Maury Leysens
Track: System Administration and Infrastructure
Date: Wednesday, February 05
Time: 1:30pm - 2:15pm
Location: California Ballroom C
Managing projects in bioinformatics has several unique challenges, many similar to software projects described in software methodology books, and many different. Where they overlap and where they differ depends on the type of project and the people involved.
Bioinformatics projects appear to break down into several types:
- ASAP Project ("I need it now!")
- Discovery Project ("It would be interesting to know if ...? ")
- One-on-one Project ("Can we ...?")
- Visionary Project ("Build it and they will come!")
- Infrastructure Project ("This is at the core of what we do!")
- One-time Project ("We'll only need this once!")
These types of projects are filled with complex technical challenges. For example, you may have to rely on a code base your group did not develop. There is an enormous amount of data requiring analysis or preparation. There is no known algorithm coded to solve the problem. Several databases require integration and must stay current. End users want a web-based solution when that is not the right technology. Available computing capacity could be limited or limitless.
Managing and leading projects, with all of the scientific, technical, and personnel considerations, can make planning difficult (read: ‘nearly impossible’). Add to this a development team of biologists coding complex software, and computer scientists analyzing biological data, and you now have several risks to manage, as well as potential to exploit.
Leysens discusses some of the successful and not so successful approaches to each type of project, and the effect the people involved have in bringing a bioinformatics project to completion.
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