What If Things Go Better Than Expected? How can you use good fortune to your best advantage? Most research triumphs are a blend of good times and bad. When good lings happen during the course of your work, you may find your self ahead of schedule or gaining confidence in the direction of your efforts. If you find yourself ahead of schedule, think ahead and use the extra time to stay ahead. More often than not there will be subsequent pha work for which too little time has been allocated. Start th step early or spend the time to address future problem areas of the plan. If the nature of the success you have achieved is to eliminate the necessity for some of the future work planned, you may be tempted to skip ahead. Such a change would constitute a significant departure from the original plan, so check with yo superiors before proceeding on this altered course When Has the Project Been Completed? a project will end when the basic objectives have been met This view of the end is comforting in that you have specific objectives and a plan to achieve them, but disconcerting if the objectives change for reasons described above. If changes were controlled, discussed and documented throughout, endpoints should still be easy to identify. This is another reason why it is so important to establish a written consensus for each deviation Was the Project a Success? If you stuck to your original plan and encountered no problems along the way, you were lucky If problems required you to adapt our thinking, then real success was achieved. Remember, true failures are rare. The process of conducting research is one of con- stant evolution. If you have maintained an open mind and based your decisions on the facts uncovered by your work, your efforts were successful A Friendly Suggestion If you are a new investigator or otherwise engaged in research hat is new to you, take a lesson from the"old-timers. "It,s not that they have all the answers, it's just that they know how to ask better questions. They have had numerous opportunities to make their own mistakes, and if they have been successful, it is because they have learned from them4 Franciskovich What If Things Go Better Than Expected? How can you use good fortune to your best advantage? Most research triumphs are a blend of good times and bad. When good things happen during the course of your work, you may find your￾self ahead of schedule or gaining confidence in the direction of your efforts. If you find yourself ahead of schedule, think ahead and use the extra time to stay ahead. More often than not there will be subsequent phases of the work for which too little time has been allocated. Start the next step early or spend the time to address future problem areas of the plan. If the nature of the success you have achieved is to eliminate the necessity for some of the future work planned, you may be tempted to skip ahead. Such a change would constitute a significant departure from the original plan, so check with your superiors before proceeding on this altered course. When Has the Project Been Completed? A project will end when the basic objectives have been met. This view of the end is comforting in that you have specific objectives and a plan to achieve them, but disconcerting if the objectives change for reasons described above. If changes were controlled, discussed and documented throughout, endpoints should still be easy to identify. This is another reason why it is so important to establish a written consensus for each deviation in the plan. Was the Project a Success? If you stuck to your original plan and encountered no problems along the way, you were lucky. If problems required you to adapt your thinking, then real success was achieved. Remember, true failures are rare.The process of conducting research is one of con￾stant evolution. If you have maintained an open mind and based your decisions on the facts uncovered by your work, your efforts were successful. A Friendly Suggestion If you are a new investigator or otherwise engaged in research that is new to you, take a lesson from the “old-timers.” It’s not that they have all the answers, it’s just that they know how to ask better questions. They have had numerous opportunities to make their own mistakes, and if they have been successful, it is because they have learned from them