a disgryce."
"Be aisy, be aisy, an' don't call y'r brither names. What's a Don Juan,
any way?"
"A Don Juan is er sort er——" and Hollins broke off and scratched
his head for want of the proper word.
"I'll be after Don Juaning you with a black eye the minit before next,"
burst out Paddy fiercely, the suspicion breaking into his brain that he
was being insulted.
"Oh, go slow an' don't be so bloomin' gay," drawled the cockney
disdainfully. "You ain't the on'y lydy-killer on the beach, if you 'as got
an old Dutch peelin' spuds on yer h'ancestral mud-bank."
"The hen-breed is smooth goods s'long as yew don't get married
none; then they're sure p'ison," suddenly broke in Hank, with the sad
but self-satisfied look of a man of big experience in such matters.
"Thar, you're shore way off the range," exclaimed Broncho
emphatically. "A female which ain't hitched up in double harness is
as wo'thless in the game o' life as an ace which ain't drawed nothin'.
Her locoed parents is plumb chagrined to death, when, after chippin'
in a blue stack or two for the draw, they can't rake out even a hen-
ranche tough or a paper dude to yoke her up to. And, again, say
you-alls is a-aimin' to throw your rope over some high-steppin', head-
tossin' filly; what with you prancin' out in y'r store-clothes every time,
an' the dinero you-alls has to paw down in your war-bags for to
soothe her frettin's for doughnuts an' sech eadibles, it shore makes
your wad o' notes look some flat an' shrunk up. An' all the time you-
alls is a-frettin' an' a-frothin' an' feelin' chunked up, mebbe, one minit,
an' flatter than a flapjack the next. No, you draws no dividend on
women onless they're married. It's them yoked-up longhorns like
Paddy who gets a rake off the pot in this earthly game."
"I'm puttin' up my payday agen that deck-swab that yew ain't married
none, Broncho," returned Hank sourly.
"That's so, son, I ain't that lucky," drawled the cowpuncher. "I've
taken tickets more'n once, but I never ain't drawed nothin' I'm near
makin' a winnin' play with."
"I'd rather hev' had a blank than the winning number o' the lottery I
raked in my old woman with," growled the disillusioned Hank.
"Mebbe she reckons she ain't owin' Providence nothin' fur bliss gratis
when she gets down to the bedrock o' your vartues," remarked old
Ben Sluice, with a slow grin.
"Is that meant?" snarled Hank, rising to his feet. He was not in the
best of tempers—those who played cards long with Studpoker Bob
seldom were. "I'll soon show yew my vartues, my all-fired smartie,"
he growled, advancing on Ben in a menacing attitude. "I guess them
vartues'll raise some pretty considerable bumps on y'r ugly figger-
head."
"It's a foight, bedad!" exclaimed Paddy, delightedly. "Go it, ye
spalpeens! Git a move on your bump-raisin' operations, Hank, me
broth of a boy."
"Jest you backwater some," said Ben coolly, pulling out a capstan-
bar from the rack as Hank squared up to him.
Hank drew back uncertainly, for there was a nasty gleam in the old
miner's eyes.
"Crikey! but 'e's got the bulge on you, Hank, proper," grinned the
cockney appreciatively.
"I would shorely like to savvy what for you two lunattics is a-howlin'
for blood?" drawled Broncho, as he slowly proceeded to fill his pipe.
"This half-baked sluice-robber has the hell-freezin' nerve to
insinnivate that my old woman don't bank none on my vartues,"
explained the injured benedict ferociously.
Jack had been holding himself in up till now well enough, but this last
was too much for him, and, doubling up, he burst into a roar of
laughter, in which old Ben joined heartily, taking for granted that the
laugh was on his side of the deck.
"I guess Ben wouldn't think it so durned funny, if he'd drop that
handspike an' stand up like a man," snarled Hank.
"Book-sports allows as how it's women as causes mos' of the skin-
ticklin' in this ornery globe, an' I reckon they shore hits the bull's-eye
this time," remarked Broncho, sagely.
"What's the row?" broke in Curly excitedly, coming up the topgallant-
ladder in two bounds.
"W'y, swipe me if ole Ben ain't been an' hurted Hank's delikit
feelin's," explained the cockney.
"It's a cert, son, as how Hank ain't out to have his back scratched
that away. A wounded grizzly is mild an' dreamlike compared to
him," added Broncho, with a slow droop of his left eye.
"Vy don' you blunk 'im?" grunted the Dutchman's heavy voice,
addressing itself to Hank.
"Hell!" burst out the exasperated man. "If thet Dutch son of a carrion-
crow gives me any durned chin-chin, I'll ram his ugly pig's-eyes outer
the back of his head"; and Dutchy withered into his shell again.
"Look-a-here, partner, ain't you had 'bout enuff o' this low-grade
dust-raisin'," inquired Ben loftily; still, however, clinging to his trusty
capstan-bar. "'Cos thar goes four bells an' it's my wheel."
"Air you goin' to take in the slack o' them insinnivations?" demanded
Hank, with dignity.
"You jest step outer the trail an' let this outfit pass, or I reckon you'll
be shy considerable epidermis in another minit," growled old Ben
angrily, as Hank blocked his way down the topgallant-ladder.
"Wall! Dog my cats if I stand to that!" roared Hank, and he made a
wild rush at the old miner.
Ben lunged out furiously with the handspike, but the long, wiry down-
easter dodged the formidable weapon with catlike activity, and the
next moment they were "in holds," in the parlance of the prize-ring.
Clutched in each other's arms, they reeled across the foc's'le head
like hugging bears, and then down they came with a crash on the
deck.
"I'll learn yew to miscall a free-born American citizen, yew long-
ha'red dump-thief," screeched Hank, as they rolled over and he
came on top.
But with a desperate effort Ben reversed the positions, and as his
horny fingers gripped the other's hairy throat he growled like an
angry grizzly.
"You reckon you's ugly, but this child's uglier."
Hank tried hard to gurgle out a suitable retort, but his effort sounded
like the choke of a ship's pump. Wildly he clutched at the iron hands
on his throat, but in vain; he could not budge them. His breath began
to come in short gasps, his face to flush purple beneath the deep
tan, and his strength to leave him.
Both watches were now gathered round the two combatants, a ring
of excited faces.
The gambler was perched up on the capstan, and as he remarked
afterwards in describing the fight to Red Bill, who was all this time
waiting to be relieved at the wheel,
"I jest sits back in the peep-chair an' follows the run of the cards, like
it were a faro game."
The cockney, his face working with excitement, hopped up and down
like a cat on hot bricks, crying out,
"Sock it to 'im, Ben, sock it to 'im! Starboard watch fur ever!"
"Chucks! but Ben has him in one spin o' the wheel," remarked
Broncho to the rover. "This here's a freeze-out for Hank; he's
beginnin' to unwind melodies o' despair."
For Hank, in his effort to breathe, was groaning and grunting and
choking.
"Go easy, Ben; I think Hank's had about enough," interposed Jack,
leaning over and trying to drag him off the prostrate down-easter.
"Sticks to Hank closer'n bacon-rind," observed Broncho, watching
Jack's unavailing efforts.
"Help me get him off," panted the rover. "He'll choke the man in a
minute."
"That's some obvious—that 'possum ain't doin' no roll-over an' playin'
dead," drawled the cowboy composedly, as he lent Jack his aid.
"A man's finish is his own," put in the gambler, objecting to the
interference of the two friends.
"You jest hold your hand, my lively one-horse-saloon bottle-washer,
or I suspicion I'll have to tame you some," said the cowpuncher
contemptuously.
Then, with a terrific heave together, Jack and Broncho pulled old Ben
off Hank on to his feet.
Ben just stood there and looked at his victim, gasping on the deck.
"Mebbe that'll learn you some, mister; Ben Sluice don't allow no
Yankee wolf to come yowlin' blood round him without puttin' up a
breeze o' some sort"; and he turned on his heel, clambered down the
ladder, and went aft to relieve the wheel.
"Wake up, old son, an' take a new hold," said the cowpuncher kindly,
as Hank gave no signs of life except to roll his eyes and breathe in
harsh, jerky groans.
"Get us a bucket of water, Jim," called the rover.
The water had the desired effect. Hank's face assumed a more
healthy colour; he drew a deep breath and sat up.
"I'm feelin' some considerable used up," he muttered slowly; and
then he began to swear in that vivid, forcible way which obtains at
sea. Presently he rose to his feet and stood staggering, then lurched
forward like a drunken man and headed for the topgallant-ladder.
"He's shore as wobbly as a tenderfooted cow-hoss in a patch o'
cactus," remarked Broncho, as he noted Hank's tottering steps.
"I was all choked up in a minit; that minin' tough's fingers are like iron
clamps," threw back the other, as he carefully clawed his way down
on to the maindeck.
"And that h'ain't no josh, neither," declared the cockney feelingly. "'E
nearly 'as you garrotted inter dead meat, s'elp me bob."
"I allows Hank has all he wants," pronounced Broncho. "When
women is the theme o'discourse, gents o' savvy cash in an' quit;
thar's no knowin' which way the cat will hop. You're liable to get
creased or reap a skinful o' lead whichever way you plays your
hand."
And thus the argument finished.

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Research Project Management and

Leadership: A Handbook for Everyone

A Handbook for Everyone

The project management approaches, which are used by millions of

p. alison paprica is an adjunct professor and senior fellow at the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS

ISBN 978-1-4875-4451-5 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4875-4433-1 (EPUB)

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Research project management and leadership : a handbook for everyone /

Cover design: Mary Beth MacLean

We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications –

We wish to acknowledge the land on which the University of Toronto Press

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of

List of Illustrations xiii

List of Tables xvii

List of Boxes xix

List of Leadership Advice Crosswalks xxi

Section 1: Overview of Research Project Management and

2.1.1 Project Management Mindset of “Define, Then

3.2.3 Positive Risk Management 79

5.2 Applying Project Management Tools and Processes to

6.15 Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi: Creating Vibrant Research

About the Author 285

1.1 Continuum of Certainty for Research Projects (with Exceptions,

2.9 Risky Deliverable-Based Gantt Chart for a Fictional Pollution

D.1 Work Breakdown Structure for a Fictional Seniors’ Health

1.1 Countries with More Than US$10 Billion Annual Higher

5.3 Differences in Research Project Management Practices

1.1 A Vision and a Task Proverb 1

3.4 Research Executive Committees for Large Projects and

2.1 Relationship between Scope and Vision 28

4.4 Leaders Do Not Have All the Answers 140

Overview of Research Project

1.1 RESEARCH REQUIRES BOTH VISION AND

Research, by its nature, tends to focus on the vision. It is about the

BOX 1.1. A VISION AND A TASK PROVERB

BOX 1.2. TYPES OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

development (HERD) – which includes research performed at univer-

Annual R&D Performed by

D = difference in methodology; E = estimated value; P = provisional value;

uncertainty than other kinds of work. For example, at the beginning

Figure 1.1. Continuum of Certainty for Research Projects (with Exceptions,

1.2 SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE

Volumes have been written about project management and leader-

BOX 1.3. TWO DEFINITIVE RESOURCES: THE PMBOK  GUIDE

Successful Projects with PRINCE2 each provide hundreds of pages of

Despite the large volume of written material, it is extremely challeng-

BOX 1.4. FINDINGS FROM A LITERATURE REVIEW

other research team members, in part because of challenges with

1.3 ORIGIN AND CONTENT OF THIS HANDBOOK

As the director responsible for up to $60 million in annual research

Fellows, Entry-Level Training

Figure 1.2. Everyone Has a Role to Play in Research Leadership and

knew, firsthand, that leadership looks different in academic environ-

worked in public- and not-for-profit-sector organizations focused on

• A range of people in the academic sector, including graduate stu-

to fictional or generic projects because those examples highlight

As I provided training and capacity-building sessions to hundreds

1.4 SUMMARY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS

1.4.1 Distinguishing Projects from Operations

It makes sense to start the discussion of academic research man-

research team members start building their management and lead-

Section 1: Overview of Research Project Management and