A GKM Legacy Holdings company · contracting in Maryland, USA · delivering from Accra, Ghana
InsightsWhere we workFrançais
Strategic Advisory
& AI
Book a consultation
A long pier of pale concrete, parted by steel joints, running out over a calm blue sea to one upright wall with a line of yellow light at its foot.

Thesis timeline planner

Give every research milestone a place in your plan.

Try the planner
What the film shows, in words
  1. Will your stages fit before your date?
  2. 16 weeks. Six stages. Each with its date.
  3. At the usual pace: about 11 weeks.
  4. 8 weeks: too tight. Three stages down to a week each.
  5. 5 weeks: six stages at a week each end a week late.
  6. 12 weeks: the stages fit again. Plan the stages. Then talk to your supervisor.

One date, moved four times

Step 1 of 4

Sixteen weeks, six stages: room before the date.

Stages of 1.7, 1.3, 3.9, 3, 4.1 and 2 weeks, each with its milestone. At the usual pace the same work needs about 11 weeks, so there is room to spare.

ExampleMaster’s, at “proposal and approval”, ethics approval needed. Only the date changes. Nothing is saved or sent.

Submit by
29 Jan 2027
Estimated time needed
About 11 weeks
Next milestone
21 Oct

6 stages fit before 29 Jan 2027. Next milestone: proposal and approval, by 21 Oct 2026.

  • your plan
  • the usual pace
  • a week: the shortest a stage is planned
  • past the date
  • ethics approval, before data collection

The researcher writes every word.

Now your date, and your stages.

Enter your degree, where you are now and your submission date. See each remaining stage with its milestone date, and a plain warning when the deadline is too tight.

Planning tool only. Nothing is booked and no reminders are sent.

Submit by
29 Jan 2027
Estimated time needed
About 11 weeks
Next milestone
21 Oct

6 stages fit before 29 Jan 2027. Next milestone: proposal and approval, by 21 Oct 2026.

LiveThe yellow wall is your date: drag it, or focus it and use the arrow keys for a day, Page Up and Page Down for a week.The researcher writes every word.

16 weeks from today.

Where you are now

The whole degree in one strip. Each stop is as wide as its typical share of the work.

Degree sets the usual pace
Supervisor meetings
16weeks to submission
29 Jan 2027deadline
6stages remaining
Roadmap
StageStartsMilestoneWeeks
Proposal and approval9 Oct 202621 Oct 20261.7
Ethics approval21 Oct 202630 Oct 20261.3
Data collection30 Oct 202626 Nov 20263.9
Analysis26 Nov 202617 Dec 20263.0
Writing chapters17 Dec 202615 Jan 20274.1
Revisions and submission15 Jan 202729 Jan 20272.0
Weeks by stage
  1. Proposal and approval1.7 wk
  2. Ethics approval1.3 wk
  3. Data collection3.9 wk
  4. Analysis3 wk
  5. Writing chapters4.1 wk
  6. Revisions and submission2 wk

Checks

  • Note: About 8 supervisor meetings before submission.Send a short agenda and a draft before each one.
  • Note: Planning assumptions you can adjust.Stage shares are typical, not rules; your programme’s regulations come first.

The researcher writes every word. This tool gives questions, structure and checks, not assessed text.

Your roadmapRoadmap with milestone datesTry this form

Practice 11: Research supervision, academic coaching & publication supportFree · instant results on this pageTool owner: Prof. Wisdom GagakumaVersion 1.0 ·

Your roadmap, as it stands

Deadline
29 Jan 2027
Weeks left
16
Next milestone
Proposal and approval, 21 Oct 2026

A plan to take to your supervisor. It moves with every change you make above.

Your roadmap

Roadmap with milestone dates, by email once delivery is connected.

Your roadmap with milestone dates, as it stands on this page.

Preview only. No email will be sent. Your results are available above.

Nothing you enter here is sent anywhere. Privacy notice

· a free brief, or book the Professor · from USD 150
One steel joint crossing the stone deck of the pier, lit citrine, with a slim glass gate standing open on it; the next length of deck, the rail and the sea lie beyond.
Where one stage ends and the next begins. Ethics approval is the gate before data collection.

How it works, and its limits.

The rules are published so you can check them. Stage shares are typical, not rules: your regulations and your supervisor decide.

Method

  1. 01

    Remaining stages share the time to your deadline in typical proportions (for example writing about a quarter).

  2. 02

    Ethics is included when needed and always precedes data collection.

  3. 03

    A deadline shorter than the usual minimum for your degree is flagged. The dates still fit your deadline, with less time than the usual estimate; when even a week a stage does not fit, the roadmap runs past the deadline and says so.

What it cannot tell you

  • Typical proportions, not rules; your regulations and supervisor decide.
  • Life happens: build slack into every stage.
  • No assessed prose is produced.

Quality ruleSixteen-week example; impossible deadlines flagged rather than silently compressed.

The end wall of the pier at eye level: one door-width opening in it with a citrine reveal, the sea beyond, and yellow light falling through on to the deck.

When the plan needs a person

Coaching is not supervision, and nothing is written for you. The student writes; your supervisor and your regulations decide.

Prof. Wisdom GagakumaTool owner

Book the Professor · from USD 150

Also in this practice

Thesis & dissertation coaching: the student writesService · 11 Research supervision, academic coaching & publication supportResearch methods & statistics supportService · 11 Research supervision, academic coaching & publication support 11 Research supervision, academic coaching & publication supportPractice Research topicsFree toolResearch methodology decision aidFree toolResearch-proposal structure & review checklistFree toolReference-list consistency checkerFree tool

What needs to move forward?

Tell us the decision, the challenge or the opportunity. We reply with a scoped approach, a named principal and a fee before any work begins.

Tell us what you need Book the Professor · from USD 150

No charge to submit an enquiry.