Now for the Hard Bit

OK, the raging fire that has been lack of systems has now been put out. I now have admin rights to the desktop and indeed have also gained a copy of Matlab, so will be able to analyse the results produced. With the project issues now under control, I am FINALLY able to get down to the nitty gritty of actually doing my project, yes, that's right, doing my project. The vast majority of the last 5 weeks has been spent project managing this project, but as I'm the sole member of my project team, my day job is to also perform the work - having been a PM for the last 5 years, this has come as quite a shock ;-)

So, a bit behind schedule, but recoverable nevertheless. Some major re-jigging of the project plan has been performed, along with a certain degree of resetting project sponsor expectations. I'm now happy to report that I'm able to make headway into the research.

First step is to reverse engineer the Java simulation that I have inherited from my predecessor. The simulation is very professionally put together, but as he has not yet written up and submitted his PhD, there are no design specifications available to aid my understanding. The immediate task is therefore to decipher the code and create a number of UML diagrams. I aim to create a number of class diagrams (inheritance, containment and association) along with sequence diagrams by the end of June.

In parallel with gaining an understanding of the code, there are a number of filler-type activities which need to be performed to ensure I gain the necessary understanding of tools and techniques before I commence my PhD in October. As I've recently purchased an Apple Macbook, one of these activities is to learn iWork Pages (as opposed to the ubiquitous MS Word on Windows systems), and the Endnote citation database software, which I am told will be extremely beneficial for writing my report (and papers during my PhD) - not an intuitive piece of software though - why, oh why, does it function this way? Now I know how my previous customers may have felt when their seniors bought COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) packages and we tried to change their business processes to fit the software........