BOSTON - BostonChron -- Lynn Bentley, President of Knobull reported, "Researchers cannot create and conduct all research studies equally. There is usually a need to streamline and operationalize the research and/or project management process to handle all needs and ensure it is as impactful as possible.

The first requirements is to audit the current process. Often projects are generated via email, Slack, or word of mouth. There is usually a need to evaluate the prioritization process, a backlog, or any overview of what is currently happening and the timelines."

Here are the steps to improve and streamline the process continuously:

Audit what you are doing and figure out what isn't working.The first thing is to understand where it is going wrong and what the biggest pain points are in the process.

Use a shared intake document for requests. Creating an intake document saves hours of meetings and thousands of messages. A perk of this document is that it encourages asynchronous work, so people can leave questions and comments instead of having a formal meeting.

Have a straightforward prioritization method. This insures essential research is emphasized. Don't take on projects without understanding their potential impact and what choosing one project over another means.

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Create a research roadmap and backlog. Like any project, there is a need to know what you are currently doing, what timelines you are operating in, and what is coming up next. This information is important to create a roadmap, showing all current and future projects.

Use templates for as much as possible. Whenever you can, use a template! Create canned responses for emails and have templates for most request responses. Not only does this help during the process, but it also enabled other team members to do tasks.

Set up a project plan. A plan is the North Star of a project and keeps you aligned with your team. Research plans keep focus on an outcome and provide an easy reference to keep "need-to-know" stakeholders in the know. They prevent everyone from getting bogged down in the details and switching a goal in the middle by mistake. Most importantly, they allow researchers (or whoever is doing the research) to ensure the plan's objectives will be answered as effectively and efficiently as possible by the end of the project.

Bentley concluded, "Apply tools that help you. There are some software and tools you can use to further streamline your process. For example, use Calendly in conjunction with emails for easy scheduling. Looking into and changing the process positively impacts work. This helps others, staying on top of projects and requests, and better handling what needs to be worked on and why."