Project Management and Productivity Training for Researchers
Participants rate their own productivity before and after: over the seven weeks, the average Personal Productivity Score climbs from 140 to 195. A 7-week agile project and time management training for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, offered by more than 50 institutions.
Our Participants' Academic Homes
Next class starts
12 October 2026
2027 dates
Spring class: 26 April to 11 June 2027
Autumn class: 25 October to 10 December 2027.
Is your institution sending you? Many participants join Fast Forward through their university or research institute, and many graduate schools link this page from their own course catalogues. If that is how you arrived, everything you need to make your decision is here, and the FAQ at the bottom covers the practical questions. If your institution does not yet offer Fast Forward, Reserve places for your researchers or ask your training coordinator about it.
It is no longer ‘what do I actually need to do?’ but ‘where is the next time slot to do it?’ The worry of ‘do I have enough to write a thesis?’ has vanished.
PhD Student ·
University of Bonn
If you have been working in research for a while, you know how frustrating it can be. Despite your best efforts and the long hours you put in, your projects do not seem to move forward as fast as they should. At the end of some weeks, you wonder whether you made progress at all. And there are people whose projects seem to fly along, generating result after result, the next paper coming together seemingly easily, and you wonder when that is going to happen to you.
It is not that you are not busy. You work on your projects day in, day out. You have ideas for experiments you would like to pursue, a growing stack of papers to read, the presentation for the next meeting to prepare, emails to answer. If only you had more time to begin with.
And you worry about your career. Everybody knows the odds of making it in academia. There are strong careers in industry, consulting and publishing, but with your projects moving as they are, you wonder whether you can stand out from the crowd, and whether you have the skills you need to succeed out there. You are not alone: in Nature’s global survey of graduate students, more than half of early-stage researchers reported concerns about their work-life balance and worries about their futures.
Is this how it is supposed to be?
I get it. I have been there myself, first as a doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute, then through more than a decade in strategy consulting. I know there is a different way.
Dr Nadine Sinclair ·
creator of Fast Forward
You do not need to become a management consultant to master these skills.
Imagine, if ...
Yes, you can do it!
Will your productivity system be perfect from week one? No, of course not. Transforming your productivity does not happen over night. It's a journey that will take effort and dedication. It's not a miracle, but a skill that you are building. But you don't have to figure it out all by yourself.
Three reasons to make productivity a priority now
1. Get More Results
Clarity about what matters, applied daily, is what produces results. Not more hours; better-aimed ones. You will still face the unexpected: experiments that fail, competitors who publish first. It’s research. But a working system lets you make the difficult decisions faster and bounce back from setbacks more quickly.
2. REDUCE YOUR STRESS LEVELS
Once you stop spinning your wheels day in and day out, the stress that has been travelling with you eases. The consequences of chronic stress, for the body and for cognitive ability, are well documented. Structure is not the enemy of creativity; it is what protects the space for it.
3. STRENGTHEN THE FOUNDATION FOR YOUR CAREER
Time and project management skills appear in more and more job descriptions, in academia and beyond. And once you have the job, they often make the difference between transitioning to the next level and getting stuck, between standing out and being a face in the crowd, between balance and burnout.
WHAT OUR PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT FAST FORWARD
The quotes below are drawn from our published video case studies; watch the full interviews here on this page. The energy-over-time principle Eli describes is the same one we unpack in The Academic Athlete.
“Before I joined Fast Forward I was overwhelmed with the number of sub-projects in my PhD, and in my last year I also had to start applying for jobs. I was afraid I would be fighting fires all the time and pulling all-nighters just to finish in time. Prioritising my projects with the 80/20 principle completely changed the way I approach them. And I had thought project management was about somehow fitting more hours into the day; the paradigm shift was to manage my energy, not my time.”
Ezhilarasan “Eli” Rajaram
PhD researcher in auditory neuroscience, LMU Munich
“As a postdoc your success depends on running multiple projects in parallel, without stressing yourself or the colleagues and collaborators who work on them. Stakeholder analysis gave me a visual structure for who to involve, and the work breakdown structure let me break each important project into one-to-ten-day work packages. Projects I was spearheading ran more efficiently instead of turning sloppy.”
Dr Vinodh Ilangovan
Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen
“Before, I was just doing, doing, doing, redoing. Sitting down for ten minutes to reflect on how the week went was a game changer. Now all my projects are like a bookshelf where I know where everything is. It releases so much stress. You stop being busy and become more productive, and more relaxed. It is the best course I have taken so far.”
Dr Yulia Yarkhunova
Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
“I somehow managed my PhD with multiple projects, but I always felt there were more efficient ways to do it. The sprint board gives me an overview of everything across my projects, including what I am waiting on from collaborators, and a sense of achievement as things move to done. It was honestly a big commitment at the end of my PhD, and I am glad I did it.”
Dr Diyuan Lu
PhD at Goethe University Frankfurt, now postdoctoral researcher in Munich
Are you a training or programme coordinator interested in offering this training to researchers at your university or research institution?
Book a 20-minute call with one of our expert trainers to explore how our tailored training solutions can drive meaningful improvements in productivity and wellbeing.
Looking for a shorter format first, or a different pattern to work on?
SUCCESS STORIES FROM OUR MEMBERS
Before knowing those tools and techniques, my project management was very poor and I felt I very dependent on other people. Yet after being aware of these techniques, I am actively pushing my project forward and have a clear vision how to get the job done.
LINH
Taking this course has given me back my confidence that I can finish my PhD. I had lost my optimism about completing it in a satisfactory manner.
BIRKO
I feel more productive, as the days run more smoothly, as I identify challenges and obstacles in advance, allowing me to plan in more time for the unexpected. Consequently, unexpected things are less stressing and late working hours reduced.
TAMARA
My mindset towards project management has changed a lot. I thought it was hot air but after the course I realize it is a powerful tool!
THOMAS
WHAT IS THE FAST FORWARD
IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING?
Hello, I’m Nadine. After my doctorate, I spent more than five years with one of the most prestigious management consulting firms, then built and ran my own ventures, one of which was sold to a market leader. Along the way I saw how much of what looks like talent is actually system. I have often asked myself what would have happened if I had learned these skills earlier, when I was still at the bench.
I created Fast Forward so that researchers like you get to experience just that. It integrates the lessons of years of working with the top minds in consulting and industry, listening to productivity experts, and reading thousands of pages on productivity, learning and stress reduction, distilled into a system built for the reality of research.
Fast Forward is a 7-week implementation training designed to help you implement an agile project and time management system in your research projects. It changes how you work: clarity about where your projects stand, focus on what actually moves them, and momentum you can feel from sprint to sprint, with less stress while you get there.
THE FAST FORWARD IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING
Results-oriented
Implementation
Modules
The Seminar Room
Private Community
Downloadable Workbooks &
Templates
Weekly Live
Q&A Coaching
Sessions
THE FAST FORWARD IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING
Getting Started
In the first week, we focus on getting you up to speed, lay the foundations and install a beginner's mindset for the
1. The 12 Week Vision
Understand the difference between goals, projects and end products and map out your roadmap for the next 3 months.
2. The PROJECT CHARTER
Gain clarity on your projects, including criteria and boundaries of success, tools and resources required and stakeholders
3. The Results Generator
Break down your projects into manageable chunks, lay out the roadmap that will keep you focused on your goal and install the frameworks to guide your daily activities.
4. The Sprint Planner
Define incremental end products and the activities to get you there. Understand the principle of sprints and move from planning to execution.
5. The Productive Day
Prioritize your tasks and decide which tasks to outsource or delegate. Structure your day for maximum productivity and explore ways of saying no, while still being helpful.
6. The Sprint
Install the daily and weekly routines to keep you on track during a sprint and focused on your project goal. Learn how to use accountability techniques to keep momentum both when working alone and in a team.
7. The Improvement Engine
Conduct a post-mortem to review your sprint outcome and execution. Install routines to achieve continuous improvement with each sprint.
Next class starts
12 October 2026
2027 dates
Spring class: 26 April to 11 June 2027
Autumn class: 25 October to 10 December 2027.
WHAT OUR PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT FAST FORWARD
DR NADINE SINCLAIR
Nadine is a trusted advisor to corporate and academic leaders and one of the Managing Directors of Mind Matters. A scientist by training and at heart, she conducted her doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. She brings 30,000+ hours of hands-on project management experience, built across 18 years as a strategy consultant, at McKinsey and as an independent consultant, managing projects for research institutions, research foundations, pharmaceutical and biotech companies (including many Fortune 500) and governments. She continues to build that expertise with over 1,000 hours of project management each year, bridging science and business practice with the latest insights from neuroscience and behavioural economics.
Take the thinking home: download a free chapter of On Track, Nadine’s #1 international Amazon bestseller on productivity and project management for researchers.
Want to sample the approach first? Start with Nadine’s articles on multiscale planning for researchers and the Glass Jar Theory.
MORE Success stories from our members
I'm not sure if the amount of work that I do has increased or not. However, now I know exactly on which areas I'm making progress, where my bottlenecks lie and I'm collecting data on which activities take longer time than I expect them to. I feel that with time I will get to better know myself and the way I best work so that I can increase my productivity continuously for a long time.
Andrés
I'm much more confident now about where I am and where I am going to with my Project. I have a clear picture of what needs to be done, and what are the small steps. This provide confidence, that my 12 month Goal is achievable and that I am on track of my project, which also reduces the stress level.
Elena
I changed mostly doing the things first that allow me to make the biggest progress and also I feel a bit more comfortable saying no to other or not immediately make time for them if I can't do so that moment. By saying a bit more often no to other I can focus more on my own work and work mostly on the things that are urgent and important for me and not only urgent and important to others. I feel I have more time for my things.
Isa
I feel that I have the tools to be more productive and just have to train to use them in the future. I feel more confident about managing projects now. My stress levels have decreased because I have an overview over the project and it is not a large pile of work if it is broken down. I do think that my stress levels will decrease further once I have more routine in using the project management tools.
LISA
Are you a researcher and think this training belongs in your graduate school or institute programme? Send it to the person who books training.
Many of Our Alumni Move On to Leading Companies
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
For participants
A 2-day course is a great way to get an overview of the principles of project management. It’s really after the workshop when the work starts when you have to implement what you learned and apply the principles to your own projects. In our experience this is where people struggle and the questions come up. This is why we designed Fast Forward as an implementation training, i.e. it does not only teach you the principles (just like in a 2-day workshop), but also guides you step-by-step through the implementation. In addition, the weekly Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) are great resources for you to get all your questions answered and learn from the other members.
The programme runs for 7 consecutive weeks, during which new content is sent to you every week. You will get additional support during weekly Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants). While the program takes 7 weeks to complete, you will have access to the content for 4 full months.
Fast Forward focuses on both learning and doing: each implementation module teaches you the principles and allows you to digest the information at your own pace. The workbooks and templates guide you through the implementation of the principles in your own projects. The weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions and The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) are great resources for you to get all your questions answered and learn from the other members.
Fast Forward is an agile project management system that we designed specifically to meet the needs of researchers. Different from the classical “waterfall” project management approaches, in which all the planning happens upfront, agile project management has been originally developed to guide complex software development projects, which have to constantly adapt in response to customer feedback. Building on Nadine’s background in research and more than 10 years of experience in working as a top-tier management consultant, we designed Fast Forward to account for the uncertainty of research projects.
You will not require software to complete the program. We are strong believers in pragmatic, hands-on approaches rather than locking you in a particular software package. You can apply all of the concepts using pen and paper or a standard office package.
We will have a virtual Kickoff together on Day 1 of the program, so that you’re off to a great start and have a chance to get to know the other participants! The course materials are shared as video content, templates and course workbooks inside the member area. During the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions and inside The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) you can get your questions answered and learn from the other participants.
The Kickoff takes place on the first Monday of the program from 10:00-11:30 CET (Berlin time). You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email. The main purpose of the Kickoff is for you to get to know the other participants and the tutors. So it’s important that you have both a working camera on your device and an audio connection. You can also use a phone dial-in, if you don’t have a microphone on your device. You can find the details in the confirmation email after registering for the Kickoff. The kickoff is also a great opportunity to ask any questions that you may have about the program. We highly recommend that you watch the short Getting Started video series in the membership area before the Kickoff.
The private community for Fast Forward is hosted on our website. You do need to register with our community to join and will be able to navigate to it straight from the members area where you access the course materials. Everything is in one place.
No. Everything you need to complete the program is accessed in the private member area online and inside The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants).
No. The content of each module builds on the principles of the previous modules. A new module will be unlocked each week. Don’t worry, you will be able to watch completed modules again.
Each module has several videos that allow you to go through the content bit by bit and in your own time. In addition, there is the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Session via video conference and the time needed to fill the templates and complete the workbooks. It really depends on the complexity of your project, but most of our past participants spent between 3-4 hours each week to work through the content and apply them in their projects.
The Fast Forward implementation training will teach you the principles of agile project management and guide you step-by-step through implementation. It’s only natural that you may have questions as you are applying the system to your projects. So we have set up a support system to make sure you can get help quickly. For the seven weeks of the program you will have access to our weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions. Don’t worry – you won’t have to wait to get your questions answered. The Seminar room, which is the Fast Forward private community, is a great place to get help from the Mind Matters team and to learn from the other members. The next few months are about you learning and implementing an agile project management system that will not only allow you to get a new level of focus and clarity around your projects and improve your productivity, but also to develop a skillset that will serve you throughout your career.
Once you signed up and signed the Course Agreement, you will receive a welcome email with your access details to the program, the invitation link to The Seminar Room (the Fast Forward private community for participants) and guidance on the next steps to get you started.
If you signed up for Fast Forward via your university, you will receive the number of credits specified by your institution. To receive credits you need to complete the implementation modules including the assignments and attend the weekly Live Q&A Coaching Sessions. If you have signed up privately, check with your programme coordinator whether they will grant you credits for the training.
The Live Q&A Sessions are delivered via Zoom video conference each Wednesday from 17:00-18:00 CET (Berlin time). This is the chance to get all your questions answered and interact with the other participants and the tutors! You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email.
The Live Q&A Sessions are delivered via Zoom video conference each Wednesday from 17:00-18:00 CET (Berlin time). This is the chance to get all your questions answered and interact with the other participants and the tutors! You will receive the registration details together with your welcome email.
For classes with more than 65 participants, a second session will be offered on Thursday at the same time. If this is the case for your class, you can choose each week which time best fits your schedule. Of course, you only need to attend one of the two weekly sessions in this case.
The live Q&A sessions are one of the most important parts of the training, and attendance is what makes the system stick; it is also a prerequisite for credits. If you have to miss a session, watch the recording and let us know. If you signed up via your institution, check with your course coordinator whether you remain eligible for credits if you miss a session. All sessions are recorded and you can watch them at any time.
The program runs 7 weeks, but you will receive access to the video content for 4 months, so that you have plenty of time to revisit the modules after you completed them.
Fast Forward runs on the published class dates; you can find the current dates in the course schedule at the top of this page. If the current class does not work for you, Reserve places for your researchers via our contact page and we will let you know as soon as registration for the next class opens.
You can find just about anything online these days. Does this mean it’s actually valuable and will work in your research? One of the reasons we created this program is because the traditional “waterfall” project management systems rarely works for research projects. Most people want to invest the time to set up a project management system only once rather than trying this way and that way until finding an approach that works.
For coordinators and institutions
Most of our partner institutions book places for their PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in the open classes, or commission a dedicated cohort. Everything runs online, so no travel or venue is required. Many graduate schools link this page directly from their own training catalogues so that prospective participants can make an informed decision before registering.
Yes. For larger groups we run institution-specific cohorts on agreed dates, with the same structure: seven weekly modules, live Q&A coaching, workbooks and The Seminar Room. Book a call and we will discuss what fits your institution’s calendar.
Credit eligibility and the number of credits are set by your institution. We provide the verified basis: we confirm to your institution each participant’s work through the implementation modules and assignments and their attendance at the live Q&A sessions.
Because research does not follow a plan made entirely upfront. Classical “waterfall” training teaches researchers a system built for predictable projects, which is why it rarely survives contact with the lab. Fast Forward teaches an agile system built for uncertainty, and, critically, it is an implementation training: participants apply every technique to their own live projects during the seven weeks, with coaching while they do it. That is why the skills persist after the training ends.
Researchers who plan in sprints, define end products, run structured days and communicate proactively with their supervisors, and a before/after Personal Productivity Score for the cohort. Book a call and we will share what our partner institutions report, and how coordinators evaluate the training.
START LEARNING FROM NADINE
Fast Forward puts the whole system into your own projects over seven weeks. Her articles work through the realities of research working life, one problem at a time.