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System Integration |
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Dedicated to the dissemination of System Integration information |
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My Dissertation - First Week of Study |
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Dates: 2.2.2007 to 8.2.2007
The official start date for the dissertation was 2.2.07 but I had started a few weeks back, this week was the ‘official start’.
Having got bit of a head start things were a bit easier, I got into the dissertation process a few weeks back. I work full time; I am doing this dissertation in my spare time, so ‘getting into the regime’ was a gradual affair over the last few weeks. By ‘getting into the regime’ I mean having the discipline to sit down and spend time studying.
I never did anything on the first day (2.2.07) but started on Saturday 3.2.07. It had become apparent to me, over the last few weeks, that a major part of the process was planning.
The course is just over a year long so careful planning is needed. I felt that the plan was something I needed to get right ASAP so the past week has been spent with the plan.
When I started to look at the plan it was obvious that I didn’t know what I was going to do so how could I plan for this? I needed to ‘scope’ the dissertation. Last week I started doing some cause\effect diagrams, I didn’t have any real reason for doing them, I just thought they would be a good idea.
They were just a way of getting some ideas down on paper, random thoughts in some way. Now that I need to create an actual plan they have come in very handy. I am using them as a ‘first pass’ of the tasks that I need to perform, they are also my thoughts on the subject area. They are a fairly disorganised list but at least I have a list.
This week has been spent creating cause\effect diagrams that are relevant to my dissertation; I have done them on the subject area and also on general dissertation skills.
As they seem a bit disorganised I investigated other methodologies to put my thoughts down, something that would organise them a bit better. I looked at various methodologies, brain storming etc, but either you ended up with what would look like a page full of random thoughts or they were not suitable.
The cause\effect diagrams are a bit disorganised but at least there is some organisation, a basic way of grouping related ideas, thoughts and tasks.
Like I said above, I intend to use them as a ‘first pass’ for what I need to do and know. Hopefully, from these diagrams, will be born a coherent plan. I imagine the plan is a couple of weeks away, it will take me that long to get organised, but I feel this is a very necessary task at the start of the dissertation, if I get things right now my dissertation will be on a solid foundation.
It did cross my mind that the plan contributes nothing to the dissertation and I should be doing some actual studying but I kept coming back to the plan.
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